Help Wanted with Timekeeping!

Just a reminder that we always need parents and swimmers to act as timekeepers! This helps ensure our races run as smoothly as possibly on Saturday mornings.

Things work best if we have non-swimmers doing the timing, but if you are swimming as well as timing, it is a good idea to team up with someone that swims different heats to you.

Timing is very easy to do – just pick a lane and press the buttons on the blue stopwatches when your swimmer touches the wall.

The final step is to write down the times on the stopwatches onto the time sheet, in case we need to refer to them as a backup.

Most importantly, if you’re called to swim while you are timekeeping, don’t just leave the lane. Grab another person to take your place or let the chief timekeeper know you need a replacement.

Each week we need someone to act as the Chief Timekeeper. This role sounds fancy but it’s quite simple too. The Chief Timekeeper gets to hold the walkie talkie and answer queries from the club room about times in particular races.

You can nominate to act as Chief Timekeeper using the duty roster function in this week’s event on TeamApp.

More on time keeping

DSC runs meets using our own specialized database and the Dolphin wireless timing system. The system is operated from the club room by the Race Secretary and Club Room Technicians in conjunction with the pool deck officials – the Marshall, the Starter, the Referee and the Timekeepers (with one timekeeper acting as a Chief Timekeeper). Club meets run smoothly when all officials are able to focus and coordinate their activities. The Timekeeper role is responsible for recording swimmers’ times in their lane – electronically with the stopwatch and in writing on the timesheet. Occasionally, we have problems with the Dolphin wireless system and accurate written timekeeping is the single best way to make sure that our swimmers’ times are recorded as accurately as possible.

Before racing starts

• Report to a lane
• Check that the lane has:
  • a folder with a timesheet and sharp pencils,
  • write the lane number on the timesheet, 
  • two (2) operational blue dolphin stopwatches.
  • check that the stopwatches have the same number as the lane
• Check that you know who is acting as the Chief Timekeeper
• Confirm that you know what the format of the race is,
• Communicate verbally to the Chief Timekeeper that everything is in order with your lane so we can start…

We’re off and racing

• Confirm what race is coming up. If it’s a 50M race (or a 30M or 20M race) head down to the shallow end,
• Once you are ready, verbally signal to the Chief Timekeeper that you are ready. The Chief Timekeeper will signal to the Starter once all timekeepers are ready,
• If you have no swimmer in your lane, write NS in the row for that race
• One the race has started check that the timers are working and that time is ticking away,
• As the swimmer is nearing the finish step up to the edge of the pool so you can clearly see the swimmer touch the wall,
• Hit one or both of the black buttons on the stopwatch as the swimmer touches the wall
• Write the displayed times down on the timesheet in columns A and B in the row for that race (double check that you are writing the results against the correct race row)
• Repeat as above…

Notes:

1. The stopwatches will start automatically. There is no need to re-set them between races,
2. If the race is more than 100M count laps so you are aware of the finishing lap.
3. If you are called to marshall for your next race, continue timing until the end of the current race and advise the Chief Timkeeper that you need to be replaced. The Chief Timekeeper will find a replacement for you.
4. Never leave your lane until the current race has been recorded properly.

Assistance

If something goes wrong or you are not sure about what to do next, ask a fellow time keeper, the Chief Timekeeper, the Starter or the Referee for assistance. It’s important to speak up straight away so we can minimise compounding errors.