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.

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

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!

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!

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!

Request for Officials to Observe PIAA District 10 Championship Meet

The PIAA District Ten is holding their championship meet at Spire Institute on Feb 27 & 28.  They have requested this be an observed meet.  Lake Erie Swimming has requested the help of any AMS Officials that can assist in this observation.  If there are any AMS Officials that might be attending this High School championship meet from our northern tier (or anyone else who would like to help out), the meet could use your help. 

The meet times are as follows:

     Friday, Feb 27: Warm ups at 4:00 - 5:30 PM, Meet starts at 5:30 PM

     Saturday, Feb 28, Warm ups at 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM, Meet starts at 12:30 PM.

They need at least 4 officials to observe this meet. If you can help out, please contact either Chuck Kunsman (chuck163@yahoo.com) or Julie Knurek (jbkmom@wowway.com).

Upcoming Meets and Observation Opportunities

We're at crunch time now with our championship meets right around the corner. I wanted to lay out what meets are in front of us for February and also any observations that exist that could use our assistance.

This weekend is the annual Junior Olympics meet being hosted by MOON. They are still in need of additional Stroke & Turn Officials, especially during the afternoon prelim sessions and all finals. The meet is February 6-8th at MOON. If you're able to help, please go to our centralized meet sign up spreadsheet (see the link below). Any questions, contact Darryl Herman at dherman@wisintl.com. 

The weekend of February 14-15th is Bronze Championships, being hosted at three venues: ANSC, NHA and WHAT. ANSC looks to be in good shape for the weekend but NHA and WHAT need a good bit of help. Use the link below to help at any of these meet locations. Any questions, contact any one of the following Officials Contact:

• Andrea Rousseau (ANSC)  asrousseau@verizon.net
• Kristy Cloonan (NHA)  kshs19@yahoo.com
• Anne Countouris (WHAT)  acountouri@aol.com

The weekend of February 20-22nd is Silver Champs being hosted by CVSC. They currently are in need of Officials during all sessions but especially Friday evening, Saturday AM and Sunday AM. Use the link below to sign up to help. Any questions, contact Gina Santilli at cgsantilli@comcast.net.

The weekend of February 28-March 1st is the High School/Mini Championships being hosted by MLAC. They currently need officials at all levels for all sessions. Use the link below to sign up to help. Any questions, contact Jill Smolenski at jillsmolenski@verizon.net or Scott Wilshire at scott.wilshire@amswim.org. 

Here is the link to our centralized sign up spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14amxpxN912bDtjtW2AdcE16zWdN7msKUWOvRaGefshM/edit#gid=1020571576

There are also a couple of non-AMS season-culminating championship meets that have requested our observation so that their times for USAS member athletes can be entered into the SWIMS database...

The WPIAL Championships are being held at Pitt on February 20-21st. AA is being swum in the AM and AAA in the PM. The AAA sessions are full but we must have at least one additional Official for each of the AA sessions. Clearly, a better alternative to buying tickets and sitting in the stands! To sign up, please go to https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1F_1Xv5OY4T3QxXTS2RVrpt8PrNWOBNogdH8bx7XCjMc/edit#gid=0

The ECAC Championships are being held at Pitt February 27-March 1st. We need at least two observers for each session and currently no one has signed up. This is a very fast meet and a lot of fun to observe. To sign up, please go to https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uN05NRxZKRfJ8thxgDKr4i38QIXdMzrOUe0f5T28zIA/edit#gid=0

That rounds out February. Please help out if you can. These meets can really use some additional officials on deck! Thanks for all your time and effort. See ya on deck!