Freeloading swim team parents suck
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Anonymous
Historically as in the last 10 years or what? When I was growing up, tons of working parents ran the swim meets, especially dads. It was a huge social thing and these were definitely working parents because I remember doctors with pagers, dads timing in rolled-up dress pants, and moms changing out of heels. Obviously this was a while ago. The only moms around at practice were the ones with toddlers who had morning swim lessons; otherwise kids showed up at practice alone or with a high school babysitter from the neighborhood. The idea that no one can be expected to volunteer because there aren’t as many SAHMs anymore is ridiculous. I think people have just decided that using their energy for anything that isn’t paid work somehow makes you a chump. |
Anonymous
| Why does it take 40 volunteers to run a swim meet? |
Anonymous
Did you post this without reading the thread? |
Anonymous
Our very low-key league needs 25 per home meet: 4 to run the bullpen (2 per each half of meet) 1 Starter 1 Announcer 4 timers per lane (2 per half) 6 S&T officials (sometimes we skimp on these) 3 runners 4 scorers (2 per half) 3 to do ribbons Sometimes we have less than this but ideally more. |
Anonymous
| No activity should need 40 volunteers. It's ridiculous. |
Anonymous
|
PP here, I only included one lane worth of timers!
So change 25 to 45. You can see from my math mistake how volunteer-intensive just timing is! |
Anonymous
Fine. Pay 40 people $15/hour to cover all the jobs. That’s maybe $2k per meet depending on how long meets run in your league. If your kid is on a team with 100 swimmers and you have 6 meets, then charge $120 extra for the season. For us that would turn a $180 activity into a $300 activity. Most people wouldn’t mind but we would end up also having to pay coaches and the pool manager more in order to recruit, train, and wrangle reliable part-time employees. |
Anonymous
| I've done S&T and time at least part of most meets when I have a swimmer. My kids are older now but even when they were little, we'd figure it out: take 2 hours vacation time from work, have one parent do the volunteering while the other works or watches the younger sibling etc. We've nearly aged out so do more of the bare minimum now which is still probably more than most (volunteering whenever I have a swimmer except in rare cases/conflicts). The thing I don't understand from reps is why do they always ask the parents who are already volunteering to do more instead of the ones that rarely do anything? Happens all the time at our pool. And in fairness, sometimes it's hard to know who is volunteering and who isn't - for instance, if I don't go to concessions, I may not see someone volunteering. I'd love to see a point system like many teams do for winter, or maybe how other summer teams do it because at least there's transparency instead of finger pointing. |
Anonymous
Depending on the team size, three kid herders/clerks of course at all times is ideal. We usually have one head and then four additional people, two per shift. Better more people than less for that job in particular. |
Anonymous
For a couple hundred participants, all of whom are children? Sounds about right. |
Anonymous
Then perhaps it isn't the sport for your family, which is fine. The point is that going in families should know that it is volunteer-intensive, and if after a season that doesn't work for them, make other choices. I'm a long time volunteer coordinator and find that it's a combination of relying on long-time parents but also doing outreach and being available to new families. We do q&a sessions for new families to ask questions. We have a team FB page and website. Team socials are family friendly, parents stick around and talk. Other pools may vary and may be more cliquey, but I personally have found ours to be pretty welcoming. |
Anonymous
Wow. I could easily pay to avoid volunteering if I wanted, but who are you to dictate how people who are less fortunate should be spending their money? They know what their own best interests are better than someone who never met their family. |
Anonymous
| I love volunteering for swim team. As my oldest gets older we still have this fun activity together. Some of our best memories are being made at these meets. I work full time. My husband does too. It’s important to us, it’s only part of the summer and we all enjoy it. It’s also a great way to meet other families at the pool. |
Anonymous
Yes, it's just summer swim that is supposed to be fun for kids but the rules are followed very seriously. NVSL (which is where my kids swim) wants to make sure that the time that a kid swims is the correct time and is entered correctly into the computer. Also, they want to ensure that swimmers are swimming the strokes "legally." There are multiple "eyes" (multiple checks and balances) to make sure both occur. Here's way more information than you asked for! The largest number of people are timers. 6 lines, 3 timers per lane = 18 timers. At B meets, at our pool, they ask for 1st half timers and 2nd half timers so the timers aren't standing in the heat for 3 hours. So right there, you have 36 people. You also have a "Head Timer." That's the person that usually has 3 stop watches around their neck so in case someone's stopwatch isn't working, you can ask the head timer for their time. At our pool, our head timer is one of the 18 timers, but other pools may have a separate head timer so 19 people total. Referee - this is the head person who stands next to the starter. They are the main person in charge of the meet. Starter - 2nd in charge. The one who blows the whistle. Stroke & Turn Judges - 4 individuals. Two on each side of the pool. They make sure the kids are swimming the strokes legally. Clerk of Course - the person who "herds" all the kids and gets them into the correct lanes. Assistant Clerk of Course - again, a second person to assist with getting the swimmers to the correct spots. So the officials around the deck count for 26 (plus 18 if you have second half timers.) Then you have the Table, which can run with 7 people but ideally should have 10: Announcer Data entry - the person who enters the times into the computer. Reader - the person who reads the times to the individual entering the times Verifier - one from each team - they verify that the times entered into the computer match the time cards Place Recorder - 1 from each team. They make sure the middle time was circled on the time cards and they put the cards in place order. Ribbons - each team usually supplies 1 person to make sure the ribbons get labels and they get back to the home team. This is not a taxing job so can be done by 1 person. Head Table Person - individual to make sure everything is working at the table. Again, your head table person may also be doing ribbons. Concessions - our pool usually has 4 people who work concessions. Marshall - this is the person who makes sure spectators are quiet at the start and keep non-swimmers out of the swimmer areas and spectators out of the officials areas. Depending on the layout of the pool, you probably have 2 or more marshalls. Parking Lot Marshall - our pool gets someone to assist with parking at the beginning of the meet. That's where your 40 people come from! |
Anonymous
That's great. Obviously, I didn't want to be an A rep either. But, stewing over the freeloaders seems like a waste of energy. Better to do the right thing yourself and know that it's appreciated by your kids. |