Swim team families, new and old,

The purpose of this email is to describe the volunteer needs and opportunities that SHBR has for parents (yes, you) throughout this season.

Unlike many other youth sports like soccer or baseball or basketball, it takes more than just a coach and a couple parents to make the team run. We don’t hire officials. All our officials are volunteers, in most cases parents of current swimmers. We also don’t charge a fee for the swim team. While your club dues do support the team, the team also covers some of its costs itself – namely through concessions sales at meets and apparel sales, as well as the occasional fundraiser when we need to replace a big item (like the starter or the sound system).

All of this is to say that the swim team is going to need your help this season. It takes 43 parents to time, officiate and score a typical swim meet, and that doesn’t count concessions or social activities, which is why we expect families to volunteer a minimum of four times (six if you have more than one swimmer) over the course of the season.

For new families, it can be intimidating figure out how to contribute. That’s why we wanted to take a minute to de-mystify many of the volunteer roles with the goal of making sure every parent feels there is a role or two where they can consistently chip in.

Certified Meet Officials(Referee, Starter, Stroke & Turn Officials): OK, these ones do take a little training. A couple hours at the beginning of each season to get certified or re-certified. We usually let new officials get their feet wet (get it?) at B/developmental meets before asking them to step into an A meet. SHBR is pretty well set this season, but we do have some officials whose kids are coming up on their last season, and we will need to add some new officials to our roster in the next year or two. If you are interested in one of these roles, let me know and we can still get you certified this year, or we will certainly put you on the list for training next spring.

Non-Certified Meet Officials (no training needed):

• Timers:This is where I got my start. The light flashes, you start your watch. The swimmer touches the wall, you stop your watch. It isn’t much more difficult than that. You don’t have to worry about whether a swimmer’s touch is legal or not or what part of their body touches the wall. That is the official’s job. And if your watch malfunctions, or you don’t think you got a “good time”? We have procedures for that. That is why each lane has three timers.
• Clerk/Assistant Clerk of Course:This is where the swimmers are organized and prepared for their events. The Clerk (and Assistant Clerks) are responsible for assembling the swimmers in Clerk of Course designated area in accordance with the order of events; holding the swimmers ready on the deck and instructing the swimmers to wait behind or adjacent to the starting position until the Starter takes control of the race. We are all parents. We’ve all wrangled our kids. That’s really what this is.
• Marshal:The marshal is responsible for maintaining safety and order on the deck, during warm-ups and during the meet. Essentially, keeping walkways clear, preventing horseplay during warmups and keeping the crowd quiet during the start. The Referee and/or Team Rep will do a quick briefing with the marshals before the meet starts to set expectations. The best part of being a marshal: you have the best seat in the house to watch your kid swim!
• Runner:The runner simply walks (remember, no running on deck!) the time cards from the Chief Timer to the data table after each heat. That’s it.
• Data Table:This is where the times are recorded, verified and ribbons are written/printed. Procedures may vary whether an A meet or a B/Developmental Meet, but generally:
  • Place Recorder:The place recorder (visiting team) receives the time cards from the runner after each heat, ensures they are legible, matches the cards with any scratch/substitution forms or DQ forms, verifies that the correct time is circled on the card, then orders the cards for each heat from fastest to slowest, checking the times for team or NVSL records. The Assistant Place Recorder (home team) double checks the work of the place recorder, marks the finishing place on each card, sorts the cards (either by lane or place, based on the preference of the data entry personnel, and passes the cards on to data entry
  • Data Entry/Time recorder:Records times for each swimmer in the computer, prints results for each event to be given with time cards to the verifiers, prints ribbon labels. This role is filled at our A meets by our Data Coordinators (Tom and Karen Rose) and by our B-meet data leads (Tammy Conkle and Matt Graham).
  • Verifier:Receives a copy of the printed results from data entry and checks that the printed results match the actual time cards. There is usually one verifier from each team.
  • Awards/Ribbons Clerk:Receives the labels from Data Entry and affixes labels to the appropriate ribbon. Places ribbons in appropriate family folder.
  • Announcer:Makes announcements (events/heats/names, results), spins the tunes, makes other announcements.

Other volunteer roles:

• Concessions:As noted above, concessions at home meets is a primary means by which we fund swim team activities. We need people to set up concessions (put up tents and tables and fill coolers), work the concessions table (i.e. sell stuff) and break down (put away) said tents, tables and coolers at the end of the meet. For concessions workers, we schedule 2 (or 3) shifts, so nobody is stuck for too long, and you will of course be relieved of duty to allow you to watch your kid swim.
  Note about concessions items:For home meets, we ask families to contribute most of the food and drinks (which can usually be found at BJs/Costco or your local supermarket) so that the swim team can maximize its revenue without having to charge exorbitant sums. The list of needed items is posted as part of the “Jobs Sign Up” for each meet.
• Photographer:We try to photograph every meet and post photos to SmugMug. To do that, we need photographers (1 or 2 per meet). We have a photography lead (Jill Fahey) who will brief you on the “dos and don’ts” (they are mostly commonsense) and review/help with uploading files to SmugMug.
• Set Up/Break Down:The pool staff is pretty good about getting the pool deck set up for meets, but the swim team is responsible for getting it back in order afterwards – returning chairs, putting away tents, taking down timer boards, etc. We also always need help organizing, setting up and cleaning up after social events.
• Socials: Covid-permitting, the swim team will hold several social events this season, in addition to team lunches after home A meets. We need parents to help set up, prepare food, and clean up/break down afterwards.

As you can see, most of the roles take little-to-no training or experience, just a little common sense. And we have plenty of experienced hands to help show the way. But we can’t just rely on the same volunteers to do the same jobs year after year. Eventually, their kids stop swimming. Volunteering with your fellow parents is also a great way to get to meet other SHBR/Swim team families.

So how do you sign up? I’m glad you asked. Usually the week before (for B meets) or a couple days before (for A meets) a button will appear on the SwimtopiaCalendar. Simply hit that button, click on your name (or your significant other’s) and sign up.

So that covers the volunteering side, for the most part. We do have a couple leadership roles coming open next season, for which a little “shadowing” this season would probably be helpful for transition. We will have an email about that out in the next couple of days.

Any questions about any of this, let us know.

Eric and Scott