| On the Same Page The E-Newsletter of the USA Swimming Officials Committee November 2008 |
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FINA Officials Lists
Congratulations to the following officials who have been named to the next FINA Swimming Officials list for the period from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2012. The starters named to the list are Melissa Hellervik-Bing and Bill Repass and the referees are Dave Coddington, Clark Hammond and Jay Thomas.
The officials named to the FINA Open Water Officials list for the same period are Sid Cassidy, Mike Saltzstein, Rick Walker, Mark McCaw and Jay Thomas.
Maxwell Award
Congratulations to our latest recipient of the Maxwell Excellence Award for service to local swimming, given by Swimming World Magazine. Paul Kemp of Midwestern Swimming is the November 2008 recipient. To read more about the Maxwell Award and see a list of previous recipients, click here. If there is someone in your LSC that you think is deserving of this recognition, please contact your LSC Officials Chair.
Officials Training Clinic
The annual Official's Training Clinic was held over the weekend of October 10-12 in Minneapolis, MN. There were 71 attendees from 46 LSCs at the clinic that opened on Friday evening with a spirited session of situations and burning issues submitted by the attendees in advance. Saturday morning, the sessions were led off with a talk by Paul Lundsten, coach of Star Swimming in Minnesota, about what the coaches and athletes are looking for from officials at meet. The balance of the clinic had sessions covering starter, deck referee, meet referee, chief judge, etc. Each session had a subsequent break-out session where the attendees could exchange ideas on questions related to each session.
The attendees were charged with the responsibility of taking the things they learned at the clinic back to their LSCs and sharing them with their fellow officials. If you know who attended from your LSC, please ask them about their experiences at the clinic. To see a list of the attendees and their LSCs, click here.
Changes to the Officials Tracking System(OTS)
The first of several enhancements to the OTS have been completed. These include:
- Emails sent to LSC Officials Chairs when an official in their LSC applies for National advancement or recertification will now include what is being applied for and what was approved.
- When using the "search by official" functions, the default for registration status changes from "current year" to “current and prior year” for September, October, November and December each year. It reverts back to "current year" from January through August.
Situation: Check-in Procedures
At an LSC competition the meet invitation expressly included the phrase, "Positive check-in by 5:00 pm Saturday is required for the 800 and 1500 Freestyle events on Sunday." No additional information was given regarding the check-in procedures. A couple of coaches did not check in their athletes prior to the deadline for check-in, but later wanted their athletes to participate in the events. After initially agreeing to allow the additional entries, the referee changed his mind when other coaches protested that to allow the swims would violate the check-in procedure stated in the meet announcement. Ultimately the referee decided the athletes could swim, but they would not be scored in the event, and the swims would be treated as a time trial for those affected. Correct Ruling? Click here for answer.