Officials' Clinics Sign-Up

Hello Swordfish Families!

We have the dates for the in-house Officials' Clinics to be held over the next few weeks. Attending an Officials' Clinic is one of your commitments to the swim club. Karen Hawkes will be at the SAIT poolside Thursday and Friday night, May 7&8, where you can sign up, or you can respond to her via e-mail at kdhawkes@telus.net and indicate your name, and the course you would like to attend. The courses will be held at SAIT. We do not have confirmed rooms at this time but will let you know soon. All courses will start at 5:00 pm and will be approx. 2 hours in length.

Tuesday/Wednesday, May 12th or May 13th - Level I Safety Marshal, Marshal, & Time Keeper - If you are new to the sport of swimming, this is the first course you should attend. There are 3 Timers required at the end of each lane during a meet. Marshalling duties may include maintaining a safe swim environment around the pool, organizing the swimmers for their races and delivering swim cards.

Wednesday - May 20th - Starter - The Starter works closely with the referee, and assumes responsibility for the start at the referee's signal.

Tuesday/Wednesday - May 26/27th - Stroke and Turn Judging - (you must attend both nights). The Stroke Judge ensures compliance with the rules pertaining to the mechanics of the swim, such as the arm stroke and kick. The Turn Judge is responsible for judging the starts, finishes, and turns during each race.

Thursday, May 28th - Chief Finishing Judge - the role of the Chief Finishing Judge is to determine the validity of swimmers' times

you can attend the Officials Clinic on Saturday, May 9th, held at the Calgary Winter Club (free of charge and you do not need to register beforehand).

*All courses will be offered with the exception of referee. Level 1 timing, Chief timer, Clerk of Course, Meet Manager, Starter, Chief Finish/Recorder Scorer. The Swim Alberta site may be down for sometime so you can also download the clinics from the Swim Canada site www.swimming.ca under officials.

(Note: The Clerk of Course is also a good beginning course to take if you like organizing information. The position involves checking swimmers into the meet, "scratch" swimmers that are absent, and seed swimmers according to their entry times).

Registration is not required unless you are a candidate for referee. If you are a candidate for the referee clinic, please contact Pat Lata directly at patsy.lata@shaw.ca

*WHAT TO BRING: Course materials and questionnaires may be downloaded from the Swim Alberta website at www.swimalberta.ca. Click on “Officials Clinic PowerPoint Presentations” or “Level 1 Officials Clinic Presentation”. Please note that the Stroke and Turn clinic is 64 pages long, so you may want to shrink it to 6 slides per page. For the Level 1 clinic, please print both the clinic guide and the exam. There will be no materials available at the clinics. Please print your own to bring with you.

There will also be a SWAD (Swimmers with a Disability) clinic for those interested.

If you require further information please contact Pat Lata at patsy.lata@shaw.ca.

If you have any questions, please see me poolside or send an e-mail to the address below,