Consider becoming a high school water polo official.

Email communication:

Dear Officials,Water polo season is here, and we are excited to give the student athletes from Pennsylvania an opportunity to showcase all their hard work and talents in a fair and exhilarating environment.  This opportunity for the players would not be possible without you.  Thank you for your willingness to give back to the sport we love and allowing the sport to continue to grow.There are a few areas to cover in this email to ensure we are all on the same page and at the same time continuing to move forward with the growth of our sport in the state. Please read this email carefully and contact us with any questions.1. Clearances
All state water polo officials must have active clearances and be in full compliance with requirements by the start of the 2024 season. The best instructions on obtaining your clearances are on the PIAA site (https://www.piaa.org/officials/become/clearances.aspx). As has been requested in prior years, valid clearances should be sent to PAWPRA leadership - email them to referees.pa.waterpolo@gmail.com to ensure compliance with this policy if you did not do so last year or have recently renewed. We are not PIAA officials, so these clearances do not need to be uploaded to the PIAA site. But it is a liability for everyone involved if individuals do not have their clearances. Remember that these only have to be renewed every 5 years.2. Rules Test
As has been required in past years, all officials will need to take a multiple choice test covering the current NFHS Rules and Interpretations. There is a NEW rule book this year covering the 2024-2026 season, with some critical changes. It's only 30 questions, and you can take it as many times as you need to get a minimum of 90%. I personally encourage everyone to treat this as an open book test to increase familiarity with situations you may encounter and how to resolve.

NFHS Explanation: 2024 Rule Changes

Explanation of changes: 2024-2026 Key Changes
Here is the link to the test: https://forms.gle/1N1VGJT5shXPRDKp6

3. Sign Up and Availability
If you are planning on reffing this season in any capacity, please sign up using the following form on our website. It helps keep your contact information current and lets us know what you have been up to in the water polo world!
https://www.pawprefs.com/about/application-form
We're actively seeking new officials to strengthen our numbers in the PA Water Polo Referees Association. If you know anyone with water polo experience looking to stay connected with the sport (athlete, coach, parent, former referee), please share this email and encourage them to consider getting involved as a water polo official this season. Interested individuals can either complete the availability form (check the "Other" box and type in "New official" where it asks for past experience) or they can email me.

***Additionally, the schedule is attached - please let us know your availability by July 28th with a "reply all" to this email.
Important date is Beast of the East - please make sure you are available for September 27th-28th to support the best HS polo tournament!!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15HglbP1wcFSozm2NxW5IgIafJBePu6iMtiXtF1rDGpA/edit?gid=0#gid=0

4. Assignors for 2024 Season

This season, we will have new assignors responsible for assigning weeknight games and weekend tournaments for the regular season. They will be in contact as we move closer to the season.

- Jason Grubb (jgrubbpolo@gmail.com, 215-740-1309) will be assigning the Eastern Conference, including the SOL schools.

- Aaron Chapple (chap2map@gmail.com, 610-413-9276) will be assigning the Western Conference.

5. Reporting Game Incidents
It is the responsibility of officials to report any issues or major rules violations within 24 hours of the incident. Reporting can be done by filling out the online incident report located on our website. These incidents include Red Cards, Flagrant Misconducts, etc.
https://www.pawprefs.com/ref-corner/incident-reporting

6. Rules Meetings
We will have a pre-season rules meeting on Zoom. Additionally, we will have meetings during the season to review games, etc. I am hoping to not overwhelm everyone with these meetings (maybe 3), but we are required to have them.

7. Speaking of our Website.....
Two years ago, we started a website to organize our information and forms. All forms, policies, pool locations, meeting information, referee responsibilities, etc. can be accessed here. Please please please use this site as a resource to keep learning with refereeing.

https://www.pawprefs.com/home

Thanks and hope to see you all soon!

Alex

610-xxx-xxxx (removed from website display)