Thursday, December 24, 2015

Final Reminder About Recertifications!!!

This is your last reminder about recertifications as AMS Officials. In order to be on deck as an official after the first of the new year, you must have renewed your USA Swimming non-athlete Official membership, updated your Background Check (if expiring at year end), complete the Athlete Protection Training (if expiring at year end) and completed the online tests for your various level of LSC certifications that expire at 12/31/15. 

The list posted to the AMS Officials website identifies all AMS Officials who have an issue with their certification after the new year. Officials with "issues" have been identified in red. Click here to view the list. Please complete the outstanding requirements as soon as possible so that you can officiate at our meets beginning in January. If you disagree with your listing, please contact Bob Mermelstein at bob.mermelstein@gmail.com with evidence that you have satisfied the various requirements and your LSC certification card will be updated accordingly.

Thank you for your attention to this very important matter. 

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Running on Empty...Recertification Tests Must be Taken by Year End

A number of AMS Officials have yet to recertify for their positions. If you did not take your most recent certification test in 2015, then you must recertify by 12/31/15, which will extend your certification(s) to 12/31/18. A list of all officials and the status of their recertification can be found on the AMS Officials website or by clicking here. If you're planning to retire at year's end, you can ignore this post. If you see an official on the list from your club who needs to recertify, please give them a gentle nudge.

As a reminder, the following rules apply to what recertification tests you must take for our various positions. 

Referee - A Referee must take the Referee, Starter, and Administrative Official recertification tests. This will also recertify them at the Chief Judge and Stroke & Turn levels. In lieu of the Admin Official test, the Referee can alternatively take the Administrative Referee test.

Starter - A Starter must take the Starter, Timing Judge and Stroke & Turn/Timer tests. In lieu of the Stroke & Turn/Timer test, the Starter can take the Referee recertification test to recertify for both Chief Judge and Stroke & Turn.

Chief Judge - A Chief Judge must take the Referee recertification test. This will also recertify them at the Stroke & Turn level.

Administrative Official - An Admin Official must take the Admin Official recertification test.

Stroke & Turn - A Stroke & Turn official must take the Stroke & Turn/Timer test.

As indicated above, you have until 12/31/2015 to complete the required tests in order to extend your certifications for three years. Should you have any questions, please contact Bob Mermelstein at bob.mermelstein@gmail.com.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Time to Sign Up for the 54th Annual Christmas Meet (QM15-168)

As you know, the annual Christmas Meet held at Pitt is traditionally AMS' "Officials Qualifying Meet" to get nationally certified (N2 or N3). This year's 54th Annual Christmas Meet Invitational is no exception. Dan McAllen (whom many of you met at this year's AMS Swimposium) will serve as the National Evaluator. Dan, currently the VP of Program Operations at USA Swimming, is a wonderful mentor to officials around the country and a good friend of AMS (of course, he's a Pittsburgh boy!). It will be a great opportunity to learn from one of our best officials.

In order to be nationally certified, you must work at least four (4) sessions in the position that you want to be evaluated for. Of course, no one will stand in your way if you'd like to sign up for more than 4 sessions!

You don't have to be evaluated in order to officiate. Many of our officials coming to the meet will not ask to be evaluated. That's fine and we need as many officials on deck as possible. The morning sessions are especially packed and we run the meet in both the deep and shallow ends (almost like two meets in one from an officiating standpoint). We, therefore, need twice the number of officials as we would normally.

This is a fabulous meet and your help will be most appreciated. If you work three sessions or more, you'll receive a meet Officials shirt that you can wear for years to come!

I know Pittsburghers like to be very last minute. Now is not the time to do that. If you know you're coming, please sign up at your earliest convenience. We do already have some officials coming from other LSC's and it's always a pleasure to meet folks similarly passionate about swimming on our deck. To sign up, use the link below. If your plans change and you need to modify your sign up, simply complete the application again. Your last Application to Officiate will be used to plan out the meet. Whether you plan to be evaluated or not, you must complete the Application to Officiate using the link below.

Christmas Meet Application to Officiate  12/17-20 (QM15-168):  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1gzOVq0cLkZsgXpbrG9L2RbpIlgjexNY7bgycrDKYGXM/viewform

Please note that there will be no shadowing allowed at this meet. 

Monday, October 26, 2015

Upcoming Meets

As we're now full steam ahead with our 2015/2016 SC season, consider volunteering to officiate at our upcoming meets. Here's the list of meets through December 2015 with a link to our volunteer page for each meet...

MOON Mini/Distance  10/31-11/1  http://vols.pt/41V1sN

HD Bronze  11/7-8  http://vols.pt/G8n8sU

SPAC Bronze  11/7-8  http://vols.pt/pmusKN

CVSC/USCS Silver Plus  11/14-15  http://vols.pt/UACwMt

2015 Pitt Invitational (Observed)  11/20-22  http://vols.pt/CeqAPf

WAAC Christmas Qualifier/Mini  12/5-6  http://vols.pt/iAraX6

NHA Bronze/Distance  12/12-13  http://vols.pt/MPUbH2

PRA Bronze/Distance  12/12-13  http://vols.pt/bDGwog

Christmas Meet Application to Officiate  12/17-20  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1gzOVq0cLkZsgXpbrG9L2RbpIlgjexNY7bgycrDKYGXM/viewform

This gets us through the end of the calendar year. The earlier you sign up to help at these meets, the more sleep the meet host will have knowing that their deck will be properly staffed with officials.

