Officiating at LSC

Commitment

Swim meets are the backbone of a competitive swim program, as well as a source of revenue for the host club.  But a swim meet can’t happen without your help, as meets are run entirely by volunteers.  It takes approximately fifty people to run a single session of a meet, so a multi-day, multi-session meet translates to a lot of person-sessions of volunteer time!  There are some non-officiating volunteer positions that do not require training.  However, most of the positions needed to run a meet are officiating positions, and these do require specific training.  As such, we require each family to train at least one official to work on deck at our hosted meets.

At least one family member is required to participate in all meets hosted or co-hosted by LSC.  The number of sessions each family is required to work is determined early in the season and announced at the Annual General Meeting in the fall.  Over the past few years, this has typically been between eight and twelve sessions per season. 

Required Training

Each family must have at least one member complete the Introduction to Swimming Officiating clinic by the end of the calendar year in their first season with the club.  However, it is strongly encouraged that this clinic be taken as soon as possible, so that the trained members are ready to officiate at club-hosted meets.  As well, members are encouraged to take the Judge of Stroke and Inspector of Turns clinic.  Ideally, members would also take this clinic within their first year with the club, but at the very least it should be taken by the end of their second year.  Finally, the trained individual(s) should make every effort to achieve the sign-offs required for certification in the trained position(s), and thus move up the officiating ladder.

How to do it?

  1. If you're new to officiating then contact coa@lakeshoreswimclub.com to register
  2. Login to Registration Swimming Canada and follow this Registration Guide to finish the registration process
  3. For next step make sure your account is in active status. If it isn't then contact coa@lakeshoreswimclub.com
  4. Login to Education Swimming Canada and enroll in Timekeeper and Safety Marshal clinics by following this guide
  5. Successfuly finish both clinics
  6. CONGRATULATION! You're ready to get wet.

Clinics

To facilitate officials’ training, LSC will be running various clinics throughout the season. These will be added to the Event Schedule as details are finalized, and an email announcement will also be sent out.  To sign up for any clinic, please click the “Job Sign-Up” button beside the clinic listing in the Event Schedule.

Required Paperwork

All officials are required to complete the online form found here: https://form.jotform.com/SwimOntario/2019-20-official-registration

Note that there is a field at the end of the form where you can enter a "COA Email" address (pre-populated with nicole@swimontario.com).  Please  replace the pre-populated value with coa@lakeshoreswimclub.com to ensure that the club received a copy of the completed document for our records.

Hosted and Co-Hosted Meets

Usually, LSC hosts three or four swim meets throughout the year.  These range from single-session, club-only meets to multi-session meets spanning an entire weekend.  We typically have a time trial (one session of approximately three hours) in the fall, and sometimes have another in the spring.  Our signature meets, the Gus Ryder Memorial Cup and the Marilyn Bell Classic, are held annually in the fall and spring respectively.  These are three day meets, typically with five to seven sessions of four hours each.  Finally, LSC often partners with another area club to co-host one of the Central Region championship meets.  These are two to four day meets with several sessions per day, and we share the hosting responsibilities with our co-host partner.

How to Sign Up

Signing up for clinics or officiating positions is done through the web site.  Each event (clinic or meet) will have a “Job Signup” button as a part of the listing.  Clicking on this button takes you to the listing of jobs for that event, and from there you can sign up for an appropriate job.

General Sign-Up Guidelines

Positions not requiring training will be clearly marked on the sign-up page.  For positions which do require training, please make sure that you are qualified for that position before signing up for it.  Also, please sign up for a position of the highest level you are qualified to work.

For all officiating positions, please seek an evaluation whenever possible. You can find out about the proces on Swim Ontario website. The more people we get certified in each role, the more people we get moving up the officiating ladder, which in turn ensures that we will maintain our ability to host meets in the future.

Note that the position you initially sign up for might need to be changed by the official’s coordinator as the meet approaches (for example, to fill empty slots in other positions for which you are qualified to work).  However, any such change will always be to another position within the session you signed up to work, never to another session.  Thus, when you sign up to work a given session, you will be working that session, but you may end up working a different job than anticipated.

What to Wear

At LSC, we follow Swim Canada’s dress code for officials:

  • Black pants, shorts, or skirts for all positions
  • White shirts (t-shirt or polo) for timers and chief timers
  • Red shirts (preferably polo) for all other officials

In terms of footwear, black shoes are recommended, but not required.  Any sort of footwear (flip-flops, sandals, running shoes, etc.) is acceptable.  Keep in mind that you are likely to get wet, you will be standing for a significant length of time, and you will be moving around on wet surfaces.  Thus, wear something comfortable, relatively slip-proof, and as waterproof as possible.

Resources

For general questions regarding officiating, or if you have any questions regarding what clinics you should be taking, please contact the Club Officials Chair, at coc@lakeshoreswimclub.com.

For questions regarding updating or accessing your online official profile, please contact the Club Officials Administrator, at coa@lakeshoreswimclub.com.

There is also a wealth of information about officiating in Ontario available on the Swim Ontario website, under the "Officials" menu item. Specific information about Officials Development can be found at the following links: