Swim Team Volunteering - it helps if you are nice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every year, little Larla joins swim team and mom or dad is outraged that they “aren’t run efficiently” and “three timers is ridiculous”. Please don’t join swim team then. It is a league rule almost everywhere. (Everywhere we have swam in the summer, chime in if you are in a league that doesn’t require it so these people can go there). Do not blame your reps, your pool, etc. it is not their choice. Unfortunately you can’t just decide it’s ridiculous and you’re not volunteering because you don’t think it’s necessary. Your pool has to follow the league rules or they will have no one to swim against.

We moved out to the exurbs and our league will accept times when there are only 2 timers per lane, the horror! 🙄 Meets aren’t always run efficiently, and volunteer slots aren’t apportioned appropriately. For example the large MCSL team we used to swim for wouldn’t split the meet in half for jobs like timing and clerk of course, even though we were large enough that people should only have had to volunteer for half the meet instead of the full 4-5 hours on Wednesdays, but there were always people like you with mentality of “it’s always been done this way damnit!” and an unwillingness to let others’ express ideas. You will say feel free to step up and be a team rep, but the reality is your summer persona is based on your role with the swim team and you’ll never drop the rope. I enjoy club swim so much better than the ridiculous people that run summer swim. It’s populated by the parents of the kids that are 2nd tier club swimmers and they think this is their kid’s time to shine. Ok, rant over.

Go ahead and share your league so people can join it and be happier with the rules. You completely missed the point. Your pool/team (these people you claim their persona is swim team) can’t change it. Your team rep can’t freaking change how many timers there are!!! Feel free to “express your new ideas” but please do it as feedback to the league, not your reps/volunteers at your pool. They can’t change league rules and you’re just whining then.

For B meets you can absolutely split the jobs by half, our MCSL team does that for pretty much every job. B meets are often twice as long as A meets. Heck, if someone didn't renew their S&T and we need someone, it's fine for a B meet. Not much flexibility on A meets, though, you have to follow league rules or not participate.

I said they can’t change the number of timers. Please read. They can split shifts, but I’m addressing the prior post complaining they don’t need three timers.

Please read? The following was stated above:

"For example the large MCSL team we used to swim for wouldn’t split the meet in half for jobs like timing and clerk of course, even though we were large enough that people should only have had to volunteer for half the meet instead of the full 4-5 hours on Wednesdays, but there were always people like you with mentality of “it’s always been done this way damnit!” and an unwillingness to let others’ express ideas."

Take your own advice.

Again, step up as a rep and you can do it since you are so efficient.
Some people just aren’t team players and shouldn’t join swim team. While you see it as people not wanting to change the way things are done, they probably know from experience if they split shifts they will have trouble getting enough timers. Super obnoxious to criticize everything they do because it’s not the way you think it should go, despite the fact you’ve never done the job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every year, little Larla joins swim team and mom or dad is outraged that they “aren’t run efficiently” and “three timers is ridiculous”. Please don’t join swim team then. It is a league rule almost everywhere. (Everywhere we have swam in the summer, chime in if you are in a league that doesn’t require it so these people can go there). Do not blame your reps, your pool, etc. it is not their choice. Unfortunately you can’t just decide it’s ridiculous and you’re not volunteering because you don’t think it’s necessary. Your pool has to follow the league rules or they will have no one to swim against.

We moved out to the exurbs and our league will accept times when there are only 2 timers per lane, the horror! 🙄 Meets aren’t always run efficiently, and volunteer slots aren’t apportioned appropriately. For example the large MCSL team we used to swim for wouldn’t split the meet in half for jobs like timing and clerk of course, even though we were large enough that people should only have had to volunteer for half the meet instead of the full 4-5 hours on Wednesdays, but there were always people like you with mentality of “it’s always been done this way damnit!” and an unwillingness to let others’ express ideas. You will say feel free to step up and be a team rep, but the reality is your summer persona is based on your role with the swim team and you’ll never drop the rope. I enjoy club swim so much better than the ridiculous people that run summer swim. It’s populated by the parents of the kids that are 2nd tier club swimmers and they think this is their kid’s time to shine. Ok, rant over.

Go ahead and share your league so people can join it and be happier with the rules. You completely missed the point. Your pool/team (these people you claim their persona is swim team) can’t change it. Your team rep can’t freaking change how many timers there are!!! Feel free to “express your new ideas” but please do it as feedback to the league, not your reps/volunteers at your pool. They can’t change league rules and you’re just whining then.

