Prince William Swim League

Training for "wet deck" (referee, starter, stroke and turn) officials has been uploaded and is ready to use. Details on live clinics below.

Update videos for computers and clerk of course should be complete by May 27.

Thank you for giving your time to support your swimmer's team and ensure fair, smooth competition!

WED MAY 27 TEAMS MEETING

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/264856401155704?p=o8ERSL4SqranKi7HRz

Meeting ID: 264 856 401 155 704 

Passcode: f9hA9gs7

General Information:

What's new for PWSL deck officials 2026: This video and presentation (coming soon) will cover changes to Stroke and Turn training, as well as some new rules that affect officials for summer 2026.

If you're a deck official, and you only have time for one thing, watch this video. This video is not required for other deck volunteers.

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Older information 2025: What's new in the PWSL this year (2025 edition). This 16 minute video explains the new paperwork you'll be seeing on deck: "Heat Sheets" and "Timer Sheets" will be replacing our old deck cards and psych sheets.

While this is no longer "new" information for anyone who was around during the 2025 season, it can still be a good refresher if you've been away - or an introduction if you've never volunteered at a swim meet.

The SwimTopia mobile app will have all the information you need on meet day.

Watch this brief overview video from SwimTopia

and

Read more about the app's features for families here.

This information is not changing for 2026 - if you're a new parent volunteer, get a head start on learning about timers and recorders

Timer and Recorder training video

Timer and recorder slides

This video is more or less a 25 minute timer brief; it was made for the 2025 season so it treats timer sheets as "new".

For runners - the deck runner will only be gathering timer sheets and taking them to computers after every ODD NUMBERED EVENT. This will mean a lot less moving through the lanes! 

NEW Clerk of course presentation for 2026!

This is a 20 minute presentation, along with slides and notes, with best practices for the clerk of course to handle reseeds and interact with the referee. 

If anyone needs a refresher on how preseeded meets work, you can find last year's presentation and training materials below.

Referees and computer reps may find this presentation useful; instructions for the use of reseed slips and reseed situations can be found in the referee and computer rep training materials.

2026 Clerk of Course video presentation

2026 Clerk of Course presentation slides

2026 Notes for reseeding - applies to Referees, Clerk of Course, and Computers

*NEW* Stroke and Turn training requirements

1. Take the PWSL online S&T training - includes information and rules videos from USA Swimming.

2026 PWSL Stroke and Turn training video

2026 PWSL Stroke and Turn Training slides PDF

Open the PWSL training video and the PDF slide presentation together. The video narration will be presenting directly from the same PDF. When the narrator asks you to watch the linked USA Swimming video content, PAUSE the PWSL video; go to the PDF and open the indicated video. After the USA Swimming video concludes, return to the PWSL video and presentation.

2. Pass the PWSL Stroke and Turn test and upload results (upload details follow)

NOTE: This short quiz is NOT meant to be a stumbling block, but a continuation of your learning. Some of the questions may seem tricky, at first; some are scenario-based and may take some time to answer.

Use the references listed with each question, and after you select an answer, read the "tips" that appear under each answer; they explain why the answer was correct or incorrect, and give more detail about how the question relates to what you see on deck. Take the test as many times as you need!

3. Apprentice on-deck with a veteran official at time trials/meets as assigned by your team's head official.

4. Once the official is comfortable on deck, and the team's head official has deemed them ready, they can work on their own as Stroke and Turn.

Officials Certified by USA Swimming (Potomac Valley or Virginia) can upload proof of certification and skip these steps.

Head officials can waive these requirements for longtime/experienced PWSL officials.

Uploading proof of S&T testing/certification

Visit the Google Form at this link. Select your team name, fill in your own name, and your email address; then upload a screen shot either showing a passing score on the PWSL S&T test (70%, 16/22 correct), or proof of your USA Swimming Certification. This information will be shared with your team's lead official.

PWSL S&T Test score:

USA Swimming Certification: Not your membership card/dashboard, which doesn't show certifications; click on "My Official History" and take a screenshot of the "LSC Certifications" tab, shown below:

Other S&T resources:

USA Swimming 2026 Mini-rulebook - The stroke rules are the most relevant to summer swim, but section 101-105 all have info you might want to know.

USA Swimming Stroke and Turn Situations and Resolutions - an invaluable resource for translating “Swim English” into “Real English,” as well as answering questions about unusual situations.

Stroke briefing - taken from the USA Swimming stroke briefing, but simplified to remove references irrelevant to the PWSL. 

