Swim Team Volunteering - it helps if you are nice

[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.

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)

🙄 except you actually used the words grit, determination, and resilient. And the parents complaining are generally the ones who do show up, hold the stopwatch, herd the kids, etc. It’s ok to recognize we are showing up when others won’t, and putting in hours that others won’t, and that it is unfair to expect that of parents. Put a realistic count on the volunteer hours required and force some of the deadbeats to do their part. Make the volunteer hours requirement on a large team 8-10, and after the usual families have put in their 8-10 hours, hound the families who just hang out socializing during meets instead of just tacking on another 3-4 hours for the Joneses to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

They don’t want to understand. Just complain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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)

🙄 except you actually used the words grit, determination, and resilient. And the parents complaining are generally the ones who do show up, hold the stopwatch, herd the kids, etc. It’s ok to recognize we are showing up when others won’t, and putting in hours that others won’t, and that it is unfair to expect that of parents. Put a realistic count on the volunteer hours required and force some of the deadbeats to do their part. Make the volunteer hours requirement on a large team 8-10, and after the usual families have put in their 8-10 hours, hound the families who just hang out socializing during meets instead of just tacking on another 3-4 hours for the Joneses to do.

Just keep beating a dead horse. You’re still complaining about 3-4 hours for the season and you’ve spent at least a good hour complaining on this thread.

[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 or better yet the team rep who gets to hear from all the whining parents.


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!

this is spot on. Also added the bold

but seriously most top teams are pretty big meaning there are more than enough people available to volunteer. if you don't want to volunteer then don't sign your kid up for swim team. even with volunteering it is a good deal your kid gets 7 weeks or swim team fun for what $125.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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!

Oh, for sure. The one we had this past week was a bloodbath. Just two clerks of course per shift and as the visiting team, our kids were wandering ALL over the enormous pool they wanted to explore. Our reps sent an email to parents insisting they keep their kids close so we wouldn’t have to chase them down, thankfully.

Hilariously, it’s the 15-18 boys who have been giving me the most grief this season. So dramatic, LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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!

Oh, for sure. The one we had this past week was a bloodbath. Just two clerks of course per shift and as the visiting team, our kids were wandering ALL over the enormous pool they wanted to explore. Our reps sent an email to parents insisting they keep their kids close so we wouldn’t have to chase them down, thankfully.

Hilariously, it’s the 15-18 boys who have been giving me the most grief this season. So dramatic, LOL

Same! I have been saying they’re the hardest to round up! They think they’re too cool to show up at clerk of course and their friends will be like “oh he’s here he’s just not coming over here”. Or they bring friends with them who aren’t swimming and I’m like “only stand over here if you’re actually swimming!”. And god forbid they sit in the chairs for each lane, LOL.

[Anonymous]

We had a group of younger parents at the pool this year stage a "coup" because they think they should just be allowed to pay extra money and not volunteer. While I agree in principle on this, they could not seem to understand that not everyone can pay their way out of volunteering. Some people have to volunteer. There is nobody to hire to do these jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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!

Oh, for sure. The one we had this past week was a bloodbath. Just two clerks of course per shift and as the visiting team, our kids were wandering ALL over the enormous pool they wanted to explore. Our reps sent an email to parents insisting they keep their kids close so we wouldn’t have to chase them down, thankfully.

Hilariously, it’s the 15-18 boys who have been giving me the most grief this season. So dramatic, LOL

Same! I have been saying they’re the hardest to round up! They think they’re too cool to show up at clerk of course and their friends will be like “oh he’s here he’s just not coming over here”. Or they bring friends with them who aren’t swimming and I’m like “only stand over here if you’re actually swimming!”. And god forbid they sit in the chairs for each lane, LOL.

The similarities are hilarious! When I told them it was time for 100 Free the other night, I got a loud chorus of “NOOOOOO” to which I replied, “YEEEESSSS.” And then constantly, “he’s here but he’s hiding in the shower,” when asked where a friend is. Or, “he’s right over there” - I turn and look at the kid and he hisses at me like a vampire who saw garlic.

The 15-18 girls on the other hand are no work. They ask me which heat/lane and walk over on their own. A dream. And the little ones - “which event is this?” Haha

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a group of younger parents at the pool this year stage a "coup" because they think they should just be allowed to pay extra money and not volunteer. While I agree in principle on this, they could not seem to understand that not everyone can pay their way out of volunteering. Some people have to volunteer. There is nobody to hire to do these jobs.

I’m a younger parent but my peers infuriate me. Summer swim team is not an all-inclusive resort but they treat it like one. After years of parents whining that “we should just hire people” while simultaneously saying the fees are too expensive, our pool tried a buy-out program for the first time, with a list of “retired” high schoolers available for hire for volunteer slots. The catch is that parents had to contact them and make arrangements. Now they are complaining that the club or coaches should arrange for that.