For B meets you can absolutely split the jobs by half, our MCSL team does that for pretty much every job. B meets are often twice as long as A meets. Heck, if someone didn't renew their S&T and we need someone, it's fine for a B meet. Not much flexibility on A meets, though, you have to follow league rules or not participate.

I said they can’t change the number of timers. Please read. They can split shifts, but I’m addressing the prior post complaining they don’t need three timers.

Please read? The following was stated above:

"For example the large MCSL team we used to swim for wouldn’t split the meet in half for jobs like timing and clerk of course, even though we were large enough that people should only have had to volunteer for half the meet instead of the full 4-5 hours on Wednesdays, but there were always people like you with mentality of “it’s always been done this way damnit!” and an unwillingness to let others’ express ideas."

Take your own advice.

Again, step up as a rep and you can do it since you are so efficient.
Some people just aren’t team players and shouldn’t join swim team. While you see it as people not wanting to change the way things are done, they probably know from experience if they split shifts they will have trouble getting enough timers. Super obnoxious to criticize everything they do because it’s not the way you think it should go, despite the fact you’ve never done the job.

You are literally proving the point that many of the people who run summer swim team cannot drop the rope, they enjoy playing martyr and the control they have over summer swim. Let’s be real, you don’t want to give up your rep spot, you just want everyone to say how awesome you are at it, and how summer swim couldn’t run without you. To the shift issue, at a minimum you need to give more credit to the people volunteering for positions that cover the entire meet. Our old team awarded 3 credit hours for timing a meet, which if you were timing a B meet was laughable since you had to stand there with a stopwatch for 4-5 hours. They also required each family to volunteer for 12 credit hours, which was essentially volunteering for the entirety of all but 1 A or B meet. Again, ludicrous when there was in excess of 150 swimmers on the team. It was punishing the parents who took the volunteer requirement at its word and stepped up. This is the type of crap that makes parents hate summer swim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every year, little Larla joins swim team and mom or dad is outraged that they “aren’t run efficiently” and “three timers is ridiculous”. Please don’t join swim team then. It is a league rule almost everywhere. (Everywhere we have swam in the summer, chime in if you are in a league that doesn’t require it so these people can go there). Do not blame your reps, your pool, etc. it is not their choice. Unfortunately you can’t just decide it’s ridiculous and you’re not volunteering because you don’t think it’s necessary. Your pool has to follow the league rules or they will have no one to swim against.

We moved out to the exurbs and our league will accept times when there are only 2 timers per lane, the horror! 🙄 Meets aren’t always run efficiently, and volunteer slots aren’t apportioned appropriately. For example the large MCSL team we used to swim for wouldn’t split the meet in half for jobs like timing and clerk of course, even though we were large enough that people should only have had to volunteer for half the meet instead of the full 4-5 hours on Wednesdays, but there were always people like you with mentality of “it’s always been done this way damnit!” and an unwillingness to let others’ express ideas. You will say feel free to step up and be a team rep, but the reality is your summer persona is based on your role with the swim team and you’ll never drop the rope. I enjoy club swim so much better than the ridiculous people that run summer swim. It’s populated by the parents of the kids that are 2nd tier club swimmers and they think this is their kid’s time to shine. Ok, rant over.

Go ahead and share your league so people can join it and be happier with the rules. You completely missed the point. Your pool/team (these people you claim their persona is swim team) can’t change it. Your team rep can’t freaking change how many timers there are!!! Feel free to “express your new ideas” but please do it as feedback to the league, not your reps/volunteers at your pool. They can’t change league rules and you’re just whining then.

For B meets you can absolutely split the jobs by half, our MCSL team does that for pretty much every job. B meets are often twice as long as A meets. Heck, if someone didn't renew their S&T and we need someone, it's fine for a B meet. Not much flexibility on A meets, though, you have to follow league rules or not participate.

I said they can’t change the number of timers. Please read. They can split shifts, but I’m addressing the prior post complaining they don’t need three timers.

Please read? The following was stated above:

"For example the large MCSL team we used to swim for wouldn’t split the meet in half for jobs like timing and clerk of course, even though we were large enough that people should only have had to volunteer for half the meet instead of the full 4-5 hours on Wednesdays, but there were always people like you with mentality of “it’s always been done this way damnit!” and an unwillingness to let others’ express ideas."

Take your own advice.

