The Clerk of Course is an extension of the AO (Administrative Official)

Prior to the meet:

• Review the meet announcement. Take special note of a) whether deck entries will be accepted at the meet, and b) whether any events will be deck-seeded (and therefore will need to have positive check-in setup).
• If you are working the first session on day 1, contact the meet director to see if there are any issues that need to be addressed immediately upon day 1 arrival and confirm arrival time.

Setup:

• Arrive early to set up CoC desk. Attach signs for CoC desk, set out/locate any necessary office supplies, etc.
• Check in with the Administrative Official (AO) to see if there will be a printer set up at the CoC desk, whether they need help setting up their area, etc. The AO will likely have already printed out heat sheets for coaches, timers, and officials for all pre-seeded events, divided by session. Locate the heat sheets for the session you’re working. There should also be one master copy of each heat sheet format – keep this in case more copies need to be made during the session.

Review the CoC binder:

• Section TBD will have a financial summary with indications of which teams still owe payment. Plan on collecting payment from any teams who have not already submitted their meet fees and mark them as paid on the financial summary when done. If envelopes are sealed, do not open to confirm check amount – just note as payment received.
• Review the meet announcement (section TBD) and take special note of any events that have not been pre-seeded. These events will need to be set up for positive check-ins (see that section below).
• Review the meet announcement (section TBD) and not whether or not deck entries will be accepted at the meet. If yes, refer to that section below.

Check-in Coaches:

• Section TBD of the CoC binder should include a coaches’ check-in sheet. Tape the sheet for the current session on the table in front of the CoC,
• As coaches check in, have them sign in on the sheet and ask to see their credentials. This should be available on their phones. Confirm that all entries on their credentials have green dates, indicating that all required certifications/memberships/etc. are current.
• Confirm that all expiration dates are beyond the last date of the meet (so credentials only need to be checked once per coach for the entire meet and not every day).
• If any coach does not have their credentials or if any certification has expired (i.e. is not green), please consult with the meet official and/or meet director.
• Give each coach a meet program (heat sheet) for the current session. If requested, a head coach may be given all heat sheets for their coaches, but each coach still needs to have their credentials checked when they first arrive on deck at the meet (even if it’s not the first session).

Positive Check-Ins:

• If there are events that have NOT been pre-seeded, set out the positive check-in sheets for the current session. If unsure, consult with the AO to determine where positive check-ins will be.
• The positive check-in sheets may be printed by event or by team/swimmer (different AOs have different preferences). Tape check-in sheets to the table, allowing for as much space as possible to avoid crowding. If needed, write the age group & event at the bottom of each page in big letters. Make sure enough pens are available, plus a few extras, as they tend to grow legs.
• If printed by event, swimmers should initial by their name for each event. If they intend to scratch the event, they should draw a line through their name.
• If printed by team/swimmer (such that all events for a swimmer are on a single line, e.g. “Jane Swimmer 5 7 9 13”), swimmers should initial by their name. If they plan on swimming all events, this is all that is needed. If they are scratching all events, they should draw a line through their name and all event numbers (e.g. “Jane Swimmer 5 7 9 13”). If they are scratching specific events, they should initial by their name and then cross out the specific events that they are scratching.
• Monitor the check-in sheets if another volunteer is not assigned to this. Swimmers may only check in themselves. Coaches may check in swimmers. Avoid excessive crowding at the table and encourage swimmers to be neat.
• Pay attention to the closing time for each event’s positive check-in. For some meets, there may be separate closing times for each event (~30 minutes before the event is scheduled to start). Otherwise there may be a single closing time for all events (say, 30 minutes after warm-ups start).
• As closing time nears, check on any swimmers listed who have not yet checked in or scratched. If possible and time allows, check with coaches about the status of any such swimmers. It’s ultimately the swimmer’s responsibility, but the goal is to have as many swimmers get the chance to swim as possible, so be as helpful as possible towards that aim.
• When check-in time closes, pull the sheets. If time allows, check with coaches about any swimmers who have not yet checked in or scratched.
• Turn in the positive check-in forms to the AO. If the AO does not have extra support, assist in any tasks related to deck seeding, meet program (heat sheet) and/or timer sheet printing/posting/distribution
• Printing of heat sheets (again, there should be one master copy of each format for every session):
• Coaches, Announcer, Stagers: double sided, triple columns
• Meet Referee, Officials: double sided, double columns
• Posting: single sided, triple columns
• Printing of lane timer sheets: single sided, 1 event per page per lane
• After the events have been deck seeded and printed, distribute the heat sheets to coaches and officials. Keep a few extra printouts at the clerk of course table and have at least one set posted for swimmers to review.

