SUBURBAN AQUATIC LEAGUE Representative's Handbook This document describes the duties of a Team Representative.
PURPOSE
The purpose of a representative is to represent Club Boys' Team or Girls' Team at League meetings and to act as a liaison between the Suburban Aquatic League and the representative's club.
GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES
The team representative's responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. Serve on the League Executive Committee and attend the Spring, Fall, Championship Seed, and other meetings throughout the year as notified by League President/Secretary as a representative of Boys' Team and/or Girls' Team of the representative's Club. As Club representative, you: o Vote on changes to the SAL constitution o Vote for officers of the League o Vote on motions as presented at League meetings o Offer recommendations/suggestions/motions at League meetings 2. Sign a written release for a swimmer/diver who changes from your team to another (conditions are specified in the League Constitution) 3. Re-read the SAL Constitution & US Swimming rules at the beginning of the season to become re-acquainted with league rules, requirements, and procedures. Be sure that your coaches and member families are aware of the league rules that often cause confusion, including the eligibility rule for championships (40% of dual meets) and the registration requirement (new athletes must be registered with league at least 10 days prior to meet participation). 4. Check the league web site regularly for the latest information about league events. Be sure to check the accuracy of information about your club, including the contact information in the SAL Directory, and send any corrections to the league webmaster and league secretary. 5. Be sure that Team Rosters and Roster Updates are provided to the SAL registrar as required by the SAL constitution. Be sure to pay careful attention to the requirements for adding new athletes to the league roster. Rosters are to be submitted in electronic format as provided by the Team Manager software. 6. Ensure that an alternate team member represents the team in the event of the league representative being unable to fulfill the obligations of the position. BEFORE A HOME MEET RESPONSIBILITIES
Contact the visiting team's representative as early as possible in the week of a home meet and verify:
1. The time for diving warm-up and diving start 2. The time for swimming warm-up and swimming start 3. In the event of a postponement, the representative must contact the visiting team's representative and agree on a new meet date. (Although coaches do not handle this, they should be consulted) 4. Note: The coaches contact each other concerning the number and events for unofficial heats. Remember that the number of unofficial heats is generally restricted to a total of 15.
DAY OF A HOME MEET RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Act as host/hostess for the meet. The league representative (or someone appointed by her/him) should be available throughout the meet to help solve any problems. Representatives should be guided by the following principle: "Common sense and courtesy will resolve almost any problem". 2. Ensure that the league constitution, league records, and the US Swimming Rule Book are available at the scoring table before and during the meet. 3. Ensure that the necessary paperwork, computer disks, and table workers for the meet are at the scoring table at least 1/2 hour prior to the scheduled start of the meet. There are penalties listed in the league constitution if the meet does not start on time. 4. If the diving events have occurred earlier, be sure that arrangement have been made so that the diving results will be available to the scoring table at the beginning of the swimming meet. 5. If a league record has been broken (or tied) during the meet, the documentation must be submitted along with the meet results to the Registrar. The proper documentation is a copy of the print-out from the automated timing system, signed by the timing system operator or copies of the timing slips signed by all three lane timers. The Starter/Referee must also sign whichever of these two documents is provided. 6. When the final score of a meet has the teams differing by less than eight (8) points, an event by event audit is conducted by the referee and the coaches of the teams. The league representative must still ensure that the meet results are provided on time to the appropriate registrar and to the team's next opponent.
AFTER A HOME MEET RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Ensure that the official printed copy of the meet results (i.e., the Meet Results Report and the Score Report provided by the Meet Manager software) is signed by the starter/referee. This OFFICIAL COPY of the Meet Results must be archived along with all paperwork from the meet (e.g., print-outs from automated timing system or timers' slips, judges' slips) and brought to the Championship Meet Seed Meeting. 2. Meet Results must be provided to the league Boys/Girls Registrar in one of the following ways: o By Mail: A diskette containing the meet results, in the proper format provided by the Meet Manager software (i.e., a "CL2" format file), along with a paper record of the team score of the meet (the Score Report provided by Meet Manager) can be mailed to the appropriate registrar. This MUST be postmarked no later than the Monday following a meet and sent by first class mail. o By Email: The electronic file containing the meet results, in the proper format provided by the Meet Manager software (i.e., a "CL2" format file") may be sent as an email attachment to the appropriate registrar. Because that file does not contain the team scores, the body of the email must also provide the team scores. The email must be sent by the Tuesday following the meet.
If results are not provided to the registrar on a timely basis, those times for the home team are disallowed as Top 40 qualification times.
The meet results must be distributed to other SAL teams in one of the following ways: o By Mail: A copy of the meet results may be mailed to the Head Coaches of each of the other teams in your division. This MUST be postmarked no later than the Monday following a meet and sent by first class mail. o By Email: The meet results may be sent as an email attachment to the head coaches of the other teams in your division of as a READABLE Meet Results Report produced by the Meet Manager or Team Manager Software (This must be a readable Meet Results Report (i.e., a MS-Word or HTML format document created by the software, NOT the "CL2" or "HY3" format files that the software exports for other purposes). This email must be sent by the TUES following the meet. o By Posting on your Clubs' web site: You meet your obligation to distribute meet results if your team posts meet results on a club web site by the TUES following the meet AND if you have arranged with the league webmaster for there to be a link to those posted results from the MEET RESULTS PAGE of the league web site. Results should remain available until the conclusion of the season. o By Providing the results to the SAL webmaster for posting on the league website: This must be done EXACTLY as described on the Meet Manager Protocol/Procedures page of the SAL website by the Tuesday following the meet.
Ensure that both visiting coach and home coach receive copies of the meet results in both electronic (exported cl2 format file) and paper format.
Report any major and/or unresolved problems to the League Girls/Boys President for further review.
Ensure that one paper copy of the Diving Results is sent directly to the Diving Registrar. This may be a copy of the Meet Results Report provided by the Team Manager software for the diving events, or a copy of the traditional paper Scoring form for diving.
AFTER AN AWAY MEET RESPONSIBILITIES
1. The Meet Results must be provided to your team's next opponent as described above (Note that if a host team arranges for meet results to be posted on the SAL web site, then no action is required by the visiting team. However, it is the visiting team's responsibility to confirm that their results were distributed in this manner). PROBLEMS:
The League Representative refers unresolved meet problems by telephone to the appropriate President (Girls' or Boys') within 24 hours of the conclusion of the meet.
A written notice should be addressed to the appropriate President, postmarked not later than seven (7) days after a meet. The grounds for a protest must be set forth in full (Refer to the league Constitution for details)
REMEMBER:
A League Representative must not interfere with the running of a meet. The representative has no authority to overrule a decision by a Stroke/Turn Judge, Place Judge, or Starter/Referee.
The SAL Rep's Handbook was originally written by Helen Burke This page was last revised on