Freeloading swim team parents suck

[Anonymous]

I volunteered in the past but this year I have a senior who drives themselves to the pool and barely makes it to any practices or meets because of their job. They asked to sign up and I agreed but I’m not putting in effort for them to play with their friends once a week. I’m also not volunteering when there are a dozen parents with little kids standing around at events anyway and I’m not sure if my own kid can even make the meet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It's either 3 timers per lane or 1. If you had 2 timers per lane how would you decide which time to use? Lots of people who know nothing about running a swim meet throwing their 2 cents in here.

[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.

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

I volunteer for tons of sports, spouse coaches, lead things at school, etc. The lady who runs my pool’s swim team doesn’t volunteer at soccer, and I don’t judge her like OP is judging in his/her post. That’s what I’m referring to. When people aren’t super involved in one thing or another, instead of being a judgmental turd about it, I assume they’re doing the best they can, when they can. Some years you can run the school PTA, some years you have a newborn at home or a dying parent or a big trial at work. Part of being in a community is having grace with other human beings.

And for swim in particular, the organizers ask for far too many volunteers. Sorry, I’m not getting a babysitter so I can be one of three timers per lane for 8 year olds swimming in a B meet. It is just silly.

[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.

You should have asked more questions. And once you knew, you could have asked for a refund.

[Anonymous]

Here's thing. People are making it out as if it's between people who volunteer and people who don't want to volunteer. But the reality is that there are plenty of people, like me, who do our hours, and often more, and also think the system is bloated and they should look into ways to reduce that demand.

I'll say it. I don't think 7 year olds need perfect times with 3 timers, because I don't think they need relay carnivals or all stars or divisionals, and I think there are less complicated ways to choose swimmers for A meets. If you're unsure of which of 2 kids is faster, have them race at practice.

Honestly, I'd save all that stuff for the 12U and up, and in return if you're old enough to be racing in those groups you work the meet. Kids that age can sell concessions, and wrangle younger swimmers, and shush people, and run times back to the tables. There's a lot they can do at that age.

And take some kind of poll to find out how many parents would rather pay than work, and how much they're willing to pay, and compare that to the cost of touch pads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I volunteered in the past but this year I have a senior who drives themselves to the pool and barely makes it to any practices or meets because of their job. They asked to sign up and I agreed but I’m not putting in effort for them to play with their friends once a week. I’m also not volunteering when there are a dozen parents with little kids standing around at events anyway and I’m not sure if my own kid can even make the meet.

Look you don't have to be so smug about it all. I get where you are coming from, but it shocks me that you don't feel any sort of responsibility or guilt. You can tell the rep that you don't have time to go to the meets but you can offer to donate some food, or photocopy meet sheets or something. My child will not be able to make most of the meets this year. I'm still volunteering in ways that do not require me to go to those meets.

[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.

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.

You should have asked more questions. And once you knew, you could have asked for a refund.

Also, none of us want to be there until 9pm, and many of us get up early. You can do it once or twice. You'll live.

The people at your pool have probably noticed your lack of volunteering, and it could come back to bite you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's thing. People are making it out as if it's between people who volunteer and people who don't want to volunteer. But the reality is that there are plenty of people, like me, who do our hours, and often more, and also think the system is bloated and they should look into ways to reduce that demand.

I'll say it. I don't think 7 year olds need perfect times with 3 timers, because I don't think they need relay carnivals or all stars or divisionals, and I think there are less complicated ways to choose swimmers for A meets. If you're unsure of which of 2 kids is faster, have them race at practice.

Honestly, I'd save all that stuff for the 12U and up, and in return if you're old enough to be racing in those groups you work the meet. Kids that age can sell concessions, and wrangle younger swimmers, and shush people, and run times back to the tables. There's a lot they can do at that age.

And take some kind of poll to find out how many parents would rather pay than work, and how much they're willing to pay, and compare that to the cost of touch pads.

You don't make the rules. The swim leagues make those rules for official times. If you want to make the rules volunteer and have them change them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

One of the new Team USA swimmers was on an MCSL team and competing against our team a few years ago in an A meet. I'm wondering if she holds any of our pool records now! (Katie Ledecky was also an MCSL swimmer.)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/06/20/phoebe-bacon-katie-ledecky-olympic-teammates/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's thing. People are making it out as if it's between people who volunteer and people who don't want to volunteer. But the reality is that there are plenty of people, like me, who do our hours, and often more, and also think the system is bloated and they should look into ways to reduce that demand.

I'll say it. I don't think 7 year olds need perfect times with 3 timers, because I don't think they need relay carnivals or all stars or divisionals, and I think there are less complicated ways to choose swimmers for A meets. If you're unsure of which of 2 kids is faster, have them race at practice.

Honestly, I'd save all that stuff for the 12U and up, and in return if you're old enough to be racing in those groups you work the meet. Kids that age can sell concessions, and wrangle younger swimmers, and shush people, and run times back to the tables. There's a lot they can do at that age.

And take some kind of poll to find out how many parents would rather pay than work, and how much they're willing to pay, and compare that to the cost of touch pads.

You don't make the rules. The swim leagues make those rules for official times. If you want to make the rules volunteer and have them change them.

Our swim league uses 1 timer per lane (I have heard you CAN use two and you average the times). We are more casual though. I do agree there’s a balance of dial it down but everyone needs to help out.

[Anonymous]

Are there any volunteer jobs for introverts? This is stressing me out just to read about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's thing. People are making it out as if it's between people who volunteer and people who don't want to volunteer. But the reality is that there are plenty of people, like me, who do our hours, and often more, and also think the system is bloated and they should look into ways to reduce that demand.

I'll say it. I don't think 7 year olds need perfect times with 3 timers, because I don't think they need relay carnivals or all stars or divisionals, and I think there are less complicated ways to choose swimmers for A meets. If you're unsure of which of 2 kids is faster, have them race at practice.

Honestly, I'd save all that stuff for the 12U and up, and in return if you're old enough to be racing in those groups you work the meet. Kids that age can sell concessions, and wrangle younger swimmers, and shush people, and run times back to the tables. There's a lot they can do at that age.

And take some kind of poll to find out how many parents would rather pay than work, and how much they're willing to pay, and compare that to the cost of touch pads.

You don't make the rules. The swim leagues make those rules for official times. If you want to make the rules volunteer and have them change them.

I can think rules are stupid, even if I'm not a swim league official.

I made it super clear that I volunteer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there any volunteer jobs for introverts? This is stressing me out just to read about.

Computer assistant. But you occassionally have an annoying parent complaining to you about their kid's time.

[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.

Ok, that’s not summer swim, so pipe down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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

I volunteer for tons of sports, spouse coaches, lead things at school, etc. The lady who runs my pool’s swim team doesn’t volunteer at soccer, and I don’t judge her like OP is judging in his/her post. That’s what I’m referring to. When people aren’t super involved in one thing or another, instead of being a judgmental turd about it, I assume they’re doing the best they can, when they can. Some years you can run the school PTA, some years you have a newborn at home or a dying parent or a big trial at work. Part of being in a community is having grace with other human beings.

And for swim in particular, the organizers ask for far too many volunteers. Sorry, I’m not getting a babysitter so I can be one of three timers per lane for 8 year olds swimming in a B meet. It is just silly.

My thoughts exactly. I’ve been a room parent more times than I can count. We all pay in somehow.