[Sent to Team board members, league reps, computer reps, head officials, referees, volunteer coordinators; if you receive this in error, please speak to your team's SwimTopia admin]

Dear PWSL:

I’m writing to inform everyone of training plans for summer 2026, including live training dates and times. If you received this email, there’s probably a date and time relevant to you or your volunteers. This email will also be posted to the "news" section of the website.

To do: Update key volunteers with this information, publish dates and times to the relevant volunteers. Please ensure your league shared roles on your SwimTopia site are updated, especially with current League Rep and Computer Rep contacts.

The training page of the PWSL website will be updated over the next several weeks with this info and more: https://pwsl.swimtopia.com/volunteer-and-officials...

Live Open House Q&A

There will be four online, live “open house” style Q&A sessions to ask questions, from 7pm until at least 9pm each night, with me and whichever experts from the league I can rope in. Two nights will focus on deck officials, especially new Stroke and Turn, and two nights will focus on computer reps, but I want to be clear - anyone is welcome in these sessions to ask any questions they want.

Rules, clerk of course procedures, referees, starters - all are welcome.

May 26, Deck officials - link to come

May 27, Computers - link to come

June 2, Computers - link to come

June 3, Deck officials - link to come

Clerk of Course:

I will be updating the Clerk of Course training with new, more specific procedures for deck entries and reseeding. Please watch for this update in the next few weeks.

Timer/recorder/runner:

I believe this training will remain the same or change very little; link to it in your communications with new families, encourage new volunteers to watch it before their first meets!

Referees and Head Officials:

We’re asking for ALL referees and head officials to attend an in-person clinic at 6:30 PM on May 20 at the Wellington Community pool clubhouse. In addition to refreshed referee training, we’ll be reviewing rule changes and discussing best practices on running meets, and how to best train and mentor new summer swim officials. We encourage bringing along chief judges or others from your team who might be a referee soon. We hope the lecture portion of the evening is short, so we have time to all learn from each other.

We’d love to see as many of you as possible in person; we’re hearing that the league needs more consistency in how meets are run, and getting us all together is a step in that direction. We know 100% attendance is not a reasonable request; we will do our best to simulcast the session online and record it for later viewing.

Starters:

We like to have some in-person training for starters every year, but schedules being what they are, getting trainers and space poolside at the same time is difficult. I may be able to have a training & practice session for new starters Saturday or Sunday morning over Memorial Day weekend (May 23/24); please keep an eye out for updates.

I am also available for short visits to teams during time trials on Saturday, May 30; I’d love to focus on teams who have brand-new starters who need help dialing in. (There is still recorded starter training on the league website that can help people get started). If other experienced starters are available for any of those dates, please reach out to me and Chris Oliver.

Stroke and Turn:

There will be updates to the self-directed Stroke and Turn training based on rule changes for 2026; watch for the updates. We will have online “open house” Q&A sessions for officials and volunteers, especially new Stroke and Turn, on May 26 and June 3, from 7pm until at least 9pm. Links to be sent separately.

IN ADDITION: For the first time we will be releasing a short (20-25 questions) Stroke and Turn rules test. All Stroke and Turn and Referees will be expected to pass the test and submit proof. The head official for each team can grant waivers for existing officials and USA Swimming officials can submit proof of certification in lieu of the test.

HOWEVER: We’d love to see everyone at least attempt it once! This test is not meant to gatekeep, “weed out” volunteers or add major inconvenience to the process. It’s an “open book” review of basic concepts, plus a few scenario questions. We plan to include references to the rulebook and training materials, and extensive explanations of why certain answers are correct or incorrect. We’ll even talk about the answers during the online sessions.

We hope it will be part of the training process, not a stumbling block.

Computer reps/operators:

I expect few changes to the computer procedures for this year; I’ve already put a couple changes in place on the back end and I’ll be notifying the computer reps about them. Encourage new computer reps and computer operators to use the existing training and I’ll be updating it as time allows.

There will be online Q&A with a computer focus on May 27 and June 2, from 7pm until at least 9pm; great chance for new reps to work with me; I’m also available by appointment if they need one-on-one help. Links coming later.