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Update

September 13, 2023

Officials Clinics & Level 2 and up Certification update

Updated September 14

September 14 update

The Referee and Starter clinics are now available for instructors. Please visit the google folder for details.

Officials Clinics - update

Swimming Canada has recently shared the PowerPoint presentation and Quizzes for the 2023 updates to the officials clinics. The following clinics have been updated:

  • ​Intro to Swim Officiating, Safety Marshal, NEW - Inspector of Turns, NEW - Judge to Stroke, Chief Timekeeper, Administrative Desk (formerly known as Clerk of Course) & Chief Recorder-Recorder (formerly known as Recorder-Scorer) & Meet Manager.
    • ​These clinics have the new rules incorporated. In addition the Strokes & Turn clinic is now two separate clinics (see below for more details on this change).
  • Three clinics remain to be updated (CFJ/CJE, Starter & Referee)​. We anticipate the Starter and Referee clinic before the end of week. Check the google folder for the latest updates! The CJE/CFJ will take longer as the wording of the rules have changed but the overall theory remains the same on how to determine a time for each race, whether as a CFJ or a CJE.

Please contact officials@swimontario.com for the link to the Google folder. It has not changed from previous seasons and is available on the updates page for a COA account. COC​/COAs can share this link with Instructors to allow them to download the necessary material for their presentations.​ Please make sure to use these clinics moving forward.

​A few notes

  • The Stroke and Turn clinic is now separated. Two different folders​ in the google drive.
    • As individual clinics, the recommended running time is 2 hours for each clinic. If you run them back-to-back, the instructor can likely save 30 minutes for the JS clinic since some of the introductory information is repeated.
  • The Administrative Desk (formerly known as the Clerk of Course) now has an Intro clinic and an Advanced clinic. It is recommended to begin with the Intro clinic.
  • Updated Quizzes were not provided - I left the old quizzes in the hopes they match the quiz found in the presentations.

As part of our continued improvement of clinics, we need feedback! Instructors can provide feedback via the online form https://form.jotform.com/SwimOntario/clinics-instructor-feedback


​Officials Clinic Management​

A reminder that all clinic deliveries must first be approved on the Learning Management System (LMS) PRIOR to the clinic. Please make sure to register the clinic details on the LMS for approval. Officials can then register via the LMS, the COC or instructor can log attendance on LMS and the COA can send the information to the RTR from the LMS hence avoiding having to enter the details manually into the RTR. Instructions can be found in the various documents listed below

​RTR and LMS changed due to the Inspector of Turn and Judge of Stroke Clinic separated

At the start of last season, the national certification pathway was updated to require 2 deck evaluations at turn judge and 1 deck evaluation at stroke judge for Level II certification. This was without the RTR being able to record those evaluations. The RTR is now updated to reflect the updated clinics being split into separate material for Stroke Judge & Turn Judge. The COA will now be able to track these deck evaluations for each of the positions.

The following changes have occurred with the RTR and LMS:

  • Both the Inspector of Turns Clinic and Judge of Stroke Clinic will have their own clinic in the LMS and the RTR. For any official who took the original Judge of Stroke/Inspector of Turns, that credit will still appear in both the LMS and RTR.
  • In terms of the RTR/LMS display of JS/IT clinics:
    • For anyone that previously completed the combined clinic, it will appear as it always has in the RTR and LMS as a combined clinic. Those officials and COAs will see the new individual clinics as options in the list of clinics available.
    • For anyone that has not completed the combined JS/IT clinic, only the new separated clinic names will appear as separate items in the RTR and LMS. Those officials and COAs will not see the combined clinic option.
    • The combined JS/IT clinic will not be available in the drop down list for the creation of a clinic, only the individual clinic names.

Beginning September 1, 2023

  • A certification for level II will now require 1 deck evaluation as a Judge of Stroke.
  • Any request for Level III, IV and V certification will require 1 deck sign-off in the Judge of Stroke position if not already received as part of Level II certification

More details will be provided at the Seminar & Webinars.

The Swim Ontario website will be updated with this information this week.

FAQ

What does this all mean for the COA / Official

Why is Swim Ontario adding this requirement for those that have already taken the combined clinic and received 2 deck evaluations but not reached Level II certification? The current Certification Pathway and the change for level II certification has been in effect since September 2022. Swim Ontario did not implement it as there was no way to track it back in September of 2022.

How will COAs track the 1 deck eval for Judge of Stroke for someone that has taken the combined clinic? The COA will add the Judge of Stroke clinic with the date the combined clinic was taken and enter the deck eval.

How will COAs track the 2 deck evals for Turn Judge for someone that has taken the combined clinic?
The COA will add the Inspector of turn clinic with the date the combined clinic was taken and enter the deck eval (s). If one has already been entered, we will ask the COA to duplicate this record for the turn judge position.

I know that one of my deck evals was for Judge of Stroke. How should my COA track this for me? The COA would add the two clinics with the date of the combined clinic and enter the appropriate deck evals.

How will this be tracked on the certification card? It won't unless someone adds the information. The certification card dates back many years prior to all the changes in the past few years to the certification pathway. Swim Ontario continues to encourage clubs to use the On-Deck Evaluation Form to keep track of all deck evaluations received at their hosted competitions. This ensures the COA will have the information to add to the RTR.

My club does not have Judges of Strokes positions. How can I get the certification? Swim Ontario encourages all clubs hosting meets to have two Judge of Strokes in all sessions. This might mean that you have less ITs at both ends but the training and competition value would be greatly increased by having Judges of Strokes.