Freeloading swim team parents suck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading this, I'm astonished. First off, I'm gen-X, and no, we're not the ones insisting that everything be done the old way. The "old way", when we were kids, was to be dropped off at the event and picked up later. Our parents did NOT hang out at every meet or practice. If we were hungry, we had to bring our own snacks. When I saw the lists of how the meets require 36-40 volunteers per meet, there were a LOT of unnecessary things on that list. You're getting pissed off because a lot of people don't want to do all the make-work stuff and give a ribbon to every kid. If parents were too noisy, you turned around and told them to be quiet, but wait, our parents weren't there anyway.

I"m writing the check.

Me too. I work and run a thriving horse farm which is an unbelievable amount of work too. I don’t have house cleaners or landscapers or anything. Swim time I am on my computer working/multitasking. I simply don’t have the bandwidth to do this kind of stuff. Luckily our club appears to have plenty of staff to handle things, and parents aren’t expected to volunteer unless they want to. This is absolutely a thing I would throw money at, like I have done Boy Scout popcorn sales, etc. but nope, not volunteering.

I understand the need for volunteers—I have spent a ton of time volunteering at equestrian events but with kids, I no longer have time to do that either. I paid it forward, now less busy people need to step into the breach. When I volunteer it is usually for something like points managing for year end stuff, I can do late at night on my computer. When my kids are in college I will be out there on the ground again, but not now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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!

I’m the OP. Our team has 200+ swimmers and an 8 lane pool. Throw in another team and it’s not uncommon to have 5 full heats of free and back for 8u and 9/10 and at least 2 full heats after that. We never just don’t use all the lanes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading this, I'm astonished. First off, I'm gen-X, and no, we're not the ones insisting that everything be done the old way. The "old way", when we were kids, was to be dropped off at the event and picked up later. Our parents did NOT hang out at every meet or practice. If we were hungry, we had to bring our own snacks. When I saw the lists of how the meets require 36-40 volunteers per meet, there were a LOT of unnecessary things on that list. You're getting pissed off because a lot of people don't want to do all the make-work stuff and give a ribbon to every kid. If parents were too noisy, you turned around and told them to be quiet, but wait, our parents weren't there anyway.

I"m writing the check.

Most teams don’t have this option. Your kids obviously don’t swim.

[Anonymous]

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.

How could you not know? Do you often sign things without reading them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This is why my kids don’t swim. Congrats on your superiority.

Because you refuse to volunteer for your kid's sport? Yeah, the PP probably is superior to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading this, I'm astonished. First off, I'm gen-X, and no, we're not the ones insisting that everything be done the old way. The "old way", when we were kids, was to be dropped off at the event and picked up later. Our parents did NOT hang out at every meet or practice. If we were hungry, we had to bring our own snacks. When I saw the lists of how the meets require 36-40 volunteers per meet, there were a LOT of unnecessary things on that list. You're getting pissed off because a lot of people don't want to do all the make-work stuff and give a ribbon to every kid. If parents were too noisy, you turned around and told them to be quiet, but wait, our parents weren't there anyway.

I"m writing the check.

Me too. I work and run a thriving horse farm which is an unbelievable amount of work too. I don’t have house cleaners or landscapers or anything. Swim time I am on my computer working/multitasking. I simply don’t have the bandwidth to do this kind of stuff. Luckily our club appears to have plenty of staff to handle things, and parents aren’t expected to volunteer unless they want to. This is absolutely a thing I would throw money at, like I have done Boy Scout popcorn sales, etc. but nope, not volunteering.

I understand the need for volunteers—I have spent a ton of time volunteering at equestrian events but with kids, I no longer have time to do that either. I paid it forward, now less busy people need to step into the breach. When I volunteer it is usually for something like points managing for year end stuff, I can do late at night on my computer. When my kids are in college I will be out there on the ground again, but not now.

You volunteering for another group isn't helpful to your swim team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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!

I’m the OP. Our team has 200+ swimmers and an 8 lane pool. Throw in another team and it’s not uncommon to have 5 full heats of free and back for 8u and 9/10 and at least 2 full heats after that. We never just don’t use all the lanes.

OP what swim team/community?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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!

I’m the OP. Our team has 200+ swimmers and an 8 lane pool. Throw in another team and it’s not uncommon to have 5 full heats of free and back for 8u and 9/10 and at least 2 full heats after that. We never just don’t use all the lanes.