As always, the swimmers, coaches and parents (plus the Officials Committee) appreciate all that you do in the name of competitive swimming. Let's keep those decks filled swith officials! See ya on deck!

Friday, October 23, 2015

Reminder About Recertification

A reminder about AMS Officials recertification requirements...many officials have yet to recertify.

Every three years, AMS Officials must recertify for the officials positions that they hold. Our current certifications expire at December 31, 2015. The new online tests, based upon the 2015 Rule Book, will be available on the USA Swimming website after May 1, 2015.

If an official certified/recertified for a particular position(s) during 2015, their certification will be automatically renewed to December 31, 2018. Any certification/recertification completed prior to 2015 requires recertification during 2015 in order to extend the expiration to 12/31/18.

In order to recertify, officials at these highest levels of certification must complete the following online tests before 12/31/15...

Referee - A Referee must take the Referee, Starter, and Administrative Official recertification tests. This will also recertify them at the Chief Judge and Stroke & Turn levels. In lieu of the Admin Official test, the Referee can alternatively take the Administrative Referee test.

Starter - A Starter must take the Starter, Timing Judge and Stroke & Turn/Timer tests. In lieu of the Stroke & Turn/Timer test, the Starter can take the Referee recertification test to recertify for both Chief Judge and Stroke & Turn.

Chief Judge - A Chief Judge must take the Referee recertification test. This will also recertify them at the Stroke & Turn level.

Administrative Official - An Admin Official must take the Admin Official recertification test.

Stroke & Turn - A Stroke & Turn official must take the Stroke & Turn/Timer test.

As indicated above, you have until 12/31/2015 to complete the required tests in order to extend your certifications for three years. Should you have any questions, please contact Bob Mermelstein at bob.mermelstein@gmail.com.

Thursday, October 8, 2015

USA-S HOD Rule Changes Effective Immediately - October 7, 2015

Here's a link to rule changes passed at the recent HOD meeting for USA Swimming. Nothing major to worry about. To view the letter from Jay Thomas, USA-S Rules & Regulations Committee Chair, click on the link below...

USA-S HOD Rule Changes Effective Immediately - October 7, 2015

You'll also find this letter on our AMS Officials website on the Forms page.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Observers needed for 2015 Pitt Invitational

Every year, we are asked by outside swimming organizations (colleges, WPIAL, other PIAA Districts, YMCA) to provide observers for some of their meets so that the times from these meets can be uploaded into the SWIMS database. The first such meet of the season is the 2015 Pitt Invitational.

The Pitt Invitational is a 3-day Prelims/Finals meet held at Trees Pool on November 20-22, 2015. This is a very fast meet and a college meet so it's a lot of fun with a lot of energy. As the meet is officiated by NCAA officials, AMS/USA-S is asked to provide observers as required by USA Swimming Rule 202.7.

We are looking to provide up to 5 observers for each prelim and final session for the three days. Timing is as follows:

Friday, Saturday and Sunday Prelims     9:00 AM (report at 8:00)
Friday, Saturday Finals   6:00 PM (report at 5:00)
Sunday Finals   3:00 PM (report at 2:00)

This is a fun meet and Pitt, as always, will provide parking for our officials (I assume in the OC Lot). Please sign up for as many sessions as you can observe. Limit 5 officials per session, first come, first served. 

It's important that we support these meets. USA-S swimmers depend on our support so that there swims can be uploaded into SWIMS as a qualifying time. To sign up, use the following link to Volunteer Spot...

http://vols.pt/CeqAPf

Thanks for your support!

Friday, October 2, 2015

USA Swimming Registration Cards Will Not be Issued for 2016

As you all know, it has been AMS' practice to issue a new USA Swimming non-athlete Official member card upon successful registration each year. The card showed that you were currently a non-athlete member as well as showing the expiration date of your Background Check and Athlete Protection Training.

As our LSC certification cards, which can be printed from the USA Swimming website, reflect the BC, APT and USA-S registration expiration dates along with the expiration dates for your certified official levels, we will no longer be issuing USA-S registration cards from the AMS Permanent Office. This will save time and money in issuing these unnecessary cards.

Many LSC's across the country have moved in this direction. Our LSC certification cards will provide the same information (and more) and will get you onto any pool deck both regionally and nationally. In addition, Deck Pass provides the USA-S, BC and APT expiration dates and is also a valid form to provide to get you on deck. See below images...





Should you have any questions, please contact Bob Mermelstein at bob.mermelstein@gmail.com.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

MLAC Sunday Start Times Have Changed (10/11/15)

If you've volunteered to officiate at the MLAC First Splash for either the Sunday AM and/or PM sessions, please note that the meet times have changed due to a late noticed conflict with the school district.

The Sunday AM warm ups begin at 6:30 AM with a 7:35 AM session start time. The meet session should be done no later than 11:00 AM.

The Sunday PM warm ups begin at 5:00 PM with a 6:05 PM session start time. It is expected that the meet session should be done no later than 9:00 PM. 

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Officials Sign Ups update - 2015-2016 SC meets

All meets through December 2015 have now been added to our officials website (amswim-officials.org) and Volunteer Spot (http://vols.pt/q28pj3).

