Welcome to HSC's Officials page.
"Officials" is the umbrella term for the Timekeepers and licenced Technical Judges who ensure that races / results are (1) accurate and (2) fair. Each time Hitchin Swimming Club enters any licenced swimming meet, a condition of our entry is that the club is required to supply a number of its own qualified officials. Without those officials, Hitchin would not be permitted to enter, and our swimmers would simply not be able to compete. Please scroll on for more on how to become one and help the club!
The Club currently has 7 active licenced Judges who regularly officiate at meets, and 4 trainee Judges working towards their licences, they are:
- Deborah Pollard JL2S
- Sarah Larkham JL2
- Andrew McGowan JL2
- Karen Cropley JL1
- Leo So JL1
- Lisa Hiemstra JL1
- John Hudson JL1
- Russell Edwards JL1T
- Alex Greenwood JLT
- Peter Vegh JL1T
- Gareth Llewellyn JL1T
We also have a team of excellent Timekeepers who record the times at certain lower level meets including HSC Club Champs and certain team competitions like Peanuts League:
- Abigail Cross
- Karla Cross
- Chloe Llewellyn
- Annelise Finlayson
- Ben Finlayson
- Martin Holland
- Donna Marchant
- Jon Morley
- Sarah Mathias
- Kirsty Leggat
- Georgina Quayle
- Ellie Squires
- Alex Wardrop
- Charlotte Clark
- Sophie Clark
- Gail Litterick
- Dawn Barnes
- Coralie Seary Morris
- Muriel Scott
Training to be an Official:
We heartily welcome any potential new officials, and absolutely no prior knowledge of swimming rules is necessary or expected. Full training and mentoring is provided and you will only officiate "alone" when you are ready.
The role of Timekeeper is used in lower level meets (level 4) where no automated timekeeping is in place - Usually restricted to Club Championships and Peanuts / Major League only.
Judge Level 1 is the first level of the licenced Technical Official roles, and licenced Judges can be used at any and all levels of meets, from Club Championships to the World Championships and every event in between. It includes the role of Timekeeper, but also others like Inspector of Turns, Chief Timekeeper, etc.
We ALWAYS need more people to train as Judge level 1, so please think about coming and joining the team! It's interesting, enjoyable and beats sitting in the stands. Remember that absolute beginners are very, very welcome.
More information for potential volunteers:
FAQs: What skills might I need to be a Judge? What's the training like and how long is it? What are the positives of being a Licenced Official? Are there negatives? All answered here:
What does a typical day as a Technical Offcial at a meet entail? Will it drag me away from my swimmer? All answered here:
/erhsc/UserFiles/Image/QuickUpload/a-day-as-a-swim-official_069430.pdf
Useful resources for licenced or trainee Officials:
Officials Central repository at British Swimming:
https://www.britishswimming.org/browse-sport/swimming/officials/
HSC's training guidance for new trainee Judge Level 1s:
Training guidance for Judge Level 2.
British Swimming records page (For uploading qualification certificates using your Swim England account)
https://www.swimmingresults.org/
https://www.swimmingresults.org/
World Aquatics rules
https://www.worldaquatics.com/rules/competition-regulations
Swim Meet – (Browse for events to attend, should you ever wish or need to do more hours!)
https://swim-meet.com/Availability/
