Freeloading swim team parents suck

[Anonymous]

We are a large team in the top of the NVSL. We require a volunteer check at the beginning of the season. If you don't meet your volunteer hours, we cash your check. Make that check large enough and parents volunteer. We have to do this or we would not have enough volunteers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your schedule truly doesn't allow for you to volunteer, then find another activity for DC. It's part of the deal.

I was team rep (NVSL) for 4 years. I was blessed with a team/club culture where this generally wasn't a problem. Even the laziest, most obnoxious, difficult, entitled parents pulled their weight (or learned to), and if you ask most of them, they hated the thought of it a lot more than actually doing it. In fact, many (myself included) made family friendships with other parents by timing beside them, selling concessions with them, etc.

Ah there are the martyr parents who won’t let busy/stressed parents join in THEIR activity.

Ours is cliquey - the same people volunteer and have been on the team together for years. I always feel out of place. I do the minimum required.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are a large team in the top of the NVSL. We require a volunteer check at the beginning of the season. If you don't meet your volunteer hours, we cash your check. Make that check large enough and parents volunteer. We have to do this or we would not have enough volunteers.

How much is the check for?

[Anonymous]

Every single thing I hear about swim teams makes me happy my kids are not on a swim team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a large team in the top of the NVSL. We require a volunteer check at the beginning of the season. If you don't meet your volunteer hours, we cash your check. Make that check large enough and parents volunteer. We have to do this or we would not have enough volunteers.

How much is the check for?

DP, but our team does this too, and the non volunteering fee is $250. However, you can just pay it upfront if you know you’re not going to volunteer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a large team in the top of the NVSL. We require a volunteer check at the beginning of the season. If you don't meet your volunteer hours, we cash your check. Make that check large enough and parents volunteer. We have to do this or we would not have enough volunteers.

How much is the check for?

DP, but our team does this too, and the non volunteering fee is $250. However, you can just pay it upfront if you know you’re not going to volunteer.

Exactly and if you instead just had everyone pay rather than volunteer it would be $100. Way to stick it to stretched out parents.

[Anonymous]

I volunteer a ton because I genuinely like it and it is the only activity all of my children do together (and I have no little ones under foot where many parents do). I guess I wanted to respond that, as an “old” swim team parent, I hope I never put the new parents off. The veterans want the younger folks to get involved and we want to get to know you and your kids. We try to have social events for adults and kids so that everyone mixes. I remember those days of 8 and under swims so fondly! It goes by quickly. Enjoy it.

[Anonymous]

We have a very large team with plenty of volunteers and not enough hours for everyone to meet the quota. It’s a good problem to have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a large team in the top of the NVSL. We require a volunteer check at the beginning of the season. If you don't meet your volunteer hours, we cash your check. Make that check large enough and parents volunteer. We have to do this or we would not have enough volunteers.

How much is the check for?

DP, but our team does this too, and the non volunteering fee is $250. However, you can just pay it upfront if you know you’re not going to volunteer.

Exactly and if you instead just had everyone pay rather than volunteer it would be $100. Way to stick it to stretched out parents.

Not everyone is entitled to participate in every sport/club. If you as a parent are stretched out, then unfortunately your kid can’t be on the swim team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

All that said, my kids have wonderful memories of swim team and are grateful not only for our -- relatively small -- volunteer efforts over the years, but for the work of those parents who made the huge commitment of being A reps. So, know that your kids see you and that you're setting an example of how to build community.

I don't want to be an A rep, and I have my own volunteer activities that I am interested in. I do the minimum amount of volunteering for swim team required, which to me, is not freeloading. It is doing what the team says I need to do for my kids to participate.

If you are fulfilling your volunteer obligation, then this isn’t about you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a large team in the top of the NVSL. We require a volunteer check at the beginning of the season. If you don't meet your volunteer hours, we cash your check. Make that check large enough and parents volunteer. We have to do this or we would not have enough volunteers.

How much is the check for?

DP, but our team does this too, and the non volunteering fee is $250. However, you can just pay it upfront if you know you’re not going to volunteer.

Exactly and if you instead just had everyone pay rather than volunteer it would be $100. Way to stick it to stretched out parents.

The fee is high, because the reality is that not everyone can opt out. Who do we pay to do these jobs? Who will manage it all, and how much will you pay them? The reality is that there are not enough minimum wage workers and kids who need SSL hours for you to be able to just pay $100 per family and have no need for volunteers. By the way, if you are "stretched" you should not be joining your community pool. This is definitely a "want", not a "need".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sadly this is all sports these days. Millenial parents think the world is comprised of instgram moments and seem to just be unaware that there is a lot of work to get everything done. It was all done for them so they never realized what went into things. Now that the GenX parents have mostly aged out they're like little snowflakes in the spring melt.