Our Officials website lists Officials Contact and email/phone contact information, as well as a link to the specific Volunteer Spot meet and a copy of the Meet Announcement. Or you can go directly to Volunteer Spot per the link above and sign up for as many meets/sessions as you'd like.

The Christmas Meet Invitational sign up is not being done through Volunteer Spot. It will once again be an Officials Qualifying Meet (OQM) where our officials can earn their N2 and/or N3 certifications (a great idea for officials with a year's experience). Their is a link to that google doc for both request for evaluation as well as just signing up to work sessions (even if you're not being evaluated) on our website.

For some unknown reason, Pittsburghers are notorious for signing on for things at the very last minute. While we appreciate all officials volunteering for sessions at any time, it would be nice to get an earlier indication of how well staffed our meets are earlier rather than later. Our meet hosts worry a lot about filling their meets with enough officials and knowing a bit earlier will provide them with more sleep than they'd get if they think they're understaffed. If you know you're available to work session(s), try your best to sign up as early as possible.

We appreciate your time and effort, as do the swimmers and coaches (most of the time). Looking forward to seeing you all on deck soon! Should you have any questions, please contact Bob Mermelstein, AMS Officials Chair, at bob.mermelstein@gmail.com.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

And So It Is...

As a follow up to the August 31, 2015 post about Ryan Lochte's now infamous swim in the World's 200 M Individual Medley, FINA has provided an interpretation of their rule SW9.1 (USAS Rule 101.5.2). To see the details of FINA's interpretation, click here.

The interpretation describes what constitutes backstroke during the freestyle leg of the Individual Medley. It says that if a swimmer leaves the wall on his/her back, they are performing backstroke.

Interestingly, if you look at the Frequently Asked Questions attached to the memo linked above, it describes what constitutes breaststroke during the freestyle leg of the IM. You may remember our discussions about this specific rule when a swimmer (actually two swimmers a few years apart at the JCCS Classic) came out of her turn in the 200 M IM and performed a breaststroke kick and a breaststroke pullout at the start of the freestyle leg of the race (the swimmers in both instances were not disqualified). There was a split in opinion as to what point an Official could conclude that the swimmer was swimming breaststroke (i.e. how many cycles had to be completed before one could determine that the swimmer was swimming breaststroke again). Well, the new interpretation indicates that the swimmer is swimming breaststroke if they complete a breaststroke kick and a breaststroke pullout, the fundamental elements of the breaststroke.

Should be some interesting discussions with Dan McAllen at the upcoming AMS Swimposium. If you have't signed up for the Officials Workshop/Luncheon, please take a few minutes to sign up now (click here for the registration form).

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

New Athlete Protection Training Now Available for Non-Athlete Members of USAS

USA Swimming has just announced the release of the new Athlete Protection Training video for upcoming renewals. For most of us, our APT expires on 12/31/15. The renewal course is a new, 30-minute scenario based course.

Completion of the APT is required by 12/31/15 for all Officials with expiring APT at that date (check online or DeckPass to see when yours expires). The renewal will be good for 24 months.

To access the new training requirement, please use this link...

www.usaswimming.org/apt

You will not receive any warning email from USA Swimming so please make sure your APT is up to date prior to the end of the year. If you have any questions, please contact Bob Mermelstein at bob.mermelstein@gmail.com or 412-867-6687.

Monday, August 31, 2015

An Interesting Thing Happened After Lochte's 200 IM Win at Worlds

Did you happen to see Ryan Lochte's gold medal swim in the 200 IM in Kazan at the World Championships? Well, you likely won't see his technique in the freestyle portion of the IM ever again as FINA ruled it illegal...

Turns out Lochte is faster streamlining on his back so he and his coach devised a plan for him to come off of the breaststroke portion of the IM on his back and swim the first 15 meters underwater while on his back. Of course, there's no question that this is a legal technique in both the Freestyle and Backstroke individual events. But there was some question as to whether the officials at World's would decide that he was swimming backstroke during the freestyle portion of the IM, which would be illegal. He gambled and the call was not made and he won his fourth consecutive World title in the event.

Enter FINA. FINA's rationale is that backstroke is defined by a swimmer traveling lying on his/her back. So, in underwater kicking on his back, Lochte, according to FINA, was technically swimming backstroke for the first 15 meters of his freestyle portion of the IM; a violation of the IM rules which require 4 distinct strokes.

Shouldn't be long before USA Swimming adopts a similar interpretation. Stay tuned.

Would you have considered his swimming underwater on his back for 15 meters as backstroke? 

Friday, August 28, 2015

AMS Swimposium Schedule for Saturday, September 19th

As we all know, the AMS Swimposium is on Saturday, September 19, 2015 at Mt. Lebanon High School. There will be two Officials sessions with a lunch in between.

The session for Stroke & Turn and Chief Judge Officials will be from 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM. The session for Referees, Starters and Administrative Officials will be from 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM. Our discussion will be led by Dan McAllen, currently the USA Swimming VP of Program Operations and former USA Swimming Chair of the Rules & Regulations Committee. It should be a very interesting discussion. Dan is a very good speaker and a great guy.

From 12:30 - 1:30 PM there will be an Officials lunch. This will be a great opportunity to spend some down time for your fellow AMS Officials. The early attendees are encouraged to stay for lunch and the later attendees are encouraged to come early for lunch.

