Waves - please read the following email sent to me over the weekend from our head official.  Thanks in advance 

Please thank all the parents and volunteers for a great meet on Saturday.  However,  despite your email last week, a couple of parents repeatedly questioned the officials concerning a disqualification of their child.  Please remind everyone again that only the team representative or coaches can talk to the head meet official (which will be me at the next meet).  No-one should talk to the deck officials about a disqualification or infraction directly.  If a parent is unhappy with an officials call, please address your concern to Heather only.  This is an NWAL rule.  It is important because the officials can't be distracted or they will miss the next swim.  We are all volunteers who are trying to help your children learn and are doing the best we can.  Of course we make mistakes but that is a part of any sport and of life.  Sometimes you get a bad call.  There is a no video tape review rule so please do not bring a video to anyone to review.  This is designed to prevent hours of extra time every meet which would be miserable for everyone.  I believe it is as important for swimmers to learn the lesson of good sportsmanship and to respect the referees as it is to compete.  I would also like to remind parents that this is summer league and not extremely competitive.  Let's have fun and teach our kids great swimming, team effort, respect for others and giving your best effort despite occasional unfair calls.  

If parents approach the officials again, I will have to ask them to leave the meet.  If they do not comply immediately, I will have to disqualify their swimmer or swimmers for the remainder of the meet.  This will also delay the meet as we cannot continue until they leave the premises.   My officials and I are here to watch our children swim (we disqualify each others kids all the time), help the kids get more proficient in their strokes, and to have fun.  If the officials have to deal with angry parents, no-one will want to volunteer.  Any parent who has concerns about our officiating should contact me so that I can help you sign up to be an official for next season to make us even better.

Thank you for following these basic rules.

Sincerely, 

Glenn Bricken

Waves Head Official