Lap swimming etiquette (Page 2)

Ah yes, the official koolaid line of a swim official.   The craziest officiating I ever did was for a meet of para athletes.  I was just lost trying to figure out what was a violation and what wasn't.  For those who wonder, the rules are exactly the same......go try to work what is a stroke violation out for a kid with one arm.  In the end, I wasn't about to DQ anyone swimming a 1:05-1:10 100 with one or or leg. I was in awe of those kids.

Article 105 of the USA Swimming Rules is actually pretty specific about how you should judge permanently disabled or impaired athletes.  In very simple terms, if a limb is either permanently impaired or missing, then you don't judge it.  

I've worked a number of meets with physically & mentally challenged swimmers, both kids and adults.  The coaches normally will meet with us ahead of time to discuss any challenged swimmers.  In some cases we can make accommodations, for example, switching lanes for hearing-impaired swimmers so they can better see the starter's hand signals.

The two things that my officiating mentors always reminded me of were that "a stroke can be ugly but not illegal" and "the swimmer always gets the benefit of the doubt". 

At the same time, if you see a violation, then it's your responsibility to call it in order to maintain a fair competition for all the athletes.  Actually, the system has an inherent bias toward the swimmer.  If a Stroke & Turn judge misses a call within his assigned jurisdiction, then that's it, another official can't call it, even if they witness a clear violation.  On the other hand, if a S&T judge makes a call, the Deck Ref can still overturn it.      

Mark