Deck Entries:

• If deck entries are allowed, review the meet announcement to determine the deck entry fees, max daily/total events, qualifying standards, etc.
• Section TBD in the binder should contain a deck entry summary sheet and deck entry forms.
• Section TBD in the binder should contain a team by team roster of all swimmers/entries.
• Section TBD in the binder should contain a meet program.
• If a swimmer who is already entered in the meet wants to deck enter another event:
• Check the team roster for that swimmer to confirm that the swimmer is not already entered into the max number of events for the day/meet. If the swimmer has available events (no deck swapping allowed):
• If there are qualifying standards for the meet, ask the swimmer (or coach, if needed) to confirm that the swimmer is eligible to swim that event.
• Check the meet program for the event to see if there is an open lane (or a marked scratch). If there is an open lane:
• Enter the swimmer’s name, team, age in pencil into the CoC meet program in the available lane.
• Fill out a deck entry form completely. You may enter “already in meet” on the USA Swimming ID line.
• Note the total cost of all added events (plus any applicable surcharge) and collect the fee from the swimmer – cash only! Cash should immediately be placed in the cash box.
• Locate the green swimmer event slips in the binder. Record the event number, heat, and lane assigned and give to the swimmer.
• For deck-seeded events, you will not be able to assign a heat/lane. You can suggest that the swimmer add their name to the positive check-in sheet and sign in as they would any other deck-entered event. (This should not be strictly needed as the AO will know to add them from the deck-entry form, but extra redundancy is sometimes reassuring.)
• Give the pink copy to the swimmer, take the white copy of the deck entry form to the AO immediately, and keep the yellow copy for the CoC binder.
• Enter the deck entries onto the deck entry summary/meet changes sheet, noting the total fees charged and whether payment has been made.
• If a swimmer is new to the meet, they will need to fill out a Deck Entry Registration form first. These should be in the binder. Then, follow the steps in #5, except that you will need to have the swimmer confirm their USA Swimming ID number and birth date for step 5c. Oftentimes the coaches can most easily provide this number. There will be an additional surcharge for new to the meet deck entries.
• Swimmer will have a lane/heat slip to present to the timer. If able, alert the meet referee to deck entry additions so they can update their meet program.
• Scratches are generally handled the same way (no refunds are given). Draw a line in pencil through the CoC meet program and team’s event listing for the swimmer/event being scratched. Fill out a deck entry form and indicate the event/heat/lane being scratched.

During the session:

• Be ready to answer questions from swimmers, coaches, volunteers, officials, etc. Practice saying “I don’t know, but I’ll find someone who does.” Be ready to pull in the meet director, administrative official, meet referee, announcer, as needed.
• Track the actual start time of each event and note it on the Timeline in Section XXX of the CoC binder. This is particularly important for 12&U sessions which must not run longer than 4 hours.
• Collect DQ slips from the referee and send to the AO. (Depending on the pool setup, the referee may deliver these directly to the AO.)
• Check in now and then with the AO to see if they need anything.
• Watch for any cell-phones out behind the starting blocks (not permitted by swimmers, timers, or anyone else).
• Results may be delivered by the AO by hand or sent to the CoC printer by the AO. Make a few single-sided copies for posting and hand off to the runner to post (if no runner, CoC can do this).
• Heat winner award prizes may be at the CoC desk. Monitor and keep the area from becoming overly crowded.

Session end:

• Return items to their proper location in the CoC binder.
• Confirm that the meet entry summary/meet changes form is complete and matches the deck entry forms.
• Make sure cash box is secured. If it’s the last session of the day, confirm cash box overnight plan with the meet director.
• Tidy up area around CoC table.
• Check in with AO and meet director to see if they need anything.
• If there’s a mid-day CoC change, do a de-brief with the morning/afternoon CoC and review the following:
• If there are positive check-in events in the afternoon, determine who will set out/monitor/pull the check-in sheets.
• If there have been meet changes (deck entries/scratches), review the change log for any issues that may pop up in the afternoon.
• Locate the coaches/timers/officials heat sheets for the afternoon session and have them ready for distribution.
• Making sure to always keep the master copy, recycle any leftover heat sheets from the morning session.
• Review any issues that came up in the morning session.
• Let the meet director know that the new CoC is taking over.
• After the final session of the meet, help with breaking down the CoC area. There should be additional volunteers to help with this as well.