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.

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!

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!

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!

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.

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' NAME	CLUB	EMAIL	PHONE	SAT AM	SAT PM	SUN AM	SUN PM
Referee
Bob Mermelstein	WHAT	bob.mermelstein@gmail.com	412-867-6687	X		X

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.

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.

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