Expectations of Paid Officials

Each official who works CMSL meets has a copy of this Handbook so that the official will be familiar with the CMSL, CMSL Rules of Swimming Competition (RSC) and other procedures. Listed below are some of the expectations of paid officials. Hopefully, this will help them with their job and help to make the meets enjoyable for all.

1.    The paid official must know the rules and be able to interpret them if need be. Except for the two false start rule (RSC I.A.), CMSL uses United States Swimming (USS) Rules and Regulations Technical Rules of Competition for starts, turns, finishes and strokes. We expect each paid official to know USS Rules, and to have a copy of the current USS Rules at the meets.

2.    The paid official should arrive at the pool with enough time to complete preparations and begin the meet at the designated time.

3.    The paid official is the meet referee and has the responsibility to insure the conduct of the meet follows the rules of good sportsmanship and technical rules of the meet.

4.     At swim meets: 

a.     The paid official shall briefly instruct volunteer judges and timers of their duties and jurisdiction. Also, he/she shall conduct a "watch check" before the start of the meet.

b.      The referee shall assist the stroke and turn judges in determining that the swimmers are conforming to the rules for swimming each stroke. Referees are responsible for assuring that the swimmers receive fair treatment. If a swimmer is disqualified, the referee shall ensure that "DQ" is written on the seed card and that the reason for dis- qualification is written on the back of the seed card. The swimmer shall be told orally the reason for the disqualification immediately after the race. (Writing it on the card help the coaching staff).

c.       For swim meets, the CMSL uses three watch timing to determine the places and points for each race. The referee is expected to sweep (scan) the finish of each heat and to record the sweep in writing. In the event of a single watch failure on a lane, the aver- age of the remaining two watches will be used in determining the finish. If only one watch records a time for a swimmer during a race, then the officials sweep will be used to confirm the swimmer's place in the heat.

d.      As the Starter, the paid official shall insist upon reasonable quiet during the starting
instructions and until the start so that all swimmers are assured of a fair start.

e.     For Divisional Championship meets there will be three paid officials who will act as referee, starter, and stroke and turn judges. Three-watch timing is also used at the Divisional Championship meets.