Officials Guidelines for Sectional Meets

Officials Guidelines for Sectional Meets

The Meet Referee

In many ways, the Meet Referee is like a captain of a large ship. He or she is the leader and has overall responsibility for the conduct of the meet. A swim meet, like the large ship, requires the skills of many people to run smoothly. The Meet Referee is the leader that organizes this team to run a safe, fair and fun competition.

You have been given the responsibility of making sure the meet runs well. That means that you also have the authority. Use it wisely.

What are the duties of a Meet Referee?

Responsibilities for the Meet Referee can be divided into three areas: before, during, and after the swim meet.

Responsibilities before the meet: In general the Meet Referee joins with the Meet Director to constitute the planning committee for the meet. This committee: o Reviews the meet announcement for completeness and consistency. o Reviews entries and timelines, e.g., compliance with 4 hour rule for 12&U sessions and any contract deadlines for use of the facility. o Develops contingency plans for meet operations to address any issues identified. o Contact the Eastern Zone Webmaster so that an officials sign up form can be added to the website. o Coordinates with the selection of a Lead Evaluator if the meet is an Officials Qualifying Meet (OQM). o Once an evaluator is selected, contact that individual and discuss the protocols that you will be using during the meet and ask for their plan for how they will be evaluating officials during the meet.

The focus of Zone and Sectional meets should be toward mentoring and developing the appropriate officiating skills necessary to work on the national Deck without compromising the integrity of the meet. The Meet Referee Should recognize the importance of the mentoring

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process and be willing to work with the National Evaluator that is assigned to the meet.

Guide/advise the Officials Chair of the sponsoring club who is responsible for recruiting officials for the meet. Activities include coordinating with the Officials Chair to: o Establish the availability of Travel, Hotel and any meals for the Leadership Team. o Ensure officials assigned to leadership positions are properly selected and informed timely of their assignments. o Determine who will enter data into USA Swimming's Officials Tracking System.

Resources available to help in recruiting officials: o Go online to the Eastern Zone Swimming page and contact the LSC Officials Chairs.

Contact the Meet Director to determine that proper arrangements have been made so that the paper work required for the meet will be available (i.e., relay Take Off Forms, DQ slips, re-seed forms, positive check in forms, Officials sign in forms, Timer sign in forms, lap counting sheets, no show slips (if used), etc.

Pool and Facility Event Planning Check List

There is an old Saying that "People seldom plan to fail, they just fail to plan". The following is a Pool and Facility Event Planning checklist to help you in making sure all of the details of running a successful meet are taken care of and there are no surprises.

PRE PLANNING Clerk of Course Hospitality Awards Staging Parade Staging Relay forms print from Hytek 2-Part DQ Forms Meet Evaluation Forms Postings-timelines, heat sheets Coaches Packets Registration Lost & Found Proof of Times Internet Access Runners Session Timers Announcer

POOL Air Temperature Water Temp & Level Chairs & Towels Guard Stands and Position Diving Board Position Deck Obstructions Backstroke Flags, Height & Position Starting Blocks, tight Centerline Rope, 50m Recall Rope Electrical Hazards Posting Locations, and number Lane Lines tight 15m Mark Pace Clocks PA System

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Athlete Escorts for Awards Leadership Team Travel Evaluator Travel LOCATIONS Coaches General Meeting Officials Briefings Hospitality Timers Awards Timing Console Clerks of Course Admin Referees Pool Staff Parade Music Announcer Hytek Operators Safety Marshalls EQUIPMENT High Speed Copier/collator/stapler Headsets 7 Batteries Warm Up Control Signs Timing System & Display Boards Watches, Check Batteries Clipboards Pencils Awards Inventoried Lap Counters, Available, good repair Bells Scoreboard

Bleacher, safety Athlete Shade (Outdoor Pools) Pool Ladders, pool area Aeration System Lighting, adequate Pool certified Awards Stand w/backdrop Athlete Seating Athlete Deck Drinks Kickboards, Paddle Buoys Time Trials Sign Up Medical Services Meet Committee Banners ? USA & Team Parking Restrictions Scratch Box w/Lock 2-part Scratch Forms Officials Shirt Ordering Heat Sheet, Seeding, printing, Timing WARM UP POOL Lane Lines tight 15m Marks Backstroke Flags, Position & Height Kickboards, Paddles, Buoys Starting Blocks, tight OTHER?

