Leeland Station Swim Team

Certified Positions:

Referee - The Referee is the final authority on all decisions and questions during the meet. The ref has full control over all other officials, including their assignment and instruction before and during the competition. The Referee must be thoroughly familiar with all applicable RSL rules, meet procedures, and the duties of all officials, and is responsible for ensuring fair and proper competitive conditions throughout the meet. 

The Referee runs the meet by signaling the Starter when the pool is clear and ready for each heat and ensuring Stroke & Turn Judges are properly positioned. They have authority to decide any matter related to the conduct of the meet and to make the final determination when there are differing opinions among officials. The Referee may intervene at any stage of competition to ensure rules are followed and fair racing conditions are maintained. The Referee signs all disqualification (DQ) slips and may overrule a call if it is deemed invalid or improperly recorded. They may also disqualify a competitor for personally observed rule violations. 

At the conclusion of the meet, the Referee signs the official score sheet.

(The home team provides the Referee for the meet, 1 for each half)

Admin Referee- The visiting team provides an Admin Referee at every away meet to assist the Referee. Admin Referee must have all the same qualifications as Referee.  (1 for each half)

Stroke and Turn Judges - The Stroke & Turn Judge is responsible for ensuring that all swimmers perform their strokes and turns in accordance with RSL rules. They must have a strong understanding of competitive swimming techniques and the rules governing each stroke and turn.

Judges observe competitors in their assigned area to ensure all applicable rules are followed. Upon observing a violation, the judge immediately raises a hand to signal the infraction, completes a disqualification (DQ) slip, and presents it to the Referee for concurrence. (Each team provides 2 judges per half)

Starter - The Starter ensures each heat is conducted in a fair and equitable manner while helping maintain the overall pace of the meet. The Starter announces each event, including the stroke(s), distance, and heat number, and calls swimmers to their starting positions.

Upon the Referee’s signal of readiness, the Starter assumes complete control of the swimmers until a fair start has been achieved. The Starter gives the command “Take your mark,” allowing sufficient time for all swimmers to assume a still starting position before initiating the start using the starting system. If a false start occurs, the Starter immediately recalls the swimmers using the starting device, whistle, or other appropriate signal. (The home team provides the starter, 1 for each half)

Head Timer - The Head Timer leads the lane timers’ meeting prior to the start of the meet, instructing all lane timers on their responsibilities and timing procedures. They assign timers to lanes as needed and distribute and collect timing equipment, including watches, Time Drops buttons, pencils, and clipboards, while ensuring all timers’ watches are functioning properly. 

The Head Timer works with the Referee and Starter to confirm that timers are ready for each heat and operates two backup stop watches for every race in case of an official timing failure. (The home team provides the head timer, 1 for each half)

Clerk of the Course - The Clerk of the Course is responsible for organizing swimmers by event number and lane assignment and seating them on the staging benches. Once swimmer attendance and proper heat seeding are verified, the Clerk of the Course escorts swimmers to the starting blocks in a timely manner. 

The Clerk of the Course also coordinates with the Announcer to call upcoming event numbers to staging and to identify and call for any missing swimmers as needed. (Each team provides a Clerk of the Course, 2 for each half)

Scorekeeper - The Scorekeeper will be a tech savvy individual who is responsible for managing the meet using the Meet Manager software. The first-half scorekeeper prepares for the meet by printing all heat sheets, reports and setting up and synchronizing the Time Drops system with Meet Manager.

During the meet, the scorekeeper monitors the import and validation of Time Drops data from the Time Drops operator, enters swimmer disqualification codes, and prints ribbon labels.

The second-half scorekeeper must remain present through the conclusion of the meet and beyond as necessary to ensure all results are validated and submitted to the RSL. (Each team provides a Scorekeeper, 1 for each half)

Safety Marshal - The Safety Marshal is responsible for overseeing swim warm-ups in coordination with team coaches and ensuring all RSL safety measures are followed. The Safety Marshall will patrol the pool deck and bathrooms during the meet to ensure there are no hazards to athletes and that all safe sport guidelines for athletes are met. The Safety Marshal may also be asked to distribute water bottles to all volunteers as needed during particularly warm evenings. (The home team provides the safety marshals, two for each half, one male and one female safety marshal)

*Time Drops Operator- The Time Drops Operator is responsible for confirming proper connection of the Time Drops tablet and Time Drops timing devices and ensuring the system remains synchronized with the current event and heat throughout the meet. The Time Drops Operator notifies the Scorekeeper of any discrepancies between expected and actual swims and works with the Head Timer to replace any malfunctioning buttons as needed. (The home team provides the Time Drops Operator)

*To be Certified for the Time Drops position, please take the Head Timer Training. While this training may not directly cover how to operate the Time Drops System, please use the resources provided to watch available videos and review applicable manuals for how to operate the Time Drops system. 

Non-Certified Positions:

Lane Timer - The Lane Timers are responsible for recording as accurately as possible the swim time for the swimmer assigned to their lane. Three Lane Timers are required per lane. Every Lane Timer will operate a timing device to officially record a swimmer's time during their heat. The head Lane Timer for each lane will hold the clipboard with swimmer's information to be verified at the start of each heat and record official swim times onto the heat sheet. Stopwatches or timing buttons are provided; a required timer's meeting is held usually 15-20 minutes before the start of each meet by the Head Timer. (Each team provides 9 Lane Timers per half for a 6 lane pool)

Announcer (experience helpful) - The Announcer is responsible for making official meet announcements prior to and during the swim meet in accordance with RSL procedures (copy of required meet statements will be provided). The announcer will provide updates on team scores at the meet while also working with the Clerk of the Course to announce missing swimmers from the heat line-ups. (The home team provides the announcer, 1 per half)

Heat Ribbon Winner- The Heat Ribbon Winner gives out heat winner ribbons to the swimmer who finishes first in his/her heat; this is based on "best guess" or visual cues and will not take into consideration any possible DQ's. (The home team provides the heat ribbon winner, 1 per half)

Award Clerk - An Award Clerk will attach top swimmer placement labels for places 1 through 6 for each event onto the placement ribbons during the meet. This individual is responsible for sorting and organizing the ribbons as the labels are generated. This is a second half of meet position only. (Each team provides 1 award clerk)

Runner-  The Runner will collect DQ slips from the Referee/Admin Referee and time sheets from all lane timers and deliver them to the scorekeeper throughout the meet. (The home team provides the runner, 1 per half)

Concessions: Home Meets Only

Concessions - Concessions volunteers will run the concessions stand during home swim meets. We offer hamburgers, hotdogs and a variety chips, drinks and candies to all guests of the swim meet, the sales of which greatly benefit our team (three to four workers per half) 

Grill Master - Cooks hamburgers and hotdogs on the gas grill. (One per half)

Snow Cone Operator- Operates the team snow cone machine at the concessions stand (One per half)