My new favorite is parents signing up but hiding at meets. I had to go find missing volunteers who had signed up for various jobs but never reported for duty, and one of them deigned to take one airpod out of his ear to tell me “yeah I’m not going to do that” when I told him he had signed up and needed to report to the lane. He knew exactly what he was doing, because we couldn’t exactly cancel the meet or punch him in the face. Instead we scrambled to find a replacement, and later he argued that he had been at the meet and fulfilled his volunteer duty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a group of younger parents at the pool this year stage a "coup" because they think they should just be allowed to pay extra money and not volunteer. While I agree in principle on this, they could not seem to understand that not everyone can pay their way out of volunteering. Some people have to volunteer. There is nobody to hire to do these jobs.

I’m a younger parent but my peers infuriate me. Summer swim team is not an all-inclusive resort but they treat it like one. After years of parents whining that “we should just hire people” while simultaneously saying the fees are too expensive, our pool tried a buy-out program for the first time, with a list of “retired” high schoolers available for hire for volunteer slots. The catch is that parents had to contact them and make arrangements. Now they are complaining that the club or coaches should arrange for that.

My new favorite is parents signing up but hiding at meets. I had to go find missing volunteers who had signed up for various jobs but never reported for duty, and one of them deigned to take one airpod out of his ear to tell me “yeah I’m not going to do that” when I told him he had signed up and needed to report to the lane. He knew exactly what he was doing, because we couldn’t exactly cancel the meet or punch him in the face. Instead we scrambled to find a replacement, and later he argued that he had been at the meet and fulfilled his volunteer duty.

That’s insane. I wouldn’t want a lowlife like that to be around my kids.

[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!

Spot on. But you missed one: if you are a martyr do set up and take down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a group of younger parents at the pool this year stage a "coup" because they think they should just be allowed to pay extra money and not volunteer. While I agree in principle on this, they could not seem to understand that not everyone can pay their way out of volunteering. Some people have to volunteer. There is nobody to hire to do these jobs.

I’m a younger parent but my peers infuriate me. Summer swim team is not an all-inclusive resort but they treat it like one. After years of parents whining that “we should just hire people” while simultaneously saying the fees are too expensive, our pool tried a buy-out program for the first time, with a list of “retired” high schoolers available for hire for volunteer slots. The catch is that parents had to contact them and make arrangements. Now they are complaining that the club or coaches should arrange for that.

My new favorite is parents signing up but hiding at meets. I had to go find missing volunteers who had signed up for various jobs but never reported for duty, and one of them deigned to take one airpod out of his ear to tell me “yeah I’m not going to do that” when I told him he had signed up and needed to report to the lane. He knew exactly what he was doing, because we couldn’t exactly cancel the meet or punch him in the face. Instead we scrambled to find a replacement, and later he argued that he had been at the meet and fulfilled his volunteer duty.

The easy solution is to kick their kid off the team.

[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!

Spot on. But you missed one: if you are a martyr do set up and take down.

I do set up and take down and like it because I can just relax during the meet. We have at least ten people who either sign up or just show up anyway, so it's a fast and relatively easy task.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a group of younger parents at the pool this year stage a "coup" because they think they should just be allowed to pay extra money and not volunteer. While I agree in principle on this, they could not seem to understand that not everyone can pay their way out of volunteering. Some people have to volunteer. There is nobody to hire to do these jobs.

I’m a younger parent but my peers infuriate me. Summer swim team is not an all-inclusive resort but they treat it like one. After years of parents whining that “we should just hire people” while simultaneously saying the fees are too expensive, our pool tried a buy-out program for the first time, with a list of “retired” high schoolers available for hire for volunteer slots. The catch is that parents had to contact them and make arrangements. Now they are complaining that the club or coaches should arrange for that.

My new favorite is parents signing up but hiding at meets. I had to go find missing volunteers who had signed up for various jobs but never reported for duty, and one of them deigned to take one airpod out of his ear to tell me “yeah I’m not going to do that” when I told him he had signed up and needed to report to the lane. He knew exactly what he was doing, because we couldn’t exactly cancel the meet or punch him in the face. Instead we scrambled to find a replacement, and later he argued that he had been at the meet and fulfilled his volunteer duty.

The easy solution is to kick their kid off the team.

I mean, my response would have been we are going to have your kid pulled from today’s meet lineup then. Yup I know that’s punishing the kid, but the kid can take that up with their terrible parent. No team should have to accommodate an awful parent so as not to punish the kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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!

Spot on. But you missed one: if you are a martyr do set up and take down.

I do set up and take down and like it because I can just relax during the meet. We have at least ten people who either sign up or just show up anyway, so it's a fast and relatively easy task.

As long as people show up yes you have found the path of enlightenment.