At A or B? I thought all A meets have the same limits?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading this, I'm astonished. First off, I'm gen-X, and no, we're not the ones insisting that everything be done the old way. The "old way", when we were kids, was to be dropped off at the event and picked up later. Our parents did NOT hang out at every meet or practice. If we were hungry, we had to bring our own snacks. When I saw the lists of how the meets require 36-40 volunteers per meet, there were a LOT of unnecessary things on that list. You're getting pissed off because a lot of people don't want to do all the make-work stuff and give a ribbon to every kid. If parents were too noisy, you turned around and told them to be quiet, but wait, our parents weren't there anyway.

I"m writing the check.

Me too. I work and run a thriving horse farm which is an unbelievable amount of work too. I don’t have house cleaners or landscapers or anything. Swim time I am on my computer working/multitasking. I simply don’t have the bandwidth to do this kind of stuff. Luckily our club appears to have plenty of staff to handle things, and parents aren’t expected to volunteer unless they want to. This is absolutely a thing I would throw money at, like I have done Boy Scout popcorn sales, etc. but nope, not volunteering.

I understand the need for volunteers—I have spent a ton of time volunteering at equestrian events but with kids, I no longer have time to do that either. I paid it forward, now less busy people need to step into the breach. When I volunteer it is usually for something like points managing for year end stuff, I can do late at night on my computer. When my kids are in college I will be out there on the ground again, but not now.

You volunteering for another group isn't helpful to your swim team.

Aaaand add this to the list of things I absolutely don’t care about, whatsoever. Your opinions of my devotion to a mediocre SWIM TEAM is currently near the top of the list, congrats!

[Anonymous]

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.

Those fees are really low because they depend on volunteers. You are so selfish. I work nights and weekends when our meets are but I take the time off and work other shifts to make up for the time I miss when I have to volunteer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This is why my kids don’t swim. Congrats on your superiority.

You are an example of someone who, knowing the volunteer commitment required for summer swim, chose not to have their kids do summer swim. Good for you for not being a free-loader.

Why are you on this thread?

I've heard of swim teams where you pay a surcharge if you don't volunteer. I think that's a fair compromise. They don't encourage it but it's something that does come up for some families. Ours will work with a family if they can't volunteer during the meets and ask them to do something else like make calls for a food truck or organize a pep rally. The reps are usually very flexible so there's no excuse not to volunteer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm guilty. And if I really cared about swim team, I'd feel guilty. But I don't, so I don't. I signed up for free swim practice and regular exercise, and we rarely go to meets. I look at it as my kid gets practice, I give you lots of money to fund the rest of your team. If they didn't want us, they could kick us off. I'll just find another team, so it really doesn't matter either way to me.

Ugh. How trashy.

[Anonymous]

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.

How could you not know? Do you often sign things without reading them?

I’m the pp. there was nothing to read. I was told how much it was and I sent the money. The week before it started I found out the meets were at night and not on Sat mornings. That’s also when I found out the practice times. We just joined the pool this year so I have no idea if this is normal or Covid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading this, I'm astonished. First off, I'm gen-X, and no, we're not the ones insisting that everything be done the old way. The "old way", when we were kids, was to be dropped off at the event and picked up later. Our parents did NOT hang out at every meet or practice. If we were hungry, we had to bring our own snacks. When I saw the lists of how the meets require 36-40 volunteers per meet, there were a LOT of unnecessary things on that list. You're getting pissed off because a lot of people don't want to do all the make-work stuff and give a ribbon to every kid. If parents were too noisy, you turned around and told them to be quiet, but wait, our parents weren't there anyway.

I"m writing the check.

If you had done swim meets your parents would have been volunteering.

No. We had a functional school system with school-based extracurriculars and it was all done by the schools.

Your school system ran your summer swim team???

[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.

How could you not know? Do you often sign things without reading them?

I’m the pp. there was nothing to read. I was told how much it was and I sent the money. The week before it started I found out the meets were at night and not on Sat mornings. That’s also when I found out the practice times. We just joined the pool this year so I have no idea if this is normal or Covid.

That's surprising.

My sister moved this year, and I helped her look for a pool and swim team for her kids. Every pool we looked at had webpages with all this info. Yes, covid slowed down some of the specific things like the way they were dividing up practice groups, but the basics were there. I also looked at our pool, and it was there.

Was it possible that whoever you asked assumed you'd read the website?