Members Present: Jerry Geurts, Patty Kramer, Dan Lapin, Sue Taylor, Janice Noonan, Al Schmidt, Bob Schwartz, Shelia Strock, Susan Zblewski

Discussion of LSC Long Course Championship Meets, July 28-30:
 
 

LSC Designated Meet Officials:

12 & Under Meet Sue Taylor and Karen Dulin  13 & Over Meet Shelia Strock and Susan Zblewski

New Meet Format: The new format was a nice improvement. 12 & Under Meet was conducted with a Thursday afternoon session beginning at 4:30 P.M. and Friday and Saturday afternoon sessions, but no Sunday afternoon session. The 13 & Over Meet was conducted Thursday morning with Timed Final events and Prelim/Final events conducted mornings/evenings on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Time trials were available to any swimmer, regardless of age, on Sunday between Prelims and Finals, as well as following Sunday’s Finals.

Meet Committee Issue: Two coaches acknowledged errors by submitting senior event entries for 13-14 swimmers and wanted Meet Directors to re-seed the affected 13-14 year events. The Committee decided not to re-seed.

Other: Some timing system equipment operating difficulties occurred early in the Meet, but were resolved by Friday. While the Meets had sufficient number of officials on deck, several officials were observed watching the Meet in the stands. Their working on deck would have been appreciated to improve the deck coverage.

Certification Clinics: Dates, all Saturdays, for these Clinics for new Stroke and Turn Judges and for new Starter/Referees and the members available to conduct the Clinics are:
 
 

Prior to the Stroke & Turn Clinic, Zblewski sends participants: Mini USA Swimming Rule Book; Commonly asked Questions about Stroke & Turns; Important Thoughts; Resolving Timing System Errors (Examples); and Sample Test Questions. At the Clinic, each participant receives: Shadow Card (four sessions required) and USA Swimming Membership Application. After a candidate for Stroke and Turn passes the USA Swimming test, applies for USA Swimming membership, and completes his/her four shadow sessions on deck, the candidate sends Zblewski his/her Shadow Card. Zblewski then send the official his/her USA Swimming membership card, "Official" patch, and "Work Card" on which to record the required six sessions/year to continue as a certified Official.

Prior to the Starter/Referee Clinic, Zblewski sends each participant USA Swimming handouts on the philosophy of Starting and of Refereeing and the USA Swimming Administrative Test. At the Clinic, each participant gives the instructor his/her "Meet Requirement Card," indicating that the candidate has worked at least six sessions as a Stroke & Turn Judge in the last year to qualify to participate in the Starter/Referee Clinic.

Re-certification Clinics: The dates, locations, and the members available to conduct these Clinics to re-certify current officials are
 
 

Clinic Length and Agenda: The Clinics will be scheduled from 6:30 P.M. to 9:30 P.M. to allow more time for discussion. Items for discussion will include whistle starts, no recall false starts, and fly over starts.

2001 Re-Certification Clinics: Members discussed having a member of the USA Swimming Officials Committee conduct a one day Clinic and inviting coaches and other interested persons to attend. Zblewski will follow-up with the Chair of the USA Swimming Officials Committee.

Meet Marshals: Committee members expressed concern that inadequate coverage by Meet Marshals was occurring at some Meets. The Committee recommends:

• Reminding Meet Hosts that of the LSC Rule that the Meet Host provide two Meet Marshals for each Meet (Section 4.7).
• Requiring Meet Marshals to wear easily observed identification – shirt or arm band; name tag is insufficient.
• Adding to the Meet Marshal responsibilities identified in the LSC Rules, Section 4.7 coverage of the pool venue throughout the Meet, not just the pool for warm-ups, to insure that only swimmers and workers are on deck and that a safe environment exists, i.e., no glass bottles, no smoking within 50 feet of any designated contestant’s area (Section 4.10), clear pathways for swimmers, workers, and spectators, no rowdiness, rest rooms are stocked, etc.
• Recommending to the Administrative/Sanctioning Chair a $50 fine to a Meet Host for each session for which at least two Meet Marshals are not present and are not identified easily. (Addition to LSC Rules, Section 11, Fines).

Required Number of Meet Officials: LSC Rules, Section 4.4, require a minimum of three certified deck officials, as least two of which must be certified starter/referees, present on deck during a meet. While the USA Swimming Rules cite a much larger number of required officials on deck, those Rules permit assigning more than one function to an official. The Committee agrees that three officials continues to be an absolute minimum for USA Swimming Meets to insure both dual confirmation of starts and relay exchanges as well as coverage of strokes and turns. An official certified as a Stroke and Turn Judge is not certified to function as a Referee and to "whistle up." The Committee recommends a fine for a Meet sanction violation to the Meet Host of $100 for each session for which the required number and type of officials are not working on deck. Such fine would be added to the LSC Rules, Section 11. Again, Zblewski will present the Committee’s recommendation to the LSC House of Delegates at its October meeting.

Observed Swims: WIAA Girls Swimming Championships: Noonan, volunteered to observe swims at the Division 2 Meet on Friday night, November 10^th and Schwartz volunteered to observe swims at the Division 1 Meet on Saturday afternoon, November 11^th. Kramer agreed to obtain another volunteer official for each of the Meets.
 
 

Prepared by ____________________________________________ October 9, 2000

Patricia A. Kramer, Committee Member
Wisconsin Swimming, Inc.