New gradings for water polo referees have been published by Swim England following a comprehensive review.
They will now be known as club, regional, national or international referees and be given clear guidance on how to maintain that standard or develop further.
The changes have been introduced by the Swim England Water Polo Leadership Group ‘to meet the needs of our sport’ and create a more accessible system for volunteers.
They replace the previous grades of P, D, C, B and A.
Since the launch of the revised Technical Officials courses, all newly-qualified officials have been allocated the revised grades.
Chris Stephens, technical officials lead for the Swim England Water Polo Leadership Group, said: “It has taken some time to complete this project because we wanted to ensure the officiating grades would meet the needs of our sport.
“I am grateful for the support from the community and the professional team to complete this work.
Essential for the sport
“We want to encourage volunteers to be active and maintain their knowledge of the rules and recognising those who support the sport.
“Creating an accessible education system for technical officials is essential for the sport and we now look forward to working with our active officials.”
All referees who qualified under the old grade system and who are members of Swim England will receive an email to confirm their current grade with advice on how to progress further.
The Swim England Water Polo Leadership Group has also decided that the British Swimming officials’ licence is no longer required for referees or table officials who are club, regional or national level.
In future, only those officials who are international grade or officiating internationally will be required to hold a British Swimming licence.
Current table officials will also receive an email to confirm their status as well.
Anyone who has any queries is advised to contact leaderhsipgroups@swimming.org