Responsibilities during the meet: During the competition, the Meet Referee's role is to ensure safe competition and consistent application of rules and procedures for all sessions of the meet. As such, the Meet Referee should be at all sessions. Meet with pool staff at the start of the meet to know who to contact in the event of an emergency and to identify and address any concerns. During the meet periodically sample coaches on the conduct of the meet to identify potential issues before they become problems that impact the competition. Your position as Meet Referee requires interaction with coaches before, during, and after the meet. Remember, no one knows what is best for athletes more than their coaches. When you have the opportunity to

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include coaches in on an important issue, especially if it could possibly impact an athlete, you should.

The Meet Referee supervises the entire Officials Team and as such: o Provides guidance to Deck Referees/Chief Judges to ensure equitable deck coverage. o Provides guidance to Deck Referees on handling "no shows" and other unusual situations. o Confirms with Timing Operator the correct setup and functioning of the timing equipment. o Establishes with the Administrative Referee to set guidance on how the administrative tasks should be handled. o Ensures breaks are available to the Deck Referee and Starter especially during long sessions.

It is recommended that a coaches meeting be conducted on the first day of competition to ensure understanding of meet procedures. Typical topics for this meeting include, but are not limited to: o Warm-up procedures o Positive check-in procedures and penalties o Scratch procedures for finals (If finals are scheduled) o Identifying potential issues, such as excess session timelines o DQ notification procedure o Athletes requiring accommodation o Since many meets are multi-day and may have two or three sessions per day, not all coaches may hear the information discussed at the coaches meeting on the first day. Distributing a short written summary of that meeting to coaches on the subsequent days will ensure understanding by all coaches.

During the actual competition, the Meet Referee shall ensure proper notification for all disqualifications. If a coach or swimmer has questions about a disqualification that cannot be satisfactorily addressed by the appropriate Deck Referee the Meet Referee shall ensure these questions are addressed and answered.

Have confidence in your staff and let them deal with issues as they arise. If you step in to solve an issue you are keeping your leadership team from leading and you are eliminating the ability of a coach to take the issue to another level if necessary.

If, during the meet, an unusual situation arises, the Meet Referee shall ensure the issue is addressed. This does not mean the Meet Referee has to come up with the answer on his/her own. The Meet Referee has the authority to make most decisions, sometimes these situations such as Coaches asking to

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change published procedures or similar issues may be resolved with a Coaches Meeting. All coaches should agree with the proposed change. The Meet Referee should engage the appropriate parties to determine a resolution. Consulting with the members of the meet committee is one way to solicit ideas for resolving the issue.

Meet Committee - Unless otherwise specified in the meet information, the Meet Committee shall consist of the Meet Director, Meet Referee, and coach and athlete members as appropriate." Glossary, USA Swimming 2011 Rulebook 2

You should use a Meet Jury to decide eligibility issues or protests during the meet. The Meet Jury should consist of three members, one Official, one Coach, and one Athlete. ? Or, one Official, two Coaches, and two Athletes. Because protests and situations that arise may involve the decisions of the Meet Referee he/she should not be a member of the Meet Jury but shall convene the Jury and will bring necessary issues to the Jury.

Responsibilities after the meet Ensures staffing information is entered into USA Swimming's Officials Tracking System. Provide a Meet Report to the Eastern Zone Officials Chair. Collect the appropriate pre-approved expenses from officials and turn them in for reimbursement to the Meet Manager

The Team Lead Evaluator

These guidelines are taken directly from the online "Mentoring Swimming Officials" webinar. The program was developed by the USA Swimming Officials Committee and identifies the primary goals of the National Officials Mentoring and Evaluation Program.

Primary Goals

Develop Swim Officials Mentor and teach officials to perform at a consistent, high level of swim officiating.

Teach National Protocols By teaching new techniques, and helping officials make those techniques a habit, it will ease entry onto the national deck. And, while, making it a pleasant experience, officiating quality and retention will improve.

Roles & Responsibilities

A Mentor can be thought of as a Partner to the apprentice official Mentors work in a supportive way to help officials learn national protocols.

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A Mentor: Recognizes officials are volunteers Encourages self-confidence Motivates an official to improve their knowledge-base and skills Creates an environment and opportunity for improvement in a positive manner Gives constructive feedback that emphasizes progress and areas for improvement Empowers each official to be successful while still maintaining their individuality ? Remembers their own first national experience and how "lost" they felt

Mentoring Skills

Mentors possess and use certain skills that make them more successful. It is a goal of the USA Swimming Officials Committee to encourage the use of these skills in the Mentoring & Evaluation Program.