While this meeting is not mandatory, you are strongly encouraged to attend. The balance of the Swimposium agenda has some interesting parts to it for swimmers, parents, meet directors, etc. 

Please RSVP by clicking here. I know it's a Pittsburgh thing to wait until the last minute to commit, but early acknowledgement of your plan to attend would be greatly appreciated. 

You are welcome to attend either or both sessions for Officials. Also, please let us know your plans for the lunch. This will be a very rewarding day so we hope to see you there. See you soon!

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Officials Sign-ups for 2015-2016 SC Meets

The 2015-2016 SC season is right in front of us (well, don't get too uppity, you still have time to rest). Our season kicks off, as it always does, with First Splash, hosted by four teams spread over three weekends. And then the mayhem continues for months to come!

Once again, we'll be using Volunteer Spot for our AMS Officials sign ups. Currently, all meets leading up (but not including) the Christmas meet are ready for sign up. The rest of the season will be posted soon. Here's the link to our group page...

http://vols.pt/q28pj3

Sign up early and often. Please sign up at your highest level of certification. So, if you're a Referee, sign up as Referee. If you don't want to be the Referee for the sessions you sign up for, leave that as a comment.

It's important for our meet hosts to know where their deck stands as early as possible so they know where they need to focus. It's a Pittsburgh thing to be fashionably late (or even woefully late). If possible, we'd like to try and break that mold this year to give our meet hosts time to breathe deeply without having to freak out because they have too few officials signed up as their meets approach.

As always, see ya on deck!

Friday, August 21, 2015

AMS Swimposium

AMS will once again be co-sponsoring (with USA Swimming) a Swimposium on September 19, 2015 at Mt. Lebanon High School.

As part of the AMS Swimposium, we will have a mandatory officials meeting with guest speaker Dan McAllen, currently USA Swimming's Program Operations Vice President and immediate past Chair of the USA Swimming Rules & Regulations Committee.

The tentative plan is that Dan will speak to our Stroke & Turn, Chief Judges and Administrative Officials in the morning and our Referees and Starters in the afternoon. We will host a lunch in between. AMS Officials are welcome to attend both sessions, if desired.

Details will be available soon and a sign up sheet will also be available once the particulars are ironed out.

We look forward to seeing you all soon as we prepare to kick off the 2015-2016 Short Course season. Should you have any questions, please contact Bob Mermelstein at bob.mermelstein@gmail.com or 412-867-6687.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

As per the 4/30/15 blog post, it's time to think about recertification of your various AMS Officials positions. Below is a re-post explaining what tests are necessary to recertify by the end of this calendar year...

Every three years, AMS Officials must recertify for the officials positions that they hold. Our current certifications expire at December 31, 2015. The new online tests, based upon the 2015 Rule Book, will be available on the USA Swimming website after May 1, 2015.

If an official certified/recertified for a particular position(s) during 2015, their certification will be automatically renewed to December 31, 2018. Any certification/recertification completed prior to 2015 requires recertification during 2015 in order to extend the expiration to 12/31/18.

In order to recertify, officials at these highest levels of certification must complete the following online tests before 12/31/15...

Referee - A Referee must take the Referee, Starter, and Administrative Official recertification tests. This will also recertify them at the Chief Judge and Stroke & Turn levels. In lieu of the Admin Official test, the Referee can alternatively take the Administrative Referee test.

Starter - A Starter must take the Starter, Timing Judge and Stroke & Turn/Timer tests. In lieu of the Stroke & Turn/Timer test, the Starter can take the Referee recertification test to recertify for both Chief Judge and Stroke & Turn.

Chief Judge - A Chief Judge must take the Referee recertification test. This will also recertify them at the Stroke & Turn level.

Administrative Official - An Admin Official must take the Admin Official recertification test.

Stroke & Turn - A Stroke & Turn official must take the Stroke & Turn/Timer test.

As indicated above, you have until 12/31/2015 to complete the required tests in order to extend your certifications for three years. Should you have any questions, please contact Bob Mermelstein at bob.mermelstein@gmail.com.

Happy online testing!!

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Check Your Officials Sessions Worked!

Be sure you take a few moments to check out your officials sessions worked in the Officials Tracking System (OTS) for the period from September 1, 2014 to today. 

Remember that it is our rule that all AMS Officials whose home clubs are within 60 miles of downtown Pittsburgh must work a minimum of 12 sessions at AMS sanctioned meets by the end of August 2015. This is part of our annual certification process and helps ensure that a) we are adequately staffed on deck at meets throughout the year and b) our officials are proficient through deck experience.

As always, we evaluate individual circumstances on a case by case basis. If you have a legitimate reason why you are not able to complete your minimum required sessions (this would not include "my dog ate my credentials"), please send an email to Bob Mermelstein at bob.mermelstein@gmail.com to make your case. There are plenty of Long Course sessions still in front of us so plenty of time to get caught up.

See ya on deck!

Monday, May 18, 2015

A Great Learning Experience...Again!

There must be something in the air at The Classic hosted annually by JCCS. Four years ago, a very interesting call was reviewed in theory (no call had been made but it was interesting enough that we reviewed the circumstances and options with Referees at the time)

I have often heard that lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place because the same place isn't there the second time. Well, that appears to be a false statement as lighting did, in fact, strike twice in the same place, albeit 4 years apart.

So, here's the circumstances...

