Freeloading swim team parents suck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are there 3 timers per lane? Why won’t one suffice?

It's a rule, so the times will be valid.

PP here. Interesting. Do they average the three times together or something? Just imagining 3 adults crowding around a lane watching a tiny child touch the wall.

I was a swimmer growing up. A decent one who swam in high school state finals and had an excellent summer swim team. One timer per lane was all we needed. I guess the times (no pun intended) have really changed.

the difference between divisionsals and not going to divisionals and then all stars vs not going to Allstars comes down to fractions of a second. If volunteering is too big an ask, there are tons of other sports.

Interesting. Agree with he suggestion that perhaps the B meets only need one timer?

DP. I think it would be fine for B meets to have only 2 timers per lane. The times do count for the kids that are trying to improve their time to qualify for the A meet. I do recognize though that generally there is a smaller portion of B meet swimmers who have A meet aspirations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does it take 40 volunteers to run a swim meet?

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!

Ho.Ly. Crap.
Surely now that you’ve written it out you see how crazy and unnecessary this all is, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are there 3 timers per lane? Why won’t one suffice?

It's a rule, so the times will be valid.

Who cares if times are “valid” for summer swim team?
And who decided one person per lane couldn’t come up with a “valid” tome?
Are you truly telling me three adults stand there and time one small child swim across a pool? I’m astonished.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are there 3 timers per lane? Why won’t one suffice?

It's a rule, so the times will be valid.

Who cares if times are “valid” for summer swim team?
And who decided one person per lane couldn’t come up with a “valid” tome?
Are you truly telling me three adults stand there and time one small child swim across a pool? I’m astonished.

you should absolutely get your pool to form it's own league without any of the excess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does it take 40 volunteers to run a swim meet?

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!

Ho.Ly. Crap.
Surely now that you’ve written it out you see how crazy and unnecessary this all is, right?

who do you cross off the list?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are there 3 timers per lane? Why won’t one suffice?

It's a rule, so the times will be valid.

Who cares if times are “valid” for summer swim team?
And who decided one person per lane couldn’t come up with a “valid” tome?
Are you truly telling me three adults stand there and time one small child swim across a pool? I’m astonished.

I don’t understand the people who don’t participate in swim jumping into this thread. But as you can tell from the rest of the thread, summer swim is fun and less intense than year round clubs, but it is still competitive. And there is an 8 and under group, but those are the only heats really involving one “small child” swimming across the pool. I mean it’s a competition so they have to time the kids. If your kid just wanted to swim laps occasionally they don’t need to join swim team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are there 3 timers per lane? Why won’t one suffice?

It's a rule, so the times will be valid.

Who cares if times are “valid” for summer swim team?
And who decided one person per lane couldn’t come up with a “valid” tome?
Are you truly telling me three adults stand there and time one small child swim across a pool? I’m astonished.

last summer we did one timer per lane for unofficial swim meets. It frequently happened that the times would not match the touches. Its easy for a person to be fast or slow etc on the time. the 3 timers per lane helps a lot with this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know why you swim team parents put up with this system. I did summer swim team with people who were later Div I recruited swimmers, and my older sib swam with st least one Olympic qualifier. You know how many parent volunteers there were? Zero. Older kids ran the snack bar (I guess a parent did volunteer to do the Costco run in advance). The coaches or the paid referee monitored for false starts and touch violations. Like what is done in other kids sports. I just don’t know why you swim parents don’t rise up against how ridiculous this system is. I constantly hear people complaining about it but everyone seems to just accept it as a necessary evil. But why is it necessary?

Even year round clubs near volunteers for swim meets. I doubt your experience is very common.

[Anonymous]

Everyone sees the freeloaders idling their cars for 2 hours on their phone - hiding out and shirking their responsibilities while fouling the air around the pool and killing the earth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is sadly probably a working parent issue. Swim team was historically only SAHM because of practice times, but now with more telework you are getting more working parents.

But working parents would VASTLY prefer to pay hire fees and simply hire refs and timers and upgrade equipment than squander their limited non-work hours doing swim martyr duty.

Cultural divide.

The opt out fee would be insanely expensive, though. Our pool had ten lanes. That's thirty timers for every A and B meet.

There are hundreds of team members. You are talking probably $100 a summer. 100% of working parents would pay that to free their weekends. Most SAHM can afford because they have breadwinner (hence why they don’t work)

umm- I'm a working parent. An extremely hard working parent. Volunteering at meets my kids are swimming in is not hard- its fun. I would never pay an opt out fee to avoid volunteering. I'm at the meet- might as well volunteer.

I'm one of the working parents who signed a kid up for swim team for the first time this year. Maybe I'm the problem? I don't know. I can volunteer for things that start after 6pm. While I'm teleworking, I can be around during the day, but I'll the one working on my laptop from the pavilion at 9:30 every morning while my kid practices. Arriving at 4:30 for the "officials meeting" then sitting at the table for an hour waiting for the meet to start isn't going to work. So I sign up for jobs that don't require that, but they are few and far between.