Again, step up as a rep and you can do it since you are so efficient.
Some people just aren’t team players and shouldn’t join swim team. While you see it as people not wanting to change the way things are done, they probably know from experience if they split shifts they will have trouble getting enough timers. Super obnoxious to criticize everything they do because it’s not the way you think it should go, despite the fact you’ve never done the job.

You are literally proving the point that many of the people who run summer swim team cannot drop the rope, they enjoy playing martyr and the control they have over summer swim. Let’s be real, you don’t want to give up your rep spot, you just want everyone to say how awesome you are at it, and how summer swim couldn’t run without you. To the shift issue, at a minimum you need to give more credit to the people volunteering for positions that cover the entire meet. Our old team awarded 3 credit hours for timing a meet, which if you were timing a B meet was laughable since you had to stand there with a stopwatch for 4-5 hours. They also required each family to volunteer for 12 credit hours, which was essentially volunteering for the entirety of all but 1 A or B meet. Again, ludicrous when there was in excess of 150 swimmers on the team. It was punishing the parents who took the volunteer requirement at its word and stepped up. This is the type of crap that makes parents hate summer swim.

I’m not a rep, so you can drop that BS. I time just enough to meet my volunteer requirements. I’m a parent who has observed for ten years or so and would never touch that job in a million years. I see how much they are doing behind the scenes and that people will complain no matter what they do. Just show up and time your kid, have a good time and stop complaining. If it’s so awful, why stay on the team? you complain about people who volunteer too much and are power hungry at the beginning, at the end you complain because you had to time too much and that wasn’t fair with so many swimmers and those parents aren’t stepping up enough…maybe you’re just not gonna be happy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every year, little Larla joins swim team and mom or dad is outraged that they “aren’t run efficiently” and “three timers is ridiculous”. Please don’t join swim team then. It is a league rule almost everywhere. (Everywhere we have swam in the summer, chime in if you are in a league that doesn’t require it so these people can go there). Do not blame your reps, your pool, etc. it is not their choice. Unfortunately you can’t just decide it’s ridiculous and you’re not volunteering because you don’t think it’s necessary. Your pool has to follow the league rules or they will have no one to swim against.

We moved out to the exurbs and our league will accept times when there are only 2 timers per lane, the horror! 🙄 Meets aren’t always run efficiently, and volunteer slots aren’t apportioned appropriately. For example the large MCSL team we used to swim for wouldn’t split the meet in half for jobs like timing and clerk of course, even though we were large enough that people should only have had to volunteer for half the meet instead of the full 4-5 hours on Wednesdays, but there were always people like you with mentality of “it’s always been done this way damnit!” and an unwillingness to let others’ express ideas. You will say feel free to step up and be a team rep, but the reality is your summer persona is based on your role with the swim team and you’ll never drop the rope. I enjoy club swim so much better than the ridiculous people that run summer swim. It’s populated by the parents of the kids that are 2nd tier club swimmers and they think this is their kid’s time to shine. Ok, rant over.

Go ahead and share your league so people can join it and be happier with the rules. You completely missed the point. Your pool/team (these people you claim their persona is swim team) can’t change it. Your team rep can’t freaking change how many timers there are!!! Feel free to “express your new ideas” but please do it as feedback to the league, not your reps/volunteers at your pool. They can’t change league rules and you’re just whining then.

For B meets you can absolutely split the jobs by half, our MCSL team does that for pretty much every job. B meets are often twice as long as A meets. Heck, if someone didn't renew their S&T and we need someone, it's fine for a B meet. Not much flexibility on A meets, though, you have to follow league rules or not participate.

I said they can’t change the number of timers. Please read. They can split shifts, but I’m addressing the prior post complaining they don’t need three timers.

Please read? The following was stated above:

"For example the large MCSL team we used to swim for wouldn’t split the meet in half for jobs like timing and clerk of course, even though we were large enough that people should only have had to volunteer for half the meet instead of the full 4-5 hours on Wednesdays, but there were always people like you with mentality of “it’s always been done this way damnit!” and an unwillingness to let others’ express ideas."

Take your own advice.

Again, step up as a rep and you can do it since you are so efficient.
Some people just aren’t team players and shouldn’t join swim team. While you see it as people not wanting to change the way things are done, they probably know from experience if they split shifts they will have trouble getting enough timers. Super obnoxious to criticize everything they do because it’s not the way you think it should go, despite the fact you’ve never done the job.

