Technical Officials & Other Volunteering

A team containing many different roles is required to run a carnival. Some roles require formal training and accreditation, others don’t. Authorised meets must be staffed by the right number and type of roles in order for the results to be treated as ‘official’ by the swimming authorities.

Volunteers & Technical Officials (also volunteers) are extremely valued and important members of the swimming community. Without Technical Officials there are no swim meets, and the swimmers have no competition.  The number of volunteer hours required to run a one day swim meet is approximately 1000 hours so everyone relies on the generosity of volunteers in order to continue to provide swimming opportunities for our community.

A swim meet needs a lot of officials – in an eight lane pool at least 40 technical officials are necessary if the meet is to run well, so new officials are constantly in demand. Being an official is an excellent way of supporting your children in their favourite sport.

Find out how to become a Technical Official, the learning pathways available through your club membership, and see how you can become part of the close-knit NSW Technical Official community and make great new friendships.

Technical Officials

One of the biggest issues swimming is facing is the lack of young volunteers and officials.  Check out this toolkit designed by the Swim.Rocks digital community for ideas on engaging and developing young people into active and confident officials and volunteers.

TECHNICAL OFFICIAL ALLOWANCE SCHEME POLICY 

The MNE region relies on the contribution of our volunteer technical officials (TO) for the running of our events.  This allowance policy was developed to assist the TOs with their expenses in providing these services.  SMNE will pay an allowance for TOs who provide volunteer services at MNE sanctioned events.  Please click here to read the policy and application form.

CURRENT APPOINTMENTS

Please check our Events Page to see which Meets require Technical officials to volunteer.

Training

Online training is now available for the following positions:

Timekeeper / Chief Timekeeper

Marshal and Check Starter

Inspector of Turns

Judge of Stroke

Starter

Recorder

Dolphin Timing operatore

Available 24×7 online free of charge via the new SNSW Technical Officials’ training portal.

For people who have not done it before Timekeeper, Checkstarter and Marshall are recommended as good starting points.

Have questions or want training in other positions?

Contact Brett Patrick, SMNE ATSC Coordinator by email:   atsc@smne.org.au.

What happens after the course?

1. Candidates should gain practical experience
2. Once they are ready, they will be assessed by a SNSW assessor, usually at an SMNE meet
3. Completed paperwork is forwarded to SNSW and eventually a ‘Technical Official’ badge and plastic card will be received. Candidates are licensed to officiate as soon as they have passed their assessment.

Volunteer now  

Please check our Events Page to see which Meets require Technical officials to volunteer.

Volunteer duties

A team containing many different roles is required to run a carnival. Some roles require formal training and accreditation, others don’t. Authorised meets must be staffed by the right number and type of roles in order for the results to be treated as ‘official’ by the swimming authorities.  The duties on this page are essential duties at each carnival performed by various volunteers from different Clubs but do not require any formal training.

Description of duties

Download here.

Additional details for some roles

Runner

The runner at each meet ensures that the meet results are picked up and delivered to the appropriate technical official.   This role is a busy role but allows the runner to still watch events throughout the meet.