SENT ON BEHALF OF ANCC SWIM TEAM "Swim Officials Wrangler", John Fitzgerald:

CCSDA OFFICIALS SWIM CLINICS DETAILED INFORMATION BELOW

Hello! My name is John Fitzgerald and I am the “swim officials wrangler” for the ANCC Swim team! As part of ramping up for our swim meets this summer, we of course, need officials to make the meets happen and run smoothly. 

There are four primary roles that officials serve at our meets: 

1) Stroke & Turn (S/T) Judge – S/T Judges make sure that swimmers follow rules for stroke mechanics, perform legal turns & conduct legal relay hand-offs (We typically need at least 2-3 S/T judges at each meet) 

2) Referee – Organize the execution of the meet; coordinate the various S/T judges and starter to keep the meet going; validate and approve identified disqualifications (DQs) with S&T judges. Must also be certified as an S/T Judge with at least 2 years of S&T experience (1 Referee is required for each meet) 

3) Starter – Starts each race to make sure the swimmers get off to a quick, legal start - coordinates closely with the Referee to efficiently execute meet activities; must also be certified as a S/T Judge with at least 2 years of S&T experience (1 Starter required for each meet) 

4) Relay Take Off (RTO) Judges – Where possible, we prefer our RTOs to be certified S&T officials. The RTOs make sure that all teams have clean and legal relay exchanges. 

If you are a newly certified S&T official, these are great chances to get comfortable as a judge down on the swim deck! 

Training and Certification Requirements: CCSDA offers yearly training sessions to certify. You only need to attend one session for the respective role you are looking to get certified for in 2026. Certifications last for 2 years, so you won't have to re-certify again until 2028. 

If you have current certifications and are an official with NVSL, MCSL, PVS, USA Swimming, et., these will qualify for CCSDA, so please reach out to me to confirm certs with these leagues. 

Upcoming Clinic Dates (Virtual and Live) – MS Teams Information (for Virtual) Provided later in May 

1)CCSDA Stroke & Turn Judge Clinic (VIRTUAL) Time: May 21, 2026 (THURSDAY) 07:00 – 09:00 PM ET 

2)CCSDA Referee/Starter Clinic (VIRTUAL) Time: May 28, 2026 (THURSDAY) 07:00 – 09:00 PM ET 

3)CCSDA Stroke & Turn Judge Clinic (LIVE – AT POOL) Time: May 30, 2026 (SATURDAY) 09:00 AM – 11:00AM ET Location: Congressional CC (8500 River Rd, Bethesda, MD 20817) 

4)CCSDA Stroke & Turn Judge Clinic (VIRTUAL) Time: June 9, 2026 (TUESDAY) 07:00 – 09:00 PM ET 

5)CCSDA Referee/Starter Clinic (VIRTUAL) Time: June 11, 2026 (THURSDAY) 07:00 – 09:00 PM ET 

6)CCSDA Stroke & Turn Judge Clinic (LIVE – AT POOL) Time: June 13, 2026 (SATURDAY) 09:00 AM – 11:00AM ET Location: Wash Golf CC (3017 N. Glebe Road, Arlington, VA  22207) 

For parents that are taking the training/certifications for the first time, we will provide opportunities to "shadow" more experienced officials at our meets to help you feel more comfortable with the role you are taking on --- whether S/T Judge, Referee or Starter. For those who were competitive swimmers in the past, we highly recommend you consider helping out, at least from a Stroke/Turn judge perspective, as you likely have good residual stroke/turn rule knowledge :). 

For new officials wanting to Start/Referee, it's recommended to get a year or two of experience as a S/T Judge to get a feel for the meet execution before taking on Referee/Starter duties as well. 

If you decide to take the training, please contact me afterwards with your full name, contact info (email/cell phone) and what certification session you attended. If you can’t attend the CCSDA dates, there may be other local league online sessions you can attend. 

If interested, please let me know. 

One last note - We can't get meets started if we don't have officials!!!! It's really helpful to have a broad pool of certified parents so we can share the load, balance schedules and vacations, and run efficient meets for our kids. Even apprenticing the first year and shadowing other experienced officials is definitely encouraged!!! 

Please contact me (John Fitzgerald – ANCC Swim Officials Coordinator) with any questions and to get on the email lists for virtual training information and meets: 

Cell: 703.963.0302        Email: [email protected] 

Thank you!!!!

John