Swim Team Volunteering - it helps if you are nice

[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!

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.

Beer after B meets helps, but most people who do it at our pool do it every meet and keep doing it until their kid leaves the team. Like I said, it's a job that gets very easy if you get numbers

[Anonymous]

On the one hand: yes, I remember being new and having parents of older kids treat me like crap. On the other, I showed up and did my tasks because the jobs need to get done.

Now that the kid is older, I try to be nice and informative with the new parents but we are all burnt out by mid July because not enough people sign up and the same 10 people keep showing up to do the hard annoying work. we are grumpy. I apologize if I missed you.

Haul some heavy crap in the sun at least once this summer. Help take down the meet if your kid is swimming in the last event. I proposed to our reps that kids should not be allowed to sign up for an A meet if their parents don’t volunteer at the A or B meet prior. Will never happen but one can hope!

Finally. If your kid is at the top of the ladder but you only show up with fruit for the snack shack…we all see you.

[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.

I'm so surprised by these parents. Where are you PP?
There are plenty of parents on our team who don't volunteer but if you catch them just lounging around every meet and confront them I'm sure they would be mortified.
It's so classist to want to hire out volunteer duties. That's one nice thing about swim team is that all the parents are supposed to volunteer. We have moms and dads who live in multi million dollar houses and have high-powered jobs carrying chairs around with the rest of us working class peeps.

[Anonymous]

PP who posted about “I’m not going to do that” guy: New week, new meet, new unhelpful parent.

It was time for the second volunteer shift and one mom was missing. I found her as she was walking out with a bag and two kids.

Me: “hi, you’re signed up to work the second half of the meet!”
Her: “I’m leaving! I’ll never be treated like that again!”

Her kids were playing under the scorer’s table and someone asked them to move to the team area. She found it offensive and used it as a reason to leave in a huff. It seems like every meet has a “misunderstanding” like this. I had to cover her shift.

The coaches are having their own struggles. Kids aren’t signing out of meets and are screwing other kids on the ladder out of event spots. We’ve never had a problem with this and so it’s too late to put in a penalty policy for this season. The manager and coaches are putting together a policy for next season to hold no-shows out of the next meet and/or levy no-show fees to families.

It feels like Covid has damaged our families’ ability to manage swim team and/or interpersonal interactions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP who posted about “I’m not going to do that” guy: New week, new meet, new unhelpful parent.

It was time for the second volunteer shift and one mom was missing. I found her as she was walking out with a bag and two kids.

Me: “hi, you’re signed up to work the second half of the meet!”
Her: “I’m leaving! I’ll never be treated like that again!”

Her kids were playing under the scorer’s table and someone asked them to move to the team area. She found it offensive and used it as a reason to leave in a huff. It seems like every meet has a “misunderstanding” like this. I had to cover her shift.

The coaches are having their own struggles. Kids aren’t signing out of meets and are screwing other kids on the ladder out of event spots. We’ve never had a problem with this and so it’s too late to put in a penalty policy for this season. The manager and coaches are putting together a policy for next season to hold no-shows out of the next meet and/or levy no-show fees to families.

It feels like Covid has damaged our families’ ability to manage swim team and/or interpersonal interactions.

When you demand volunteers you need volunteers to supervise the kids of those volunteering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP who posted about “I’m not going to do that” guy: New week, new meet, new unhelpful parent.

It was time for the second volunteer shift and one mom was missing. I found her as she was walking out with a bag and two kids.

Me: “hi, you’re signed up to work the second half of the meet!”
Her: “I’m leaving! I’ll never be treated like that again!”

Her kids were playing under the scorer’s table and someone asked them to move to the team area. She found it offensive and used it as a reason to leave in a huff. It seems like every meet has a “misunderstanding” like this. I had to cover her shift.

The coaches are having their own struggles. Kids aren’t signing out of meets and are screwing other kids on the ladder out of event spots. We’ve never had a problem with this and so it’s too late to put in a penalty policy for this season. The manager and coaches are putting together a policy for next season to hold no-shows out of the next meet and/or levy no-show fees to families.

It feels like Covid has damaged our families’ ability to manage swim team and/or interpersonal interactions.

After reading some of these stories I want to give a shout out to our small summer league (we are in an exurb and I’m not naming it) where everyone pitches in, the bigger teams help fill volunteer slots when swimming against a smaller team, parents don’t sign up for a shift and then hide, we declare ahead of time if we are going to be out of town for a meet, the kids demonstrate awesome sportsmanship, etc. Someone remarked to me while timing the other week, I love our community, and I couldn’t agree more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP who posted about “I’m not going to do that” guy: New week, new meet, new unhelpful parent.

It was time for the second volunteer shift and one mom was missing. I found her as she was walking out with a bag and two kids.