You are literally proving the point that many of the people who run summer swim team cannot drop the rope, they enjoy playing martyr and the control they have over summer swim. Let’s be real, you don’t want to give up your rep spot, you just want everyone to say how awesome you are at it, and how summer swim couldn’t run without you. To the shift issue, at a minimum you need to give more credit to the people volunteering for positions that cover the entire meet. Our old team awarded 3 credit hours for timing a meet, which if you were timing a B meet was laughable since you had to stand there with a stopwatch for 4-5 hours. They also required each family to volunteer for 12 credit hours, which was essentially volunteering for the entirety of all but 1 A or B meet. Again, ludicrous when there was in excess of 150 swimmers on the team. It was punishing the parents who took the volunteer requirement at its word and stepped up. This is the type of crap that makes parents hate summer swim.

DP, but our team has the same requirement, although it's 12 hours per kid. Even volunteering as clerk of course at as many meets as possible, I'll barely meet the points. I guess I could do multiple shifts each meet (as opposed to at most of the meets, with a few split shifts), but the bottom line is that there are SO many parents who don't volunteer at all, ever. I mostly enjoy the volunteering and it's important to me to model good citizenship to my kids, but some people contribute so little.

[Anonymous]

the math is pretty easy:

If you are a good person, time

If you are a bad person, do nothing but accept that people will talk smack about you (and people know who are the slackers)

If you are masochist be clerk of course


People in this region are so uptight. Just pitch in and have fun. Doesn't matter if the head or manager or what have you is nice. It's summer swim for goodness sake!

[Anonymous]

Those of you complaining about everything that isn't ideal for you and your family need to realize that if you're doing this constantly in front of your kids (yes; they're listening), then they will grow up to be dissatisfied, grumpy adults. It's important to model being part of a larger community. It's important to model being resilient when things don't go your way. It's important to model leadership and grit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the math is pretty easy:

If you are a good person, time

If you are a bad person, do nothing but accept that people will talk smack about you (and people know who are the slackers)

If you are masochist be clerk of course


People in this region are so uptight. Just pitch in and have fun. Doesn't matter if the head or manager or what have you is nice. It's summer swim for goodness sake!

LOL--I actually enjoy clerk of course, but I get it! Still, standing relatively still for 4+ hours would be hell on my back, so I appreciate the movement required for clerk of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those of you complaining about everything that isn't ideal for you and your family need to realize that if you're doing this constantly in front of your kids (yes; they're listening), then they will grow up to be dissatisfied, grumpy adults. It's important to model being part of a larger community. It's important to model being resilient when things don't go your way. It's important to model leadership and grit.

Lol this is a little melodramatic. Standing with a stopwatch for 4-5 hours doesn’t make you gritty, determined or resilient.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those of you complaining about everything that isn't ideal for you and your family need to realize that if you're doing this constantly in front of your kids (yes; they're listening), then they will grow up to be dissatisfied, grumpy adults. It's important to model being part of a larger community. It's important to model being resilient when things don't go your way. It's important to model leadership and grit.

Lol this is a little melodramatic. Standing with a stopwatch for 4-5 hours doesn’t make you gritty, determined or resilient.

It makes you a team player.
He/she is right. Don’t be that nasty complaining person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those of you complaining about everything that isn't ideal for you and your family need to realize that if you're doing this constantly in front of your kids (yes; they're listening), then they will grow up to be dissatisfied, grumpy adults. It's important to model being part of a larger community. It's important to model being resilient when things don't go your way. It's important to model leadership and grit.

Lol this is a little melodramatic. Standing with a stopwatch for 4-5 hours doesn’t make you gritty, determined or resilient.

It makes you a team player.
He/she is right. Don’t be that nasty complaining person.

Also don’t be the person that never volunteers.

[Anonymous]

I suspect MCSL is one of the more serious summer leagues. Lots of former Olympians have been part of the league. Times are taken seriously because meets like coaches long course are very competitive and times count for major long course meets.

And we need 3 times because parents always mess up when their kids are swimming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the math is pretty easy:

If you are a good person, time

If you are a bad person, do nothing but accept that people will talk smack about you (and people know who are the slackers)

If you are masochist be clerk of course


People in this region are so uptight. Just pitch in and have fun. Doesn't matter if the head or manager or what have you is nice. It's summer swim for goodness sake!

LOL--I actually enjoy clerk of course, but I get it! Still, standing relatively still for 4+ hours would be hell on my back, so I appreciate the movement required for clerk of course.