The Situation: During the 200 Meter Individual Medley, the swimmer completed the butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke portions of the medley without incident. The swimmer turned to begin the freestyle leg. After the turn, the swimmer took a single arm pull followed by a breaststroke kick and then recovered his/her arms forward (one full cycle of breaststroke). At this point, s/he realized that s/he should be swimming freestyle and then swam freestyle for the balance of the leg to finish the race.

The Call: The Stroke Judge recognized that in an individual medley event, freestyle means any style other than butterfly, breaststroke or backstroke. In her thinking, a single cycle was not enough to determine that the swimmer was swimming breaststroke. And so no call was made.

The rule in question relates to 101.5 and 101.6. In 101.6, the rules state that the last fourth of the IM race must be freestyle. In 101.5, freestyle is described as "any style, except that in a medley relay or an individual medley event, freestyle means any style other than butterfly, breaststroke or backstroke".

So, here's the question. Is one cycle of breaststroke enough to determine that the swimmer was swimming breaststroke and, therefore, in violation of Rule 101.5?

Four years ago, we asked our Referees the same question and, interestingly, had a fairly even split among the Referees as to whether the one cycle was adequate to conclude that the swimmer had swum an adequate enough of breaststroke during the freestyle portion of the IM to constitute a disqualification. 

We also ran the question by the then Chair of the USA Swimming Rules & Regulation Committee, Dan McAllen. Dan said, "unfortunately, the answer to this question may be different depending on the Referee. The interpretation of the rule that applies is simply "the swimmer must be swimming in the style of a stroke other than freestyle" for the disqualification call to be made and upheld." For some, "a single breaststroke arm pull and leg kick is definitive. Frankly, while I could defend that position, for me, posing as Referee if I may, it would take more than a single arm pull and leg kick to uphold that call. Remember, the presumption, by rule, is that following a legal touch at the end of the breaststroke leg the athlete is a freestyle swimmer. While it is true that the elements of breaststroke were there, a single stroke is not sufficient to overcome the freestyle presumption in my mind. That first legal breaststroke cycle would get my attention, to be sure, but I would need to see more to decide that the athlete was actually swimming breaststroke. How much more? At least one more legal breaststroke cycle.

If the Stroke & Turn Judge believes that there was an adequate amount of breaststroke swum to determine that the swimmer was swimming breaststroke in violation of the rules, then the call should be made and vetted. Ultimately, the Referee, based upon his or her interpretation and understanding of what happened, will either uphold the call or not.

Weird that this happened again at The Classic 4 years after it last happened at the same meet. I guess we're not due to revisit this until May 2019.


Thursday, April 30, 2015

Recertification Required for all Officials Positions

Every three years, AMS Officials must recertify for the officials positions that they hold. Our current certifications expire at December 31, 2015. The new online tests, based upon the 2015 Rule Book, will be available on the USA Swimming website after May 1, 2015.

If an official certified/recertified for a particular position(s) during 2015, their certification will be automatically renewed to December 31, 2018. Any certification/recertification completed prior to 2015 requires recertification during 2015 in order to extend the expiration to 12/31/18.

In order to recertify, officials at these highest levels of certification must complete the following online tests before 12/31/15...

Referee - A Referee must take the Referee, Starter, and Administrative Official recertification tests. This will also recertify them at the Chief Judge and Stroke & Turn levels. In lieu of the Admin Official test, the Referee can alternatively take the Administrative Referee test.

Starter - A Starter must take the Starter, Timing Judge and Stroke & Turn/Timer tests. In lieu of the Stroke & Turn/Timer test, the Starter can take the Referee recertification test to recertify for both Chief Judge and Stroke & Turn.

Chief Judge - A Chief Judge must take the Referee recertification test. This will also recertify them at the Stroke & Turn level.

Administrative Official - An Admin Official must take the Admin Official recertification test.

Stroke & Turn - A Stroke & Turn official must take the Stroke & Turn/Timer test.

As indicated above, you have until 12/31/2015 to complete the required tests in order to extend your certifications for three years. Should you have any questions, please contact Bob Mermelstein at bob.mermelstein@gmail.com.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

AMS Officials Rosters Updated

As of 4/29/15, the AMS Officials rosters have been updated and can be found on the AMS Officials website. Having accurate information about our officials is very important to our meet host clubs in communicating with us about their upcoming meets.

Please verify that your certifications are correct and contact Bob Mermelstein at bob.mermelstein@gmail.com if there are issues.

http://www.amswim-officials.org/TabGeneric.jsp?_tabid_=103253&team=lscamso

Look for new information tomorrow about officials recertification requirements. Yes, it's been three years!

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Donna Beyerl Named Jamy Pfister Official of the Year

Our first ever "Jamy Pfister Official of the Year" is Donna Beyerl!

Donna has been an AMS Official for a long time and has worked more sessions than any other official this year. In fact, she worked 20 meets and 70 sessions during the 2014/2015 Short Course season alone! She has mentored/trained many of our officials, is an active member of the AMS Officials Committee and is very deserving of being named the very first awardee.

The Jamy Pfister Official of the Year award was named to honor our very own Jamy Pfister who devoted over 40 years as a swim official. Jamy has mentored many of us in AMS and around the nation over the years and has left her indelible mark on USA Swimming, both regionally and nationally. 

Donna received her award at the AMS Officiathon held on Saturday, April 18, 2015.

Congratulations Donna!

