By Jim Carlisle, retired certification chair
Every year the same questions come up concerning certification and membership in either the Southwestern Track and Field Officials Association or USATF membership. I will try to clarify the situation.
An officials’ certification covers an Olympiad. An Olympiad is the years between Olympic summer games. The current certification is for the years 2004-2008. At the end of the Beijing Olympics (August 2008), your certification will expire. If you choose to re-certify following the Olympics, it will cover the next four years or until the end of the 2012 Olympiad.
Your certification is provided through USA Track & Field (USATF) and the National Officials Committee (NOC). The NOC is charged by USATF to certify and train officials through each association. Therefore, you are a certified by USATF via the Southwestern Association of USATF.
The Southwestern Association of USATF is made up of youth clubs, master clubs, long distance running clubs, race waking clubs, and other entities. The Southwestern Association has a board of directors. (http://www.swusatf.org)
About ten years ago, the Southwestern Track & Field Officials Association (SWTFOA) was formed. The membership includes anyone who is a certified official. The SWTFOA was formed to provide communication, training of officials, and general promotion of track and field in the Southwestern Association of USATF. The SWTFOA pays to be a member organization in the Southwestern Association of USATF. Your $40.00 fee covers your USATF Officials Certification AND membership in the SWTFOA through 2008.
The other type of membership is through USATF. All USATF coaches and athletes have to be members of USATF to participate. This goes for the youngest athlete to the oldest master athlete and all those elite athletes in between. As an official, you can join USATF and become a member. Remember, this is separate from being certified or being a member of SWTFOA. Here’s where this gets tricky. If you apply to work a USATF national meet where there is an application AND selection committee, you HAVE to be a member of USATF to be considered. (www.usatf.org and link to membership) The Southwestern Association has a membership chair that help answer questions about membership, (http://www.swusatf.org).