Me: “hi, you’re signed up to work the second half of the meet!”
Her: “I’m leaving! I’ll never be treated like that again!”

Her kids were playing under the scorer’s table and someone asked them to move to the team area. She found it offensive and used it as a reason to leave in a huff. It seems like every meet has a “misunderstanding” like this. I had to cover her shift.

The coaches are having their own struggles. Kids aren’t signing out of meets and are screwing other kids on the ladder out of event spots. We’ve never had a problem with this and so it’s too late to put in a penalty policy for this season. The manager and coaches are putting together a policy for next season to hold no-shows out of the next meet and/or levy no-show fees to families.

It feels like Covid has damaged our families’ ability to manage swim team and/or interpersonal interactions.

When you demand volunteers you need volunteers to supervise the kids of those volunteering.

. Uh, no. You figure it out like every other family. You are not special.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP who posted about “I’m not going to do that” guy: New week, new meet, new unhelpful parent.

It was time for the second volunteer shift and one mom was missing. I found her as she was walking out with a bag and two kids.

Me: “hi, you’re signed up to work the second half of the meet!”
Her: “I’m leaving! I’ll never be treated like that again!”

Her kids were playing under the scorer’s table and someone asked them to move to the team area. She found it offensive and used it as a reason to leave in a huff. It seems like every meet has a “misunderstanding” like this. I had to cover her shift.

The coaches are having their own struggles. Kids aren’t signing out of meets and are screwing other kids on the ladder out of event spots. We’ve never had a problem with this and so it’s too late to put in a penalty policy for this season. The manager and coaches are putting together a policy for next season to hold no-shows out of the next meet and/or levy no-show fees to families.

It feels like Covid has damaged our families’ ability to manage swim team and/or interpersonal interactions.

When you demand volunteers you need volunteers to supervise the kids of those volunteering.

. Uh, no. You figure it out like every other family. You are not special.

Figuring it out means the kids run wild. Either help supervise or don’t complain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP who posted about “I’m not going to do that” guy: New week, new meet, new unhelpful parent.

It was time for the second volunteer shift and one mom was missing. I found her as she was walking out with a bag and two kids.

Me: “hi, you’re signed up to work the second half of the meet!”
Her: “I’m leaving! I’ll never be treated like that again!”

Her kids were playing under the scorer’s table and someone asked them to move to the team area. She found it offensive and used it as a reason to leave in a huff. It seems like every meet has a “misunderstanding” like this. I had to cover her shift.

The coaches are having their own struggles. Kids aren’t signing out of meets and are screwing other kids on the ladder out of event spots. We’ve never had a problem with this and so it’s too late to put in a penalty policy for this season. The manager and coaches are putting together a policy for next season to hold no-shows out of the next meet and/or levy no-show fees to families.

It feels like Covid has damaged our families’ ability to manage swim team and/or interpersonal interactions.

When you demand volunteers you need volunteers to supervise the kids of those volunteering.

. Uh, no. You figure it out like every other family. You are not special.

Figuring it out means the kids run wild. Either help supervise or don’t complain.

No, I don’t need to help supervise someone else’s kids. Also this person wasn’t even volunteering when her kids were “running wild”, she should have been supervising them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP who posted about “I’m not going to do that” guy: New week, new meet, new unhelpful parent.

It was time for the second volunteer shift and one mom was missing. I found her as she was walking out with a bag and two kids.

Me: “hi, you’re signed up to work the second half of the meet!”
Her: “I’m leaving! I’ll never be treated like that again!”

Her kids were playing under the scorer’s table and someone asked them to move to the team area. She found it offensive and used it as a reason to leave in a huff. It seems like every meet has a “misunderstanding” like this. I had to cover her shift.

The coaches are having their own struggles. Kids aren’t signing out of meets and are screwing other kids on the ladder out of event spots. We’ve never had a problem with this and so it’s too late to put in a penalty policy for this season. The manager and coaches are putting together a policy for next season to hold no-shows out of the next meet and/or levy no-show fees to families.

It feels like Covid has damaged our families’ ability to manage swim team and/or interpersonal interactions.

When you demand volunteers you need volunteers to supervise the kids of those volunteering.

As a practical matter this is correct, especially if you want to encourage people to volunteer (i.e. use a carrot) instead of forcing it upon them (i.e. using a stick). Our team does not require parents to volunteer. There are no penalties, no minimum requirements. People should do it because they are invested in their team.

One big hurdle to parents volunteering is childcare and other child-related issues. To help with that, we are considering adding 1-2 volunteer spots next year for watching other parents' young children during meets. There may be insurance issues that make it impractical, but it is on the table. We have plenty of parents who want to help more, but need to watch their young children at meets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP who posted about “I’m not going to do that” guy: New week, new meet, new unhelpful parent.

It was time for the second volunteer shift and one mom was missing. I found her as she was walking out with a bag and two kids.