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

New and Improved AMS Officials Sign Up for LC Meets

As a result of discussions at our Referee Roundtable last night, we've modified the AMS Officials sign up to allow for better management of the meets and our volunteer officials who have signed up to work these meets.

We are now using Volunteer Spot for meet session sign ups. Each meet for the upcoming LC season is listed (except Junior Olympics, which will be posted once we see the meet structure). Please use this link to sign up for all meet sessions you can work.

http://vols.pt/jN3CL9

Please pay special attention to the meets during the weekend of July 10-12. Due to venue scheduling issues, we have three meets scheduled for that weekend. As we know, having multiple meets on a weekend during LC is a challenge and having three meets is extreme. It is important that we are sure that we have adequate coverage for these meets as soon as possible. We know it's not Pittsburgh fashionable to sign up for anything this early, but we really need to know that we can pull this off...especially for the Referee, Starter and Administrative Official positions.

As always, your time and dedication to the sport of swimming is greatly appreciated. Should you have any questions, please contact Bob Mermelstein at bob.mermelstein@gmail.com.

See ya on deck!

Thursday, April 2, 2015

LSC Officials Chairs Quarterly Conference Call

Every quarter, Officials Chairs from around the country get together via conference call to discuss the goings on around the country related to USA Swimming officials and officiating. On April 1, we had our latest call. Here are the highlights of the call...

Jay Thomas, Chair of the USAS Rules & Regulations Committee discussed briefly the new guidelines that I forwarded you a few days ago about deck changing and our recommended approach to dealing with it. He reiterated that our first responsibility was to watch the pool. He commented that if we do see a swimmer changing on deck, make a note of the swimmer/team and inform the Meet Director and/or Referee of the situation and they will follow up with the team's coach. He suggested that it probably wasn't a good idea to approach the swimmer while s/he is changing as we certainly wouldn't want to leave the impression that we're watching them change! Makes sense. It's not an area of major focus here in AMS but, with LC upon us, if it's going to happen, this is when it will happen.

Jay also mentioned that he attended the national meeting of the NFHS and indicated that there didn't appear to be any rule changes at the High School level to be concerned about.

Upcoming rules to be addressed this year involve the Board of Review/Code of Conduct, governance, eliminating timing corrections from the timing section of the rules (we'll have to wait to see what this is), trans gender athletes and the 120-day rule (when a swimmer changes club affiliation). More to come as these play out.

A reminder that the online tests administered by USAS will be down for updating at close of business on April 15 and will not be back online until May 1. If you or anyone from your club has already downloaded a test, you must complete it by April 15 or it will expire. The new tests will be updated for the 2015 Rule Book. Also, the new tests will be 1 part tests now and not 2 part tests and apparently there will be hints as to where to find the appropriate rule being covered by a question. 

Bob Griffiths indicated that Deck Pass is currently being updated to include both LSC and National level certifications.

If anyone is interested in Open Water officiating, there will be an Open Water Clinic being offered at the 2015 Open Water National Championships being held 4/24 and 4/26 in Miromar Lake, FL. 

There will be more opportunities for our LSC officials who are interested in working on a national deck. In late July, Junior Nationals (San Antonio, July 30 - August 3) and the new Futures Championships (Greesnboro, NC, Gresham, OR, West Lafayette, July 30 - August 2) are being held at the same time. As they'll need many more officials to cover all the decks, you may have the opportunity to get out on deck at this higher level. 

That's it for now. I'll update you on these issues as more information becomes available.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

AMS Officia-thon Fast Approaching

The AMS Officia-thon is scheduled for Saturday, April 18, 2015. While we're finalizing the location for the 2015 AMS Officia-thon, we wanted to provide the sign up sheet so we know what our breakout needs are. Here's the schedule for the day...

9:00 AM          Registration opens

9:30 AM          Welcome and Opening Remarks

10:00 AM        Breakout Sessions for:
                            Referees/Starters/CJ's
                            Admin Officials
                            Stroke & Turn

11:30 AM        Presentation of the Jamy Pfister Official of the Year Award

12:00 PM        Lunch and Social Time

While you can attend only one clinic this day, the individual sessions will be provided throughout the year. Look for the schedule with dates and locations.

To sign up, please use the following link...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SrVqCAlhDZYFVb54MbLdghFQ0WEjxKfYJ4wfFxVN6TI/edit?usp=sharing

This is an important annual meeting so please plan to attend. Looking forward to seeing you there!

2015 AMS LC Officials Sign Up Spreadsheet Now Available

The AMS Long Course Officials Sign Up Spreadsheet is now available. Once the Meet Announcements are available and I know the structures of the meets I can complete the spreadsheet.

Here is the link to the new spreadsheet...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mAK4iF6cZZKVo55nLFlFr_ymrklbbZM-ZuTaJfj2IXs/edit?usp=sharing

The format has changed to organize officials more efficiently to help host clubs see where they need help. Please enter your name and related information in the category associated with your highest LSC certification (i.e. Referee, Starter, etc.). For example...

OFFICIALS' NAMECLUBEMAILPHONESAT AMSAT PMSUN AMSUN PM
Referee
Bob MermelsteinWHATbob.mermelstein@gmail.com412-867-6687XX

Summer LC is always challenging as we generally have less officials available to officiate. Please try to sign up early and often so host clubs know where they need help. Thanks.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

New LSC Guidelines for Deck Changing

In September 2014, the USA Swimming House of Delegates changed the sanctioning requirements, as follows...