I am a gen-x parent, and I do think that we as a generation were basically happy to continue what was always done (though we have definitely benefitted from upgrading technology, especially in mcdl. Millenial parents are more likely to question why are we doing it this way, can we do it more easily (even if it costs more money), etc. I do think it is a cultural shift. I'm not sure it is bad, but, it is certainly different. I do the volunteer coordination at our pool, and our younger parents are signing up to volunteer. It is important to explain the job descriptions well and let younger parents know which jobs are easier if they have little ones underfoot (who aren't old enough to be swimmers). Getting people to volunteer is really about communication. If someone seems nervous, pair them with a friendly more experienced parent so they can learn the ropes of a job, etc. Be friendly and welcoming. Do not assume that some families aren't meeting their volunteer quota. I always have "hall monitor" types who want to discretely ask me if the "Smith Family" is pulling their volunteer weight. In most cases, people meet their volunteer requirement. If you volunteer for extra time, this does not make other people slackers.

I think part of the culture shift has to do with millennials being far more comfortable and knowledgeable about technology and can more quickly think of ways to update processes - even if there is a one time cost - that will ultimately save time and money.

What kind of technology time-savers are you thinking of that would be one-time cost types of things that would reduce volunteer time?

[Anonymous]

I prefer no opt out fee. It spreads out the volunteer hours over all the families so the burden is equally shared. An opt out fee favors those who can pay it and shifts more hours onto those who cannot. Often these are the families who also have less time available. So if they can’t afford to opt out and they can’t spare the extra hours they have to volunteer to cover the hours of those who do opt out…. I prefer a system that allows more kids to swim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sadly this is all sports these days. Millenial parents think the world is comprised of instgram moments and seem to just be unaware that there is a lot of work to get everything done. It was all done for them so they never realized what went into things. Now that the GenX parents have mostly aged out they're like little snowflakes in the spring melt.

I am a gen-x parent, and I do think that we as a generation were basically happy to continue what was always done (though we have definitely benefitted from upgrading technology, especially in mcdl. Millenial parents are more likely to question why are we doing it this way, can we do it more easily (even if it costs more money), etc. I do think it is a cultural shift. I'm not sure it is bad, but, it is certainly different. I do the volunteer coordination at our pool, and our younger parents are signing up to volunteer. It is important to explain the job descriptions well and let younger parents know which jobs are easier if they have little ones underfoot (who aren't old enough to be swimmers). Getting people to volunteer is really about communication. If someone seems nervous, pair them with a friendly more experienced parent so they can learn the ropes of a job, etc. Be friendly and welcoming. Do not assume that some families aren't meeting their volunteer quota. I always have "hall monitor" types who want to discretely ask me if the "Smith Family" is pulling their volunteer weight. In most cases, people meet their volunteer requirement. If you volunteer for extra time, this does not make other people slackers.

I think part of the culture shift has to do with millennials being far more comfortable and knowledgeable about technology and can more quickly think of ways to update processes - even if there is a one time cost - that will ultimately save time and money.

What kind of technology time-savers are you thinking of that would be one-time cost types of things that would reduce volunteer time?

Robots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a large team in the top of the NVSL. We require a volunteer check at the beginning of the season. If you don't meet your volunteer hours, we cash your check. Make that check large enough and parents volunteer. We have to do this or we would not have enough volunteers.

How much is the check for?

DP, but our team does this too, and the non volunteering fee is $250. However, you can just pay it upfront if you know you’re not going to volunteer.

Exactly and if you instead just had everyone pay rather than volunteer it would be $100. Way to stick it to stretched out parents.

The fee is high, because the reality is that not everyone can opt out. Who do we pay to do these jobs? Who will manage it all, and how much will you pay them? The reality is that there are not enough minimum wage workers and kids who need SSL hours for you to be able to just pay $100 per family and have no need for volunteers. By the way, if you are "stretched" you should not be joining your community pool. This is definitely a "want", not a "need".

If families paid, then they wouldn't need the concessions. Families could pack their own snacks, and the smaller number of volunteers could do things like timing that really actually do need to happen.

We're a family that has had years when we volunteered a lot, a year when we barely did and other people covered our hours due to a health need with a child, and this year when I'm covering the hours for another family in need.