MSC Ops Blog

Minimum Officials Requirements For Very Small Meets

When running a meet for a twenty or less swimmers, each swimming only one or a few events it can be difficult to justify let alone recruit a complete set of officials (there are approximately 30 officials at a large meet).  Luckily, the rules allow the referee to assign multiple roles to an official when such roles are not in conflict.  Many of the roles can also be executed either prior to or after the actual swimming of heats.  This allows a small meet to be run with a smaller number of officials than would be required to efficiently officiate a larger meet.  The following guidelines are intended for small meets, perhaps held during workout time slots, that are limited to twenty swimmers, swum in two to four lanes of the pool, with each swimmer only swimming one or a few events.  Such meets are particularly useful when offered by clubs in areas with a limited number of meets within easy driving distance, and for swimmers whose schedules preclude attending regular meets.

The officials roles for a card meet that does not use electronics are: meet manager, referee, starter, recorder/scorer, clerk of course, turn judges, stroke judges, chief finish judge, chief timekeeper, safety marshal, and a minimum of two timers per lane but preferably three (one of which is head lane timer). For a very small meet a marshal is not necessary.

Four positions have dedicated roles during the meet that are best not combined with one another, these are listed in the first column.  Possible double roles are indicated with an asterisk.

Primary Roles	Turns Judge	Chief Finish Judge	Recorder	Meet Manager	Clerk of Course	Safety Marshal
Referee	*	*	*	*	*	*
Starter	*	*	*	*	*	*
Stroke Judge	*	*	*	*	*	*
Chief Timer		*	*	*	*	*

The turns judge role can be combined with the strokes judge, or the referee or starter can act as a turn judge for one end, provided the starter is also a qualified turn judge. The only position that should not act as a turn judge is the chief timer.

The only duty of the finish judge is to calculate official times, this can be done after the meet by any of the officials, likewise the duties of the recorder.  The calculation of official times from the three timer's times can be automated into the data entry system if desired.

The meet manager normally has no significant duties during the course of the meet so that role can be played by any official trained for the role.

The clerk of course duties can largely be carried out prior to the meet and the chief timer can play a role in keeping the heats organized during the meet if required and there are no tight time constraints for the meet.

Duties of the Safety Marshal take place during warm ups and so can be performed by any official.

For a small meet with only two lanes the four officials plus 6 timers should be sufficient.

For a four lane meet there should be two stroke and turns judges for six officials, and 12 timers.

For a meet that only involved long distance freestyle events the strokes judge can be eliminated and the referee and starter can each take one end of the pool to act as stroke and turn judges as the stroke judging is very limited and it is only necessary to ensure swimmers touch the wall on turns.

Posted at 08:09PM Aug 31, 2008 by Lindsay in General  |  Comments[0]