Same PP! It’s my favorite job. Timing is fine but tedious. Clerk of course helps the time go by quickly. Though I much prefer doing it at A meets where there’s just one heat per event and the kids aren’t as wild. B meets are chaos. The kids know they’re not scored and they are so hyper/unfocused. Fun for them but so hard to get them to pay attention!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those of you complaining about everything that isn't ideal for you and your family need to realize that if you're doing this constantly in front of your kids (yes; they're listening), then they will grow up to be dissatisfied, grumpy adults. It's important to model being part of a larger community. It's important to model being resilient when things don't go your way. It's important to model leadership and grit.

Lol this is a little melodramatic. Standing with a stopwatch for 4-5 hours doesn’t make you gritty, determined or resilient.

I'm your melodramatic poster from above! Standing with a stopwatch doesn't make you gritty. Showing up, helping even with the boring jobs, even in the heat, even if you might miss video taping your kid's backstroke...shows your kids that the family is part of a community, that they can persevere even if the weather isn't ideal, that it's important to pitch in to get a job done. The act of timing itself isn't the important part--it's what it's teaching your kids.

*end scene* (exit stage left, with a flourish)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The current gen are annoyed they can't pay people to do the work volunteers used to do. Hilarious how they want to outsource every aspect of their life...can't grill, gotta have food trucks. Can't time, need ot hire teenagers or off suty life guards. Heck they try to use on duty life guards as baby sitters.

Also, there is no need for 3 timers for 6 year olds swimming.

This, and I think it's one of the reasons kids sports in general are dying out. No one wants to be involved or make a commitment any more.

Just an observation from a non-swimmer parent...I swam growing up- wasn't particularly good, though placed in the top 5 in a few high school events- but even in our competitive summer swim league, we didn't have 3 timers per lane. You got one and you lived with the time they clocked for you. It's been fascinating reading these swim threads.

Did you have touch pads though? High schools when I grew up had a touch pad and one timer as a backup. Most summer pools rely solely on timers, and that's why there are 3.

Wouldn’t that mean maybe having 2 timers max? Honestly 3 adults crouched over a lane as a 6 year old struggles to the finish is such a ridiculous sight.

Two timers slows the meet. With three timers they take the time in the middle. With two timers you would have to average, which is slower. That is why three is preferable. You could do two, but not ideal.

This. Work once as a verifier for automation and you would understand a lot more about why things are done the way they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every year, little Larla joins swim team and mom or dad is outraged that they “aren’t run efficiently” and “three timers is ridiculous”. Please don’t join swim team then. It is a league rule almost everywhere. (Everywhere we have swam in the summer, chime in if you are in a league that doesn’t require it so these people can go there). Do not blame your reps, your pool, etc. it is not their choice. Unfortunately you can’t just decide it’s ridiculous and you’re not volunteering because you don’t think it’s necessary. Your pool has to follow the league rules or they will have no one to swim against.

We moved out to the exurbs and our league will accept times when there are only 2 timers per lane, the horror! 🙄 Meets aren’t always run efficiently, and volunteer slots aren’t apportioned appropriately. For example the large MCSL team we used to swim for wouldn’t split the meet in half for jobs like timing and clerk of course, even though we were large enough that people should only have had to volunteer for half the meet instead of the full 4-5 hours on Wednesdays, but there were always people like you with mentality of “it’s always been done this way damnit!” and an unwillingness to let others’ express ideas. You will say feel free to step up and be a team rep, but the reality is your summer persona is based on your role with the swim team and you’ll never drop the rope. I enjoy club swim so much better than the ridiculous people that run summer swim. It’s populated by the parents of the kids that are 2nd tier club swimmers and they think this is their kid’s time to shine. Ok, rant over.

Go ahead and share your league so people can join it and be happier with the rules. You completely missed the point. Your pool/team (these people you claim their persona is swim team) can’t change it. Your team rep can’t freaking change how many timers there are!!! Feel free to “express your new ideas” but please do it as feedback to the league, not your reps/volunteers at your pool. They can’t change league rules and you’re just whining then.

For B meets you can absolutely split the jobs by half, our MCSL team does that for pretty much every job. B meets are often twice as long as A meets. Heck, if someone didn't renew their S&T and we need someone, it's fine for a B meet. Not much flexibility on A meets, though, you have to follow league rules or not participate.

The MCSL rule book is online. Nothing says you can’t split these jobs by half. Even ST can be split, provided the second half officials attend the briefing