Message from PSSA for September!
Hi all,
Passing along a message from PSSA and our officials coordinator, Earl Long. I think this is especially a great opportunity, and I think there are many of us that really do have the experience now to see certain things in swimming and be able to support the kids in learning correct technique and keep our home meets and local events sanctioned.
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Hello members of the PSSA swimming community:
The Puget Sound Swimming Association (PSSA) invites you to become a Swim Official for the 2025-26 swim season. Swim officials are one of the many ways you support your swimmers and the YMCA community. When you volunteer at the YMCA, you take an active role in bringing about meaningful, enduring change in your own community. As a volunteer, you’ll be working with other caring, committed people who want to make a difference.
Swim Officials play a key role in supporting the operation of a swim meet. Without Officials, a swim meet cannot take place. Swim Officials are the people in white polo shirts who are responsible for ensuring that the rules of swimming are upheld and that all swimmers can compete fairly in whatever events they swim. There are different officials including Referee, Starter, Place, Stroke & Turn, and Administrative Officials.
Attached are the instructions for becoming a YMCA Swim Official. These documents are also located on the PSSA website links highlighted in blue below. There will be two classes held on September 8 (via Zoom), and September 13, 2025 (in person). These are the entry level classes for:
The Administrative Officials (AO) class
This class focuses on the role of the Administrative Officials (AO). The AO is responsible for the accuracy of the swimmer’s times at the meet. They manage confirmation of official times and resolve timing Issues and manage administrative paperwork.
The Swim Official Level 1 (L1) class
This course is designed to train participants as swim officials in the areas of Stroke and Turn Judge, Relay Take-off Judge, Place Judge and Timer. The course focuses on the specific duties and responsibilities prior to, during and after a swim meet. The course also reviews the facilities requirements for a meet, swimmer eligibility, and the roles of the other officials.
Please consider becoming a Swim Official. If you have any questions please speak to your swim team’s head coach, aquatics, or branch director. You can also contact the trainers, Earl Long at [email protected] or Linda Vicik at [email protected].
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Officials are always needed to make sure times are legitimized, and we can never have enough of them; the more we have the better the meets can run!
Right now, we have the minimum to run a home meet ourselves, but I hope that we can begin to expand and be able to work together to bring bigger and better opportunities to our community. Also gaining a USA Swimming licensed official would also help to sanction our times for USA Swimming meets that do require qualifying times!
Let me know if you have any questions!
Joseph Shelly
