Before you learn the specifics of what Officials do, you need to understand the overarching

philosophy.

It always goes back to the goal of officiating - to ensure a fair competition for all swimmers. Built

within this goal are the following standards:

• Everything is grounded in the rules

• Officials are not coaches

• Be a consistent observer

• The swimmer ALWAYS gets the benefit of the doubt

Everything is grounded in the rules. The rules determine what is allowed and what is not. The

rules are the basis of all that officials do. It is your responsibility to ensure that all swimmers are

competing within the rules. You will study the rules of swimming and learn how to apply those

rules in a meet setting.

There will be numerous cases, particularly with younger children, where a swimmer’s stroke

may appear very “ugly” but falls within the rules. If the swimmer is swimming legally, the

swimmer is swimming legally. The rules allow for a variety of legal variations of the strokes. And

there are a number of possibilities for how they are performed. It is the role of officials to utilize

their judgment to determine whether or not a swimmer is competing within the rules of the

stroke.

Officials are not coaches, and therefore should not be providing any instruction to swimmers.

Officials observe the swimmers and report infractions. Coaches help the swimmers develop to

prevent infractions in future swims.

Be a consistent observer. Officials are observers, not inspectors. It is your role to observe the

swimmers in your jurisdiction, and report any infraction if you observe something outside of the

rules. You should NOT be inspecting, scrutinizing, or criticizing the swimmers’ strokes.

Judge all lanes in the jurisdiction using an equal amount of observation time. For example,

when judging four lanes, you will spend 25% of the observation time on each lane. Even when

there are no swimmers in a lane during a particular swim, you should still spend 25% of your

time on that empty lane.

Observation should be consistent for all rules and all swimmers. The swim of a six year old

should be observed in the same way as that of a sixteen year old. Swim meets are a learning

experience, and, if a swimmer is disqualified, they will eventually learn to perform the stroke

legally. No swimmer should be held to a lower or higher standard because of their age.

You are not doing the swimmer a favor by ignoring a stroke infraction. If it’s not called, the

swimmer doesn't learn. And it goes without saying that a swimmer’s team or your relationship

to them should not play any role in your observation - even if it’s your own child!

All rules should be considered in observation, none more than others. There is no one rule that

is more or less important than any of the others. All rules are thoroughly vetted nationally and

internationally. In no case should your opinion or individual interpretation of a rule play any role

in your observation. You can’t decide that a specific violation doesn’t offer the swimmer a

“competitive advantage” and not call the infraction.

Do not infer or extrapolate. Officials must specifically, personally, observe an infraction in order

to report it. For example, in order to call a one-hand touch in the butterfly or breaststroke, the

official must observe one hand NOT touching (as opposed to simply observing only one hand

touch). You can only call what you see, not what you don’t see.

Don’t read more into the rules than is written. Remember…everything is grounded in the rules.

The rules are the basis of all that officials do. It is your responsibility to ensure that all swimmers

are competing within the rules, as written. There are also checks and balances to officiating. The

Stroke and Turn Judge notes an infraction, a Chief Judge or Referee solidifies the call with

questions, and the Referee makes a final decision whether to uphold the call.

Beware of “over officiating.” If you are spending too much time looking at one swimmer,

because something caught your eye, move on. If you want to make a call because of a “feeling,”

don’t. You must keep your observation equal and consistent. And if you cannot describe what

you observed, don’t make the call.

This leads to our golden rule: the swimmer ALWAYS gets the benefit of the doubt. If there is

ANY doubt or uncertainty as to whether or not an infraction was committed by a swimmer, do

not make a call. As an official, you may withdraw a call at ANY time - even once accepted by a

referee - if you later doubt what you observed.

Remember the goal of officiating - to ensure a fair competition for all swimmers. Be sure to give

them your best effort