Officiating

Welcome to the 2023-2024 Swim Season.  Whitby Swimming is a non-profit organization run by parents for the benefit of all swimmers in the club. Parental involvement creates a fun and inviting environment for our swimmers, contributes to the success of our swimmers and keeps fees lower. We fill over 500 positions when hosting a large, 3 to 4 day swim meet, so for us to successfully host these meets, we need as many members as possible registered as officials, taking clinics, and moving up the officials’ ladder. Swim Ontario provides detailed clinic titles and descriptions; you can check them out here: Officiating Positions and Job Description. 

Questions?  Contact [email protected]

To learn more about officiating and how you can climb the ladder visit swimontario.com.  

Officiating at WS Hosted Meets

This year we have a very ambitious programme for meets.  The meet schedule will include but is not limited to the following meets:

  • October 28 - 29, 2023 Pan Am Open 2023 - Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre
  • February 29 to March 3, 2024 - Winter Ontario Swimming Championships (OSC) – Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre
  • July 4 to 7, 2024 - Summer Ontario Swimming Championships (OSC)   –   Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre

In addition we have a series of racing opportunities for our swimmers that will be conducted during normal training sessions.

  • November 7 TPASC - Tuesday Night at the Races I
  • November 21 TPASC - Tuesday Night at the Races II
  • December 22 AOP - Friday Night at the Races I
  • February 24 AOP - Saturday Fun Day 1
  • March 23 AOP - Saturday Fun Day 2
  • March 26 TPASC - Tuesday Night at the Races
  • May 14 TPASC - Tuesday Night at the Races VI
  • June 11 TPASC Tuesday Night at the Races VII

Each family is required to work a minimum of nine (9) sessions at 2023-2024 swim meets, and only the Pan Am Open, Winter Ontario Swimming Championships and the Summer Ontario Swimming Championships count towards sessions worked. (*As of Feruary 24 on-wards, in-house time trial events count as a session worked towards the annual family goal.) Each “session” is 4-5 hours of time commitment. Many families exceed the session commitment each year helping Whitby Swimming achieve excellence in hosting meets leading to a special recognition award from Swim Ontario in 2017.

 

 

Other Officiating and Volunteer Opportunities

To stay up to date with 2023 - 2024 information and visit the Swim Ontario site.
 

Officials Clinic Information

All new families are required to attend the “Introduction to Officiating/Timing” clinic and are encouraged to take the “Strokes and Turns” Clinic before mid-November.  Returning families are required to have at least one member who has taken the Judge of Stroke and Inspector of Turns (Strokes and Turns) clinic by mid-November. Families are encouraged to take one or more new clinics per season and to work at the new positions to become a level II or III official. The club must have a certain proportion of officials at each level to host meets sanctioned by Swim Ontario.

A reminder to Level 3, 4 & 5 officials,  it is recommended to attend the referee clinic every two years to ensure referees are up-to-date with current rules and regulations.

 

Additional Clinic Information

Want to attend a clinic at another location?  Upcoming clinics in Ontario.  Note: you can use the little drop down box to filter for Central Region clinics. 

Once registered as an official for the swim season online courses for Intro to Swimming Officiating and the Safety Marshal Clinic are available through the Swimming Canada E-Learning Site. ***NEW Chief Timekeeper is now available on E-Learning*** You will need to use your officials login (different than your swimmer's login) to login to the training.