Minutes of Officials Committee Meetings
MINUTES OF
PVS OFFICIALS COMMITTEE MEETING
January 24, 2007
Members present: Jim Van Erden Chair, Boots Hall (via teleconference), Jim Garner, Denice Wepasnick, Bob Brofft, Tim Husson, Ron Whalen, Dick Griffith, Pam Starke Reed, Jim Thompson, Jack Neill, and Rita Page.
The meeting convened at 6:45 pm at Jim Van Erden's Office in Arlington, VA.
Clinics: Pocket sized USA Swimming Rule books are needed to ensure new officials have them to complete the online tests. Jim will order 300 of the 2007 books and Denice has about 100 of the 2006 books. New certification cards were printed and Denice has some and mailed the rest to Boots’ old address. Bob Broftt will go by her old house to see if he can get them. New clinics have been scheduled for February 24 at the Freedom Center for Starter and Stroke & Turn. We need to schedule more Hy-Tek and Colorado clinics. Denice will check with MLK to try and schedule for February 17, 18 or 25. Early May would be a good time to do clinics @ GMU.
Boots will look into when the NEW S&T DVD’s are coming out.
We need to get some new instructors on board. Boots will create a checklist for things to cover at PVS clinics. Jack Neill and John Ertter were recommended to start helping with Starter clinics by observing at other clinics. Both teach clinics for summer and high school leagues. Currently MCSL Instructors are Jim Garner, Frank Magnanelli, Denice Wepasnick and Dave Mengering.
Jim Van Erden has the whistles to give new referees. Dick Griffith and Ron Whalen need to get some from him.
National Certification: Senior Champs has been approved for N2 certification. March meet in Maryland ran an N3 meet and sent out invitations. Officials must request an evaluation before the meet in order to be observed. Jo’s will be staffed by the Officials Committee.
Officials Travel Reimbursement: It was decided that there is a need to establish a policy regarding reimbursement for travel reimbursement. We need to establish which meets are eligible and publish an annual list. Items such as how much to reimburse and whether not to cap reimbursement were discussed. It was suggested:
- That there be a 3 meet maximum per person per year for meets outside the LSC.
- Limits should be placed on the number of person per meet or a maximum dollar amount per meet.
- Officials should apply after being accepted to work the meet and budget $250 per meet.
- Officials should submit request within 30 days following the meet.
Jim Van Erden will send an update using these suggestions and send them to Jim Garner before the next Board Meeting.
Dive-Over Starts: We discussed updating the Dive-over Protocol to adjust to what is actually happening at meets. Jim Van Erden stated that the short whistles should be blown at the 1st or start end flags and not before. The long whistle should be blown at the finish and not before the last swimmer touches. Jim Thompson will update the protocol. While these starts were not intended to be used for the finals heat of meets, the finals heat of swimmers at the Dolan meet were not getting out of the water so the referee decided to leave them in and start the next heat.
The timer situation that seems to work best is to have 2 timers per lane and one use the watch and the other write while both use the buttons. The timer briefing needs to be updated to include the dive-over start protocol and should list 2 options one with 2 timers and one with 3. Meet manager should make the decision. Also should include asking the timers to assist swimmers if there is a “step down” command given. While checking the swimmers name they should not delay the swimmer from getting on the blocks.
Officials Tracking: Jim Thompson reviewed the numbers of officials working meets according to his database and reported that all data is still not getting to him. Jim Van Erden wants Rita to send him a list of the numbers of people attending each clinic taught to date.
Jim Van Erden said he would be sending in shirt sizes for members of the Officials Committee.
New Business: Dick Griffith suggested trying to get more sites for the Open meets we hold each year to help reduce the timelines at these meets. There were injuries during warm-ups at MLK.
At George Mason during a meet a parent slipped past the referee to speak to the Hy-Tek operator to have a time changed. While this is an isolated event, officials need to be aware and table workers need to be made aware not to make any changes without the referee’s consent.
Some coaches or meet managers are not following the meet announcements and breaking some rules. They are jeopardizing their sanctions.
Meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm.
Next Meeting: April 11, 2007 at Jim Van Erden's Office.
Respectfully submitted,
Rita Page
Committee Member