To: All Gulf Officials

From: Brian Walls (Officials Chairman)

The following information is being provided to help clear up some of the questions I have received regarding the certification of officials in our LSC.

The official's website page on our LSC website has a lot of useful information for both new and experienced officials.

The first section: Officials Training Clinics, takes you to the screen where you can signup for available training clinics.

The second section: Certification Procedures - Select the "Non-Athlete Registration Form" and it takes you to the fillable form. Select "Concussion Protocol "and it takes you to the USA Swimming Website link for taking the online course. Select "Athlete Protection Training" and it takes you the USA Swimming website where you can take the Athlete Protection Training Courses. Select the "USA Swimming On-Line Officials Tests" and it takes you to the USA Swimming website where you can take the officials tests.

The next sections list the certification guidelines, training logs and evaluator list for each Gulf LSC Official Certification level. The guidelines tell you what you must do to be listed as "AP" for that certification level and what AP officials must do to be certified as Qualified. The training log is not a meet referee recommendation. The meet referee submits a different certification recommendation form to the official chairman. The training log is designed to give AP officials feedback on what if any skills they need to improve to be certified as qualified.

Officials need to look at the certification guidelines to determine the certification requirements for each specific certification level. However, the certification process follows the same general format for each level.

Once the official attends a training clinic and passes an on-line officials test for a specific certification level, the officials chairman will classify the official as "AP". The AP Official then is required to work a minimum number of training sessions in the specific position.

CERTIFICATION AS QUALIFIED IS NOT AUTOMATIC AFTER COMPLETION OF THE MINIMUM TRAINING SESSIONS.

Once an AP Official has worked the minimum number of training sessions and feels they are ready for certification, the AP Official should request a certification recommendation from the meet referee. The meet referee has no way to find out how many training sessions each AP official has worked. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the AP official to inform the meet referee that they have completed the minimum number of training sessions and request the meet referee to submit a certification recommendation.

Two meet referee recommendations are required for advancement to qualified for each certification level. For all certification levels above stroke & turn, one of the two recommendations must be from one of the meet referees listed as an Evaluator on the Gulf Website for that specific certification level. If the meet referee agrees to submit a certification recommendation for you, then the AP official should follow up with either the meet referee or the official chairman within a week or two to verify that the certification recommendation was submitted.

If you have any questions about your specific certification status, please don't hesitate to contact me at [email protected].