Our team is a year-round competitive USA Swimming team offering high quality, professional coaching and technique instruction for all ages and abilities. The goal of our team is to promote a lifetime of wellness through the sport of swimming in a safe and inclusive environment. 

Why Should I be a Stroke and Turn Swimming Official?

Perhaps because I swam for 14 years and my parents were officials for 13 of those 14 years, I have always thought that any parent would want to become an official. In an effort to help LMAC grow, I’ve given some thought and had some help from my friends who are officials, to come up with reasons why any swim parent might want to dive into the position of a Stroke and Turn Official for Life Time Mid-Atlantic Swim Team.

First, there is no doubt that officials have the best view in the pool.  Being right down there on deck, in the middle of all the excitement is always more pleasant than the hot, stuffy, bleachers in most pools.  While, officials are not allowed to cheer, or show any kind of impartiality on deck, they do experience the excitement of watching their kids, up close and personal, making great starts, turns and finishes.  Furthermore, after being around pools for most of my life, I can honestly say that time passes much more quickly as you work through a heat sheet on deck, engaged and involved, than in any other activity as a spectator.

Second, I can think that parents would love being a Stroke and Turn Official is to better understand their swimmer’s world.  Learning the rules and techniques required of each of the strokes/races truly puts you in a great position to discuss (not coach) your swimmer’s challenges, successes, and yes, sometimes failures.  The role of a Stroke & Turn Official is partly instructional. By catching infractions, we are enabling coaches to have a teachable moment with that swimmer, and hopefully improve their next performance because of it.

Finally, a very big reason you should consider being a Stroke &Turn Official is that your kids and your team need you!  A meet cannot run without a minimal complement of officials and timers, and while anyone can serve as a timer, having a roster of qualified officials is imperative. PVS has stated that those teams which don’t ‘pull their weight’ with officiating will be fined.  This means, that as our team grows, and we have more kids participating in meets, we MUST provide more officials on deck. 

Please consider coming out to the training clinics that are coming up (the schedule can be viewed by clicking here).  You do not have to commit to becoming a full-fledged official at that time, but you will get all the information you need to decide if this might be a way you can help your child and the team. 

There are no costs involved in becoming S&T Official. PVS will reimburse you the background check fee, which is required after you are fully certified, once you work a qualifying number of sessions.  And you will be trained extensively on deck before you are expected to ‘make a call’.  

PVS Officials are able to be officials for their summer league teams without having to do any further training as the summer leagues including ODSL, CSL, NVSL, MCSL, and HCSL use the USA Swimming rule book and videos when training their officials.

Please feel free to talk to me about any questions or concerns you have regarding officiating. 

Coach Heather