BEING AN OFFICIAL

Being an Official is a rewarding experience, particularly when you can be part of providing athletes of all ages and abilities a chance of achieving their best performance in a fair competition. 

Officials (and parent helpers) are vital to the effective conduct of competition at our Centre as well as Regional and LAQ events; we need a team of passionate Officials.  

While some roles do require technical knowledge and experience, others are basic and only require a limited understanding of athletics.

Ideally, each event location will have a dedicated team of officials to guide the event as each age group progresses through the athletics meet. This will certainly be the case at Regional and LAQ meets but is rarely possible at the Centre on Friday nights.  

So it is essential that our parents have some knowledge of the rules and how to officiate at each event as they move around the arena with their athletes on a Friday night.

​

At the Centre
Your help is essential to ensure the smooth running of the night. Our programme is designed to be completed by 8pm and the usual reason for late finish is that some groups do not have enough parent helpers.  Please discuss with your coordinator how you can best help your group.

Each Friday night we will need two dedicated teams of track officials/helpers; some tasks will required an element of technical knowledge but most are easily understood with minimal training.  

Regional Championships (Relays and Individual)
It is a requirement that The Gap Centre provide officials/helpers for these events. 

If your athlete nominates for these Regional events (and all athletes are encouraged to attend), you will be expected to help on the day - just one hour as a timekeeper for example would suffice. The Gap Centre will be assigned an event and we will required qualified officials to lead those events.

State Championships and LAQ Meets
These are opportunities to enhance your skills as an official in an extensive competition.  There will be many experienced officials to mentor and guide your development.  Completion of an on-line course will help you at these events but is not essential.

How do I learn the rules and become a qualified official
There are a few ways to gain the knowledge you need to be an effective official, whether at Centre, Regional or State level. Helping your Age Group Coordinator. If you just want to help within your age group, there are plenty of tasks that require little instruction: raking the sand pit, retrieving implements, organising games for the athletes while they are waiting, place judging etc.

​

Officials courses at the Centre:
If you want some more detailed information about the rules and officiating, our Centre has developed an introduction course and you can learn all the theory and practical requirements of any event in just 15 minutes. Just ask the Officials Officer anyone in the canteen.          

Officials course with formal qualification
All parents are encouraged to complete at least on of the on-line courses each season.  There is an on-line course for all events and each Level 1 will take about 45 minutes to complete.  You will receive a qualification for each event on completion.   Level 2 courses are also available for those seeking further study.

We encourage all parents to complete at least one of the officials courses that are available online