Patience Try not to rush to judgment on skills or ability Allow the official time to "get it right" Try not to do it for them Be reassuring Try to find extra time to coach your prot?g?

Encouragement over Anxiety Anxiety and insecurity prevent many officials from learning new skills. They fear failure and humiliation.

instead Mentors encourage officials to believe any anxiety they feel is misplaced. They have the "right stuff;" the mentor is just helping guide their talent in a new and different direction.

Listen Listening skills are very important

Listening provides an opportunity to understand the official's desires and concerns

To do that, try to find an area for discussion that is free from distractions and interruption

Give your prot?g? your undivided attention by being focused Let the official finish communicating. Interruption is a sign that you aren't

listening Repeat the main points in your own words for clarification Ask questions if you don't understand their main point

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Ask Questions When leaders encourage a questioning culture, they put out a subtle message that builds self-esteem and self-confidence. That's when people believe their opinion matters. It's not only motivating, but builds positive attitudes and satisfaction, and a desire to participate and improve.

Frame questions in a positive way by focusing on what has gone well and then what can be improved. That way the focus remains on improvement and continuous learning.

Ask Empowering Questions, for instance, questions that facilitate thinking and helping the official discover their own answers

Possible Questions How would you describe your officiating thus far? How do you feel about your performance so far? What have you accomplished so far that you are pleased with? What key things would you like to change? Why? How are you thinking of changing that? What advantages or disadvantages do you see in changing that? What would you like to work on? What kind of support do you want?

Feedback "Seek first to understand, then to be understood." - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Use a blend of compassion, tact and diplomacy to both encourage and critique prot?g? officials

Be honest Use positive verbal reinforcement (ex. "holding up the start of the heat for

the fire engines to pass was a brilliant move.) Acknowledge and celebrate achievements Use non-verbal communication, which might include a smile, head nod, pat

on the back or even hand signals (thumbs-up, quiet clapping, fist pump)

Prepare

Contact the Meet Referee The first step after accepting to be a mentor at a meet involves Preparation.

Ask for a list of the officials seeking evaluation and get their email contact information. If a list hasn't been started, encourage that one be developed and shared with you early in he process

Agree on how you will handle the mentoring of the officials being evaluated Send a copy of your proposed evaluation schedule to the Meet Referee for

confirmation Confirm the uniform for the meet and dress accordingly and don't forget your

USA Swimming Registration card!

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Draft an Evaluation Plan If there's more than one evaluator, communicate with each other to determine who will be responsible for each evaluation Manage the workload equally between the evaluators ? preferably by position Include the Meet Referee, Chief Judge and possibly the LSC Officials Chair, as part of the communications team Try not to accept more evaluations than you can handle ? that can be a recipe for disaster for both you and the official seeking mentoring Get early approval through the OQM team for any additional evaluators

Get the Paperwork Together Review the most recent requirements for evaluation and national certification. Make sure the officials requesting evaluation are actually eligible under the guidelines. You can find that in the Professional documents for each position Get a copy of the official's previous evaluations and Detail Report from OTS. Not only can the official provide their own past evaluations and detail report, you can get the same material from the official's LSC officials chair. In some cases, you may need to contact Melissa or Bob Griffiths to get those reports. Print and review the "Professional" documents and position manuals provided in the Officials "Education & Training" section of the USA Swimming website. Use these as the standards for mentoring each official Print copies of the evaluation worksheets to make notes during your observations OR utilize another system that works for you. But please be advised that note-taking during the meet will help you in your mentoring

Contact the Officials Verify the positions each will be working, for which sessions, and each official's certification level for the position they are seeking evaluation Forward the "Professional" position document and manual to them to review prior to the meet. Remind them that information is the standard for the mentoring and evaluation Let them know you are looking forward to meeting them and partnering with them Answer (or find the answer to) any questions they may have

Getting Started

Meet Arrival Arrive prior to the initial officials' briefing. Try not to be late ? it sets a bad example Introduce yourself to those people who do not know you, including those you are not evaluating (the meet director, facility staff, etc.) Identify places where you can comfortably and effectively observe the officials as they perform their duties

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