I think you'd have a lot more volunteers if you were willing to accommodate various schedules. I've done some 'split shifts' with SAH parents of young kids who want to arrive at 4:30 and leave when their 6yo finishes at 7pm - I take over then - but some volunteer organizers get annoyed at having swap-outs halfway through the meet. How many more volunteers would you get if people could sign up for either a 4:30-7 shift or a 6:30-9:30? SAH parents of younger kids would take the former, working parents of older kids would take the latter. Parents who can stay all night could continue to do so, but at least they'd have some help from those who can't.

for us you could volunteer for meet take down or for concessions shifts. For very large B meets (we're a big team and we do one B meet with another local pool that is also very large), timers officials and judges are also in shifts. Reach out to your team reps- especially if you have older ones- some don't realize that working parents want to volunteer.

There aren't 10 lanes of swimmers at an A meet. There are 6, regardless if you have 10 lanes or 6. Your team may swim all 10 lanes at B meets, which does mean more timers, it also means your meets move much faster than most.

Why do you assume you know everything? We have an 8 lane pool and use all 8 lanes at A meets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are there 3 timers per lane? Why won’t one suffice?

It's a rule, so the times will be valid.

PP here. Interesting. Do they average the three times together or something? Just imagining 3 adults crowding around a lane watching a tiny child touch the wall.

I was a swimmer growing up. A decent one who swam in high school state finals and had an excellent summer swim team. One timer per lane was all we needed. I guess the times (no pun intended) have really changed.

I'm 45 and there were multiple timers per lane when I did summer swim in the 1980s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is sadly probably a working parent issue. Swim team was historically only SAHM because of practice times, but now with more telework you are getting more working parents.

But working parents would VASTLY prefer to pay hire fees and simply hire refs and timers and upgrade equipment than squander their limited non-work hours doing swim martyr duty.

Cultural divide.

The opt out fee would be insanely expensive, though. Our pool had ten lanes. That's thirty timers for every A and B meet.

There are hundreds of team members. You are talking probably $100 a summer. 100% of working parents would pay that to free their weekends. Most SAHM can afford because they have breadwinner (hence why they don’t work)

umm- I'm a working parent. An extremely hard working parent. Volunteering at meets my kids are swimming in is not hard- its fun. I would never pay an opt out fee to avoid volunteering. I'm at the meet- might as well volunteer.

I'm one of the working parents who signed a kid up for swim team for the first time this year. Maybe I'm the problem? I don't know. I can volunteer for things that start after 6pm. While I'm teleworking, I can be around during the day, but I'll the one working on my laptop from the pavilion at 9:30 every morning while my kid practices. Arriving at 4:30 for the "officials meeting" then sitting at the table for an hour waiting for the meet to start isn't going to work. So I sign up for jobs that don't require that, but they are few and far between.

I think you'd have a lot more volunteers if you were willing to accommodate various schedules. I've done some 'split shifts' with SAH parents of young kids who want to arrive at 4:30 and leave when their 6yo finishes at 7pm - I take over then - but some volunteer organizers get annoyed at having swap-outs halfway through the meet. How many more volunteers would you get if people could sign up for either a 4:30-7 shift or a 6:30-9:30? SAH parents of younger kids would take the former, working parents of older kids would take the latter. Parents who can stay all night could continue to do so, but at least they'd have some help from those who can't.

for us you could volunteer for meet take down or for concessions shifts. For very large B meets (we're a big team and we do one B meet with another local pool that is also very large), timers officials and judges are also in shifts. Reach out to your team reps- especially if you have older ones- some don't realize that working parents want to volunteer.

There aren't 10 lanes of swimmers at an A meet. There are 6, regardless if you have 10 lanes or 6. Your team may swim all 10 lanes at B meets, which does mean more timers, it also means your meets move much faster than most.

Why do you assume you know everything? We have an 8 lane pool and use all 8 lanes at A meets.

DP. The freestyle heats are the only ones you need lanes for more than 6 swimmers, so I don’t see how this is beneficial at all. In B meets, it would definitely help move things along!

[Anonymous]

3 timers per lane

It's recreational. This is silly. So there's a mistake once in awhile. Of a fraction of a second. This is suppose to be fun. These aren't Olympic swimmers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t know I would have to volunteer either. I paid my money for my kid to be on the team. Our meets are at night this year and go until gone 9pm. They always ask for timers but I’m hesitant because I don’t want to be stuck there that late. I have to get up for work at 5am so I usually head out when DD is done.

Honest question, does your child participate in any other rec sport?

yes soccer. I sign up to bring snacks once or twice during the season.

TBH, I’m judging you.

As someone who has volunteered to sell concessions, coach, and be a team manager. Yes, when snacks were a thing, we did that too. Without volunteers your child wouldn’t be able to play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are there 3 timers per lane? Why won’t one suffice?

It's a rule, so the times will be valid.

Who cares if times are “valid” for summer swim team?
And who decided one person per lane couldn’t come up with a “valid” tome?
Are you truly telling me three adults stand there and time one small child swim across a pool? I’m astonished.

last summer we did one timer per lane for unofficial swim meets. It frequently happened that the times would not match the touches. Its easy for a person to be fast or slow etc on the time. the 3 timers per lane helps a lot with this.

And summer pools don’t have touch pads.