PWSL Bylaws - 2025 revision, 2026 coming soon

*NEW* Officials Training info for 2026:

IN PERSON REFEREE CLINIC: We’re asking 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; the current plan is to record the session for later viewing for those who can't attend live.

Referee clinic presentation slides PDF can be downloaded here.

2026 Notes for Reseeding - applies to Clerk, Referee, and Computers - read to understand how reseed slips move around the deck.

LIVE online Q&A sessions for officials/computers: There will be live online "open house" style Q&A sessions at the following dates and times. If you aren't available the night of your "focus," come to one of the other nights - all questions are welcome at every session.

MICROSOFT TEAMS LINK WILL BE EMAILED TO TEAM LEADERSHIP, AND POSTED HERE 15-20 minutes BEFORE THE START OF EACH MEETING. 

WED MAY 27 TEAMS MEETING

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/264856401155704?p=o8ERSL4SqranKi7HRz

Meeting ID: 264 856 401 155 704

Passcode: f9hA9gs7

May 27, Focus on Computers - 7-9 PM

June 2, Focus on Computers - 7-9 PM

June 3, Focus on Deck officials - 7-9 PM

It's highly recommended that all returning officials at all positions watch the short "2026 What's New video," the S&T video, and that all officials watch the position-specific training for a refresher at their positions.

Starter

IN-PERSON STARTER TRAINING: Saturday, May 23 at Central Park Aquatics Center in Manassas. Arrive between 10:45 and 11am; we'll go over the starter hardware and microphone, the mechanics of the start; and then you'll have the chance to observe and to get live practice during an unsanctioned "fun" meet for younger developmental swimmers - this will be very similar to the swimmers you deal with on a summer deck!

The recording below is a starter clinic held before the 2023 PWSL season; also watch the two USA swimming official training videos and read the linked materials. More than any other job on deck, the starter requires live practice. Get as much "live" practice as you can with the starter mic and system, whether it's at time trials or on your own.

PWSL 2023 Starter clinic recording

PWSL 2023 Starter clinic slides

USA Swimming training video - "The Start."

USA Swimming training video - “Other Starter Instructions”

USA Swimming training video - "Philosophy and Protocol." - this is an older USAS training video, but the advice in it is timeless. If you have time to watch the whole thing, great; if not the whole video, we especially recommend the first 6.5 minutes. (BONUS - identify all the illegal swimsuits!)

USA Swimming Situations and Resolutions: Starter and Deck Referee

Rappahannock Swim League - Starter quick reference

Referee, Chief Judge

You can find previous versions of the referee training slides at the bottom of this page.

USA Swimming Situations and Resolutions: Starter and Deck Referee

Referees should also review:

1. The full Stroke and Turn training, including stroke videos, linked above. If you're pressed for time, at least review the PDF and watch the stroke videos.

2. The USA Swimming Starter training videos, linked above.

3. The training videos for Clerk of Course and timers/recorders/runners. These will give you an idea of what everyone else on deck is doing and looking at; the CoC video also has some guidelines and rules of thumb for when you're reseeding swimmers.

The job of a chief judge is to assist the Referee and oversee the other judges on deck. Part of their role is taking calls from the ST judges; some referees may allow them to accept calls and sign DQ slips on their own.

The CJ should have a superior knowledge of the rules and conduct of the meet; they should be reviewing the stroke rules often.

Example Heat Sheet

Under "Officials Training Files" below, you'll find an "Example heat sheet." Note that the meets this year will be seeded the day prior - heats and lanes assigned to all swimmers.

So the paperwork provided to officials will be "Heat sheets," listing the participants in each heat in order, and their assigned lanes. We won't be using the "psych sheets"  that just ranked swimmers fast to slow.

Some benefits for officials:

1. You'll know how many swimmers are scheduled to be in each heat.

2. If the referee needs to reseed a swimmer, they can find a scheduled empty lane for that swimmer.

3. When there's a disqualification, you can mark the specific event/heat/lane on your paperwork, and match that event/heat/lane with a swimmer name, which should result in fewer errors when matching DQ slips to swimmers.

For 2026: There's a few procedural updates for computer reps to be aware of. Read this and let John know if there's any questions!

On-demand video training:

Full computer Rep training: For your team's primary computer staff. Everything involved in setting up the meet, running the meet, and what to do after. Approx 1 hr. 40 min.

Meet day computer operator training; a 32 minute excerpt of the above video, only covering meet day tasks. You should plan to use a combination of this training and "on the job" learning. It's not hard, one meet may be enough for you to master the  meet day tasks!

Please follow along in the Computer Operations PDF and find the links to swimtopia training inside. Please allocate more time to your learning to watch online SwimTopia help, training and webinars.