Technical Officials

Technical Officials play a crucial role in our swimming community, ensuring every meet is conducted to the highest standards.

Becoming a technical official is also a fantastic way to stay actively involved in your child’s swimming journey—offering you the best seats in the house to witness great swimming.

Swimming Wide Bay is actively seeking individuals who are passionate about giving back to their sport and community by stepping into this essential role. This page provides an overview of what it takes to become a technical official and highlights the exciting pathways available within Swimming Wide Bay.

We’ve introduced a new streamlined approach to Technical Official (TO) requirements in Wide Bay. Our goal is simple: to help our clubs host more great competitive meets and reduce the cost to run a swim meet.

In 2025, Swimming Wide Bay has introduced two categories of Technical Officials, Lead and Support Technical Officials.

These are our accredited Technical Officials who keep meets running smoothly and according to Swimming Queensland guidelines. A meet requires a minimum of seven (7) Lead TOs, including:

  • Referee
  • Starter
  • Inspector of Turns (x2)
  • Judge of Strokes (x2)
  • Timing Operator

NB: Lead TOs can choose to volunteer their time unpaid to support their home club swim meet. If your club is having any difficulty sourcing or funding your TO team please reach out directly to Swimming Wide Bay.

These roles now require no formal training and are unpaid, making it easier for clubs to engage their volunteer community & manage meet costs:

  • Check Starter
  • Chief Timekeeper
  • Clerk of Course (Marshall)
  • Announcer
  • Timing Operator
  • Assistant/Runner
  • Back-up Timekeepers for Friday/Distance events

Although there are no formal training requirements for these positions, we do encourage people interested in these Support TO roles to become accredited. This will enable them to be eligible to officiate and be remunerated at our Swimming Wide Bay championship events, as well as continue on a pathway to officiating at State and National events.

If you are interested in becoming an accredited Lead TO all you need to do is
email traineeto@swimmingwidebay.org.au

*Swimming Wide Bay Championships

For our Championship events, all officials (including Support TOs) will need COES training and have some experience in the TO position you’ll be officiating in. All officials will be paid for their time.

  • Trainee TO (with online COES certification): $60/day
  • Accredited Level 1 (6+ full-day meets experience): $125/day
  • Accredited Level 2 (2+ years experience): $175/day
  • Accredited Level 3 (Referee & TOs with 4yrs+ experience): $250/day*
  • Timing System Operator/Meet Manager: Individually negotiated

*Note: Maximum of two Level 3 TOs at $250/day per meet

Prior to beginning your training to be a technical official, individuals need to:

Step 1. Email TO Trainee Manager

Email traineeto@swimmingwidebay.org.au with your name, club name and mobile so you can be added to SWB’s TO database

Step 2. Become a club member

Become a member of an affiliated swimming club in your state through Swim Central. If you’re not currently a member linked to a swimmer, you can become a “Dry member” of the club for a minimal fee.

Step 3. Upload your WCC

Upload to your Swim Central Profile a valid Working With Children Check (WWCC, Blue Card or state equivalent).

Process: Go to Profile → Documents → Personal → Upload → Scroll to ‘Working with Children Check’

Step 4. COES online training:

Complete the Community Officiating Essential Skills course (COES) through the ASC website (Australian Sport Commission) via:

Upload your COES Completion Certificate to Swim Central:

  • Go into your Profile, then under Personal click on Documents
  • In the search bar type ‘Community’ and the course name will come up which you need to click on
  • Upload your COES Completion Certificate (not the individual modules)

Once you’ve completed everything:

  • Email Emy Simsic at officiating@swimming.org.au using the subject line: “TO Profile ready for verification”
  • You’ll receive confirmation your course has been verified via email
  • For questions about COES training or verification: Contact Emy Simsic (officiating@swimming.org.au)
Choosing your TO role(s)

Unless an individual only wants to be trained on a specific TO role, Swimming Wide Bay’s approach is to try and create ‘all-rounder’ technical officials that have the experience to rotate around different TO roles at any competition. We generally do this in 2 x stages:

  • Stage 1: Train up for Timekeeper, Chief Timekeeper and Check Starter
  • Stage 2: Train up for Judges of Strokes, Inspector of Turns, Starter, and if desired, Timing System Operator

Training consists of 3 key parts:

  • Online role-specific training
  • Pool-deck practical training
  • Assessment
Online role-specific training modules

Online modules are available at: totraining.swimming.org.au/courses/

The order of online learning versus poolside practical training differs depending on the type of TO role you’re training for. For example, we recommend completing your online modules for Timekeeper, Chief Timekeeper and Check Starter PRIOR to your poolside practical training, however for more technically complex TO roles like Judges of Strokes, Inspector of Turns, Starter and Timing Operator it may make more sense to complete online modules AFTER some poolside practical experience.

Once you’ve completed your online training modules, trainees should upload the relevant certificates onto your Swim Central Profile. Process: Go to Profile → Personal → Documents → Upload → Prefill using a keyword → ’Starter – Practical Assessment’

We also ask that trainees familiarise themselves with Swimming Australia’s:

(Pls note: Trainees will not be tested on their knowledge of the Rules of Swimming until it comes time to being assessed, but a general understanding is recommended)

Pool-deck practical training

Once you’ve completed your pre-training paperwork and online modules (if appropriate to complete prior) trainees are ready to start their pool-deck practical training. In consultation with the TO Trainee Manager and Chief Referee, we’ll schedule trainees for specific meets to gain experience, and let them know if we’re planning on assessing them for particular roles at those meets.

What to wear

Swimming Wide Bay will provide trainees with a sun-smart long-sleeve top and a sun hat, and we ask that trainees wear black pants or shorts, with black sneakers.

What to bring

We ask that trainees bring with them a clipboard, pen, and if they have one, a whistle*, as well as a print-out of the SwimAus Swimming Rule Quick Reference Infraction Sheet 2024 – 2025:

*Pls note: the SWB Trainee Starter Kit inclusions are currently being reviewed & we will update items trainees receive when they complete their COES training here shortly.

Assessment

Once our Chief Referees have assessed and passed you at a meet, you are deemed officially accredited for that TO role. The Chief Referee will send trainee’s assessment paperwork into Swimming Australia so that trainee’s profile status will be verified and updated under ‘Accreditations Applied’.

Swimming Wide Bay TO Buddy System

After completing your COES training, trainees will be given the option of being allocated a ‘Buddy’ mentor to assist with answering any queries or providing additional support along your training journey. These mentors have been hand-selected for their extensive experience and expertise in officiating.

Brisbane Training Forums

These are generally annual, invite-only forums that our Head Referees manage for TOs based on where they’re at with their training journey. If you’re interested in attending, please feel free to liaise with our Head Referees as you progress to see if either would be suitable for you:

  • JOS Workshop to be held during the SQ Short Course Championships (August 2025). This will take the form of a three-hour workshop followed by practical, pool deck experience. Information will be emailed in July this year.
  • SQ Mentor Official Program will be held during the Qld Championships (December 2025). More information will be available in late September this year.

Give TO a GO!

No experience is needed; we provide all the necessary training and guidance to get started. Whether you’re a parent, a former swimmer, or simply a fan of the sport, joining our team of technical officials is a rewarding way to contribute to the swimming community and make a real difference!

Interested? Got questions?

We have a dedicated Trainee TO Manager who is happy to answer your queries and guide you along the journey.

Simply email: