Janet Knoppel (second from right) wth the Summer JO Officials 2012.
It’s not uncommon for our officials to begin their careers as ordinary day-to-day swim parents. Another thing they all have in common—they like to stay busy.
According to Janet Knoppel, whose daughter began swimming around 1977-78, she didn’t like sitting in the stands gossiping, so she worked in admin instead. Then she moved into the position of starter and referee.
In 1983, she worked with Tina Martin at the dedication of the USC pool. Tina was instrumental along with Mary Jo Swalley in organizing and running the 1984 Olympics.
Janet’s daughter swam with Joe Mykkanen who was the brother of Olympic silver medalist John Mykkanen. She knows the Mykkanen family well because she has worked at many meets at NOVA meets, where the Mykkanen children are swimmers and mom Joanna is a coach. She said most Olympians she knows, like John Mykkanen and Janet Evans, don’t push their kids. Instead they ask, “Did you have a good time?”
According to Janet, “It has to be the kid’s decision to swim.” Her own daughter swam all through high school and started swimming in college. She injured her shoulders after two weeks and then did rowing and volleyball. Her daughter swam with the Arcade Riptides and Industry Hills Aquatic Club where Olympic gold and silver medalist Jenna Johnson swam.
Her daughter became a teacher and enjoys coaching, too. Her granddaughter loves the water. They had her in lessons before age two. They hope she’ll swim competitively, too—when she’s old enough.
Janet taught at Gladstone High School in Azusa and was assistant principal at San Dimas High. She’s enjoyed working at CIF since the early 90s. “I know many of the kids and it’s fun to watch their growth. It’s really exciting.
“As an official, the commitment is up to you,” Janet said. One of the things she enjoys most is “training officials and working hand in hand with them.” She has her National certification and said she learns a lot by mentoring. “When I work with an observational starter or referee, I ask what do you see? I teach them to see beyond the one lane.” Janet said she was happy to hear “one official say, ‘I’m so excited. I can see four lanes at once.’ ”
According to Janet, being an official “is not about finding fault, it’s being surprised when they do something wrong.”
At a Nova Grand Prix Meet Memorial Weekend, she was surprised to watch a girl from Stanford swim past the 15-meter line. The Stanford coach asked her, “You didn’t see that did you?” She said yes, she did. The swimmer came up and told the coach, “It’s because of all those underwaters you’re making us do!”
A bit of advice that Janet tells the officials she trains: “Coaches are the advocates of their swimmers. I tell new officials that this is their role. When they have questions, just answer them, don’t get into a confrontation. Once they understand what you saw, they will understand. It’s all about the kids. Without the kids, we could all go home.”
She explained why Southern California Swimming officials are so professional: “Officials from across the country may work only three our four meets a year. In So Cal, we work three to four meets a month. Plus, I work high school and college season. We’re on the deck a lot and have a chance to hone our skills.
“Southern California Swimming is the epicenter of swimming of course because of the weather. But we have great clubs and coaches, both large and small teams. We have great facilities, coaches and officials.
“Our officials nurture the kids. Ninety-five percent of us get to the level of the little kids. We get down physically on our knees to talk to them to tell them they did a really great job, but that they were DQ’d and explain why and wish them good luck.”
