Freeloading swim team parents suck

[Anonymous]

How much would it cost to put in automatic timing on 6 lanes? If parents are willing to buy their way out, wouldn't that be a way to use the money?

[Anonymous]

seems like it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

the thing is, we were not told all this volunteering was involved when we signed up. I do work FT, I’m on the HOA board where I live because no one else wants to be, I am a co leader of a girl
Scout troop too, and also just came off a year of homeschooling. I am emotionally maxed out right now, I know other people do all this and more, but for me, I’m exhausted and feel like I’m being pulled in too many directions.

[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.

Please don’t compare bringing snack to actually volunteering your time. I coach rec soccer and still manage to volunteer at swim meets. Paying your registration fee does not make the team work - any rec level sport. If we want to keep these activities available and at a cost that almost anyone can manage, it takes volunteers. So thankful we have families whose DC have moved off swim team who still come back and lend their time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much would it cost to put in automatic timing on 6 lanes? If parents are willing to buy their way out, wouldn't that be a way to use the money?

thousands

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

the thing is, we were not told all this volunteering was involved when we signed up. I do work FT, I’m on the HOA board where I live because no one else wants to be, I am a co leader of a girl
Scout troop too, and also just came off a year of homeschooling. I am emotionally maxed out right now, I know other people do all this and more, but for me, I’m exhausted and feel like I’m being pulled in too many directions.

I find it incredibly hard to believe that there was no communication regarding volunteering when you registered.
Even giving you the benefit of the doubt, when you went to time trials and there were 50 parents volunteering....that didn't clue you in that there was an expectation of volunteering? You could have asked for a refund and bowed out at that point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Please don’t compare bringing snack to actually volunteering your time. I coach rec soccer and still manage to volunteer at swim meets. Paying your registration fee does not make the team work - any rec level sport. If we want to keep these activities available and at a cost that almost anyone can manage, it takes volunteers. So thankful we have families whose DC have moved off swim team who still come back and lend their time.

I am grateful for our soccer coach. But we have 12ish kids on our team and only need 1 coach and 1 assistant. I do shift work so can’t physically coach the same night every week. What I can do is bring snacks. I know it’s not the same but it’s what I can do, so I do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much would it cost to put in automatic timing on 6 lanes? If parents are willing to buy their way out, wouldn't that be a way to use the money?

thousands

How many thousands?

As someone scrambling to figure out how to manage timing tonight with a complicated schedule and multiple kids and people with health issues, I know I'd pay a couple hundred to have my volunteer hours cut in half. I'd bet there are at least 20 parents on my team who agree with me, including parents like me who volunteer regularly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

the thing is, we were not told all this volunteering was involved when we signed up. I do work FT, I’m on the HOA board where I live because no one else wants to be, I am a co leader of a girl
Scout troop too, and also just came off a year of homeschooling. I am emotionally maxed out right now, I know other people do all this and more, but for me, I’m exhausted and feel like I’m being pulled in too many directions.

I find it incredibly hard to believe that there was no communication regarding volunteering when you registered.
Even giving you the benefit of the doubt, when you went to time trials and there were 50 parents volunteering....that didn't clue you in that there was an expectation of volunteering? You could have asked for a refund and bowed out at that point.

DP they do communicate this after your sign up. Even if you figured they would need volunteers, if you've never done it before it's completely different than any other sport with the sheer volume of people needed.

[Anonymous]

1 Timer per lane.
1 Referee. He can blow the whistle. He can announce.
2 Stroke & Turn Judges
1 Clerk of Course
1 Data Entry

I see the need for 6 people

[Anonymous]

obviously, 1 per lane for timers
but the above is a good start

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When the team says prior to registration that volunteering is mandatory to make swim team work, they don’t mean everyone but YOU.

You suck and I judge you. Don’t give excuses, no one forced you to register your kid.

That’s all.

Freeloading parents suck. Fixed that for you, OP. The ones that suck up to the coaches are the WORST.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1 Timer per lane.
1 Referee. He can blow the whistle. He can announce.
2 Stroke & Turn Judges
1 Clerk of Course
1 Data Entry

I see the need for 6 people

I mean you could have something like this-- it would not be a classic NVSL or MCSL meet. It would certainly work for 6 and unders- in fact we run a mini-meet for preteam that sort of goes like this. But that's not how you run a meet for 200 kids. I could explain why but I doubt you are at all interested in the answer- you just want to be right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1 Timer per lane.
1 Referee. He can blow the whistle. He can announce.
2 Stroke & Turn Judges
1 Clerk of Course
1 Data Entry

I see the need for 6 people

I mean you could have something like this-- it would not be a classic NVSL or MCSL meet. It would certainly work for 6 and unders- in fact we run a mini-meet for preteam that sort of goes like this. But that's not how you run a meet for 200 kids. I could explain why but I doubt you are at all interested in the answer- you just want to be right.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

-Clerk of Course

[Anonymous]

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.

Our practice times are at night. Some teams have both day and night practices. Its absolutely not SAHP's and most as many Dad's do it as Mom's. Most teams don't charge very much so they cannot afford to pay for the help and given how many people they need to work it its, not reasonable. How is it a big deal to volunteer if you have to be there anyway.