Becoming an Athletics Official
As with all athletics clubs, Serpentine needs technical officials to run athletics matches during the summer season, and endurance events all year round. UK Athletics operates a national training and licensing programme for officials, with a five-level structure within which officials are trained in each discipline: timekeeper, track judge, starter, marksman, and field judge for athletics, and. More information is available from the following sources:
- UK Athletics
- South of England Athletics Officials’ Association
- England Athletics (athletics)
- England Athletics (endurance)
If you are interested in becoming an official there are regular training programmes and the club will pay for your training if you intend to come and officiate for us. Qualified officials must maintain a record of participation that they send to the county officials secretary each season in order to maintain their license.
If you are already a qualified or experienced official we would love to hear from you. We can also support you in progressing through the UK Athletics development programme.
Contact officials-coordinator@serpentine.org.uk
UK Athletics Officials’ Structure
Assistant – generic course to become an assistant technical official in all disciplines
To become an assistant official you need to attend a short hands-on practical course which looks at the skills of timekeeping, measuring, judging, and starting. You will also need to show evidence of having assisted at an athletics event. Most people skip this and go straight to level 1.
Level 1 – club
Level 1 is discipline specific. To become a level 1 club official you will need to attend a 4-5 hour course for timekeeper, field judge, track judge or starter/marksman, attend a short health & safety course, and log 4 experiences at an event in your log book.
Level 2 – county
Level 2 is discipline specific. To become a level 2 official you need everything at level 1 plus a further 6 experiences and complete the L2 questions.
Level 3 – regional
Level 3 is discipline specific. To become a level 3 official you need everything at level 2 plus a further 10 experiences, a positive report and experience of mentoring.
Level 4 – national
Candidates access and demonstrate further education e.g. report writing, team leading, mentoring, duty management in a discipline. To become a level 4 official you need everything at level 3 plus a further 30 experiences, course attendance, mentoring and more.
Level 5 – international
Candidates operate as meeting managers, directors, nominees for EAA and IAAF appointments. Tutors by invitation, sometimes from overseas.