New Mini/Distance Meet Added to February's Meet Line Up

Hampton Dolphins have agreed to host a Mini/Distance meet on February 13-14, 2016. This had been a meet proposed by the AMS Age Group Committee but there had been no bidders.

Of course, we need officials for both the Mini and Distance portions. Mini sessions are in the AM and Distance sessions are in the PM. Use the following link to sign up for this meet...

http://vols.pt/SjUmzb

Our championship season begins the following weekend so while you're in the volunteering mood, take a look at our championship meets and sign up to do some sessions. Our swimmers have worked hard all season and these championship meets are very important to them, their coaches and families.

You can see all remaining meets by using this link...

http://vols.pt/q28pj3

As always, we look forward to seeing you on deck! Make sure your certifications and expirations are up to date.

Yes, It's 2016...Are Your Certification Requirements Up To Date??

As we've now turned to a new chapter and have closed out 2015, we look forward to the continuation of the 2015-2016 Short Course season. Once again, Pittsburgh proves itself to be a last minute community. We still have a number of AMS Officials who have registered with USA Swimming as non-athlete members but have either allowed their Athlete Protection Training to expire or not recertify for their various Official positions...or both.

Click here to see the latest list of officials, both certified and not, in club order. Is your name in red? If it is, you do now qualify as being fashionably late and can go ahead and take care of this as soon as possible. Our meets start up again this weekend and we need all the hands we can get to adequately cover our meet decks.

We have a number of officials who have retired as their swimmers have graduated and/or are no longer swimming. Please recruit your friends at your clubs to join us on deck. Good food and good company!

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. 

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.

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. 

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.