National Certification & Evaluation

Prior to beginning your journey on national certification, you must first certify as an LSC-level official. To get started, contact your LSC Officials Chair or visit the “HOW TO CERTIFY AND RECERTIFY AS AN OFFICIAL” webpage.

The National Officials Certification Program is administered by the USA Swimming Officials Committee. Its primary goal is to expand the education of officials through mentoring, participation and evaluation as well recognizing those officials who have demonstrated their knowledge of swim officiating at each level and position. Certification at any level requires a combination of several things including evaluations, local participation at meets, continuing education, and the training and mentoring of other officials.

NATIONAL CERTIFICATION PROGRAM MISSION

To develop officials who are competent, current and consistent from the LSC level meet to the highest level in our sport through a progressive training program based on an accumulation of experience acquired by specific meet attendance, mentoring and constructive evaluation.

NATIONAL CERTIFICATION LEVELS

There are two levels of National Certification – N2 and N3 – for each of 5 positions:

Stroke and Turn Judge
Chief Judge
Starter
Deck Referee
Administrative Referee
N2 for Administrative Official

Hoping to work at a national level meet? Please visit the National Meet Applications page to find information on National Meet Expectations and Selection Criteria.

Evaluation & Certification Requirements

Certification Requirements by Position Professional Documents by Position National Meet & Educational Evaluation Guidelines Evaluation Templates

Administrative Official: N2 Certification and Recertification Requirements

Stroke & Turn Official: N2 & N3 Certification and Recertification Requirements

Chief Judge: N2 & N3 Certification and Recertification Requirements

Starter: N2 & N3 Certification and Recertification Requirements

Deck Referee: N2 & N3 Certification and Recertification Requirements

Administrative Referee: N2 & N3 Certification and Recertification Requirements

The Professional Administrative Official

The Professional Stroke & Turn Official

The Professional Chief Judge

The Professional Starter

The Professional Administrative Referee

The Professional Deck Referee

National Meet & Educational Evaluation Guidelines

National Recertification Hierarchy

Admin Official Evaluation Template

Admin Referee Evaluation Template

Chief Judge Evaluation Template

Deck Referee Evaluation Template

Starter Evaluation Template

Stroke and Turn Evaluation Template

Officials Qualifying Meet List and Application

List of Approved Qualifying Meets for N2 and N3 Evaluation

Officials Qualifying Meet Application - should be submitted to HQ by LSC Officials Chair

Officials Qualifying Meet - Considerations Prior to Application

Current N3 Mentors/Evaluators

Applying for National Certification

To apply for National Certification, you must first be logged onto your account in the Officials Tracking System (OTS). If you are already logged on, click the link below to apply. If you are not already logged on, first log on and then from the menu "hamburger" in the upper right-hand corner, select "Officials" > "National Certification Application" > "Apply for National Certification."

Application

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