202.2 REQUIREMENTS FOR SANCTION — Sanctions are issued, withheld or withdrawn in accordance with the following regulations:
.1-.8 [no changes]
.9 Application for sanction must be accompanied by a copy of the complete meet announcement which must include the following:
A-H [no changes]
I. The following statement: “Changing into or out of swimsuits other than in locker rooms or other designated areas is prohibited.”

The Rules and Regulations Committee, working in conjunction with the Safe Sport Committee, Athletes’ Executive Committee and Officials’ Committee agreed on the following definition of “Deck Changing”:

The Rules and Regulations Committee, working in conjunction with the Safe Sport Committee, Athletes’ Executive Committee and Officials’ Committee agreed on the following definition of “Deck Changing”:

Deck Change - Changing, in whole or in part, into or out of a swimsuit (excluding a drag suit) in an area other than a permanent or temporary locker room, bathroom, changing room or other space designated for changing purposes while at a practice, competition, or other pool-related activity.

It is important to note that although the House changed the wording in article 202.2.9.I to “prohibit” deck changing, it had the opportunity to but did not specify a penalty for a swimmer performing a deck change.  We are put in a position where LSCs and officials are left with no direction regarding what, if any, penalty should be levied against an athlete observed deck changing.  The risk here is that there will be varying degrees of enforcement of 202.2.9.I.  In the first three months of this year we have seen exactly that.

It is the consensus of the Rules and Regulations, Safe Sport, Athletes’ Executive and Officials’ Committees that the preferred approach to dealing with deck changing is to view the change in 202.2.9.I as the House’s desire for a paradigm shift regarding deck changing: what was once considered acceptable is now unacceptable in the sport.  Our focus should be on educating our members that deck changing is not acceptable and can put our athletes at risk.  The consensus of these committees is that LSCs should be encouraged not to adopt a punitive approach to enforcing this provision of our rules but rather work collaboratively with coaches to stop instances of deck changing across the sport. 

The following is provided for LSCs consideration:

1.    Officials’ eyes should be on the pool – not looking for swimmers who might be deck changing.

2.    Should deck changing be observed, officials should not attempt to intervene to stop it, but rather note the gender and team of the swimmer as well as the location of the deck change.  Report this information to the Referee when time permits.  The Referee should work with the Meet Director and/or facility staff to communicate with the coach of the swimmer(s) that were deck changing.  This communication should provide the information and ask for the coach’s cooperation to get the swimmers to change in the designated areas in the facility.

3.    Meet Directors and Referees should ensure that the Meet Marshals and host facility staff are aware that swimmers should only be changing in designated changing facilities.  Meet Marshals and facility staff should not intervene directly with swimmers that are deck changing; rather, they should note the gender and team of the swimmer as well as the location of the deck change and deal directly with the coach in question.

4.    If the coach of the swimmer(s) is uncooperative regarding requests to comply with getting swimmers to change in the designated changing areas, report details of the instance to the LSC Safe Sport Chair and General Chair for follow-up.


Thursday, February 26, 2015

1st Annual AMS Officia-thon

We've set the date for our 1st Annual AMS Officia-thon! It's going to be Saturday morning, April 18th. The location and exact timing will be forthcoming.

The Officia-thon is designed to give us the opportunity to:

  • get our group together in one place and time on a more informal basis where we are permitted to wear something other than blue and white (though if you really love blue and white you can knock yourself out);
  • unveil our new training regimen for Referees, Starters, Admin Officials, Stroke & Turn. These breakout sessions will be simultaneous but will also be given throughout the year as Officials Clinics so that you can attend more than one. The initial schedule for Clinics will be made available, as well;
  • have some time after the training sessions to gather socially; and
  • announce/present the Jamy Pfister Official of the Year Award.
We're looking forward to getting together on the 18th. Any questions, please contact Bob Mermelstein at bob.mermelstein@gmail.com.

By the way, AMS will be holding its Swimposium on September 19th in partnership with USA Swimming. There will be a myriad of speakers, including a nationally prominent Official, as we did three years ago. More details to follow.

Monday, February 23, 2015

Observation of ECAC Championships

The ECAC Championships are being held at Pitt this weekend. This is an NCAA meet with some awfully fast swims. As in past years, the meet is being observed by AMS officials so that the times for USAS athlete members can be uploaded into the SWIMS database.

We're in good shape except for two sessions. We need one more official for Friday Prelims (10:00-12:30) and Sunday Prelims (9:00-11:00, 12:30-3:00). Please sign up using the link below...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uN05NRxZKRfJ8thxgDKr4i38QIXdMzrOUe0f5T28zIA/edit#gid=0

Friday, February 20, 2015

Maintain Your Credentials

As you know, in order to be a full fledged AMS Official, you must maintain your USA Swimming non-athlete Official membership in USAS. There are three components necessary to maintain your registration:

  1. Be sure that your club registrar (or you if you're not attached to a club) sends in your USAS non-athlete member registration application for the current year. The membership year is the calendar year so your membership should be expiring on 12/31/2015. 
  2. You must complete the online Background Check found on the USAS website at https://www.usaswimming.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=2019&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en. Background checks don't expire at the end of the year but, instead, expires every two years at the end of the month in which you successfully completed the BC.
  3. You must complete the online Athlete Protection Training found on the USAS website at https://www.usaswimming.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=2193&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en. The APT is an annual requirement and expires on a calendar year basis, as well (i.e. for currently registered non-athlete members, your successfully completed APT will expire on 12/31/2015).
It is important that you keep track of when your BC and APT expire. If they do expire, you will not be permitted on deck to officiate until they are brought current. There are a handful or so of officials who have allowed their BC and/or APT to expire. Please be sure to update them immediately so we can keep you on deck. 

Your time and dedication to the sport of competitive swimming is greatly appreciated. Hope to see you all on deck soon.

Look for news soon about our 1st Annual Officiathon to be held this spring!

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

2015 Eastern Zone Winter LC Speedo Sectionals Meet - March 26-29, 2015

The 2015 Eastern Zone Winter LC Speedo Sectionals Meet is being held in Buffalo, NY on March 26-29th. This is an Officials Qualifying Meet. Per Meet Referee Nancy Wargo form Connecticut Swimming...

We could use your help soliciting officials for the: 2015 Eastern Zone Winter LC Speedo Sectionals Meet

Our lead team is:   AO, Tim Husson     Starter, Paul Memont   CJ, Bonnie Lechten

Our OQM evaluators are Jamy Pfister and Paul Memont. 

When: March 26-29, 2015Where: Buffalo, NY - Burt Flickinger Athletic Center - Erie Community College

The application link is: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/12_B2y0eopR7XLr00JVNzHMf-KfULYdJAGLbwGS02WAs/viewform 

Thank you so much for any assistance you can give!

Best,Nancy

Upcoming Meets and Age Group Champs/Senior Champs Qualifier

We're in the home stretch. Bronze Champs are now behind us and we're headed toward more great meets to close out the Short Course season. Upcoming meets are as follows:

Silver Champs (CVSC)  2/20-22/15
     Still looking for officials for all sessions. Please sign up on the AMS Centralized Meet 
     Sign Up spreadsheet. Any questions, contact Gina Santilli at gsantilli@comcast.net.

High School/Mini Champs (MLAC)  2/28/15 - 3/1/15
     Still looking for officials for all sessions. Please sign up on the AMS Centralized Meet 
     Sign Up spreadsheet. Any questions, contact Scott Wilshire at 
     scott.wilshire@comcast.net.

Single Age Meet (SFAC)  3/7-8/15
     Still looking for officials for all sessions. Please sign up on the AMS Centralized Meet 
     Sign Up spreadsheet. Any questions, contact Cindy Hestad at chestad@sfaquaclub.net.

The AMS Championship season culminates with Age Group Gold Championships and Senior Champs Qualifier being held at Pitt on 3/12-15/15. The 11-14 year olds swim in the AM and the 10 & unders swim in the PM. The 11-14 year olds will swim Prelims/Finals and the 10 & unders and 15 & overs swim timed finals. The meet will most likely be swum only in the deep end of the pool so no need to pick a pool. Please sign up on the AMS Centralized Meet Sign Up spreadsheet. Any questions, contact Terri Cook at terricook27@yahoo.com.

We have three Last Splash meets at the end of March but I'll send out information about those meets later.

The link to our centralized sign up spreadsheet is...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14amxpxN912bDtjtW2AdcE16zWdN7msKUWOvRaGefshM/edit#gid=1718346109

Still plenty of meets left to rack up some serious sessions and help our host clubs run great meets. They can't do it without us!

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Upcoming Observations

Every year, we're asked to provide observers for the WPIAL Championships and the ECAC Championships...two very exciting meets. Every year, we've provided officials to observe these meets.

Under USA Swimming rules, a season culminating meet that is a non-USA Swimming meet, can request their meet be observed so that their USAS athlete times can be entered intot he SWIMS database. We only judge those stroke infractions where the rules for NFHS and/or NCAA differ from USAS rules. For rules that are the same, the PIAA/NCAA officials judge those strokes and we don't identify possible infractions (as we would be over officiating)

WPIAL Champs are on February 20-21 at Pitt. The AA Champs are in the AM and the AAA Champs are in the PM. WPIAL's are timed finals.

ECAC Champs are on February 27 - March 1, also at Pitt. ECAC's are prelim/finals with time trials.

Currently, the WPIAL AAA Champs are well covered and no additional officials will be accepted. The WPIAL AA Champs currently only have one observer for each session. USAS rules require a minimum of two officials (one at each end of the pool) so, at this time, these times cannot be entered into SWIMS. Folks, if you've never been to a WPIAL Championship meet, this is the best ticket in the house. In fact, you can avoid the craziness surrounding getting tickets for the stands with all the other rabid parents! Please sign up for the AA Champs as soon as possible so that we can get these times into SWIMS. Here's the link...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1F_1Xv5OY4T3QxXTS2RVrpt8PrNWOBNogdH8bx7XCjMc/edit#gid=0

Currently, we have only one official for each of the Friday sessions signed up to observe the ECAC Champs. We have no observers on Saturday and Sunday. This is a very fast college championship meet that you'll enjoy. We need a minimum of two officials for each prelim and final session. Please sign up as soon as possible so that these times can also be entered into SWIMS. Here's the link to sign up...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uN05NRxZKRfJ8thxgDKr4i38QIXdMzrOUe0f5T28zIA/edit#gid=0

I appreciate your help!