Me: “hi, you’re signed up to work the second half of the meet!”
Her: “I’m leaving! I’ll never be treated like that again!”

Her kids were playing under the scorer’s table and someone asked them to move to the team area. She found it offensive and used it as a reason to leave in a huff. It seems like every meet has a “misunderstanding” like this. I had to cover her shift.

The coaches are having their own struggles. Kids aren’t signing out of meets and are screwing other kids on the ladder out of event spots. We’ve never had a problem with this and so it’s too late to put in a penalty policy for this season. The manager and coaches are putting together a policy for next season to hold no-shows out of the next meet and/or levy no-show fees to families.

It feels like Covid has damaged our families’ ability to manage swim team and/or interpersonal interactions.

When you demand volunteers you need volunteers to supervise the kids of those volunteering.

. Uh, no. You figure it out like every other family. You are not special.

Figuring it out means the kids run wild. Either help supervise or don’t complain.

No, I don’t need to help supervise someone else’s kids. Also this person wasn’t even volunteering when her kids were “running wild”, she should have been supervising them.

This. Give me a break. There are parents everywhere. Ask a friend or a teenager to help watch while you sell snacks for 30 mins. I traded off with a friend on the team with kids our kids age when they were little. Not hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP who posted about “I’m not going to do that” guy: New week, new meet, new unhelpful parent.

It was time for the second volunteer shift and one mom was missing. I found her as she was walking out with a bag and two kids.

Me: “hi, you’re signed up to work the second half of the meet!”
Her: “I’m leaving! I’ll never be treated like that again!”

Her kids were playing under the scorer’s table and someone asked them to move to the team area. She found it offensive and used it as a reason to leave in a huff. It seems like every meet has a “misunderstanding” like this. I had to cover her shift.

The coaches are having their own struggles. Kids aren’t signing out of meets and are screwing other kids on the ladder out of event spots. We’ve never had a problem with this and so it’s too late to put in a penalty policy for this season. The manager and coaches are putting together a policy for next season to hold no-shows out of the next meet and/or levy no-show fees to families.

It feels like Covid has damaged our families’ ability to manage swim team and/or interpersonal interactions.

When you demand volunteers you need volunteers to supervise the kids of those volunteering.

. Uh, no. You figure it out like every other family. You are not special.

Figuring it out means the kids run wild. Either help supervise or don’t complain.

um, no. I have more kids than you can count on your hand and have figured it out. Either sign up for jobs where you can check in easier, trade off with a spouse, or hire a babysitter. Swim team is not a right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP who posted about “I’m not going to do that” guy: New week, new meet, new unhelpful parent.

It was time for the second volunteer shift and one mom was missing. I found her as she was walking out with a bag and two kids.

Me: “hi, you’re signed up to work the second half of the meet!”
Her: “I’m leaving! I’ll never be treated like that again!”

Her kids were playing under the scorer’s table and someone asked them to move to the team area. She found it offensive and used it as a reason to leave in a huff. It seems like every meet has a “misunderstanding” like this. I had to cover her shift.

The coaches are having their own struggles. Kids aren’t signing out of meets and are screwing other kids on the ladder out of event spots. We’ve never had a problem with this and so it’s too late to put in a penalty policy for this season. The manager and coaches are putting together a policy for next season to hold no-shows out of the next meet and/or levy no-show fees to families.

It feels like Covid has damaged our families’ ability to manage swim team and/or interpersonal interactions.

When you demand volunteers you need volunteers to supervise the kids of those volunteering.

. Uh, no. You figure it out like every other family. You are not special.

Figuring it out means the kids run wild. Either help supervise or don’t complain.

No, I don’t need to help supervise someone else’s kids. Also this person wasn’t even volunteering when her kids were “running wild”, she should have been supervising them.

This. Give me a break. There are parents everywhere. Ask a friend or a teenager to help watch while you sell snacks for 30 mins. I traded off with a friend on the team with kids our kids age when they were little. Not hard.

Agreed. Or, see if your team can find volunteer opportunities that aren't synchronous with the swim meets. Ours gives points for going to Costco for supplies before the home meets, for example. It's not okay to sign your kids up for swim team, knowing there is a volunteer commitment from parents, with no intention of volunteering. That just sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP who posted about “I’m not going to do that” guy: New week, new meet, new unhelpful parent.

It was time for the second volunteer shift and one mom was missing. I found her as she was walking out with a bag and two kids.

Me: “hi, you’re signed up to work the second half of the meet!”
Her: “I’m leaving! I’ll never be treated like that again!”

Her kids were playing under the scorer’s table and someone asked them to move to the team area. She found it offensive and used it as a reason to leave in a huff. It seems like every meet has a “misunderstanding” like this. I had to cover her shift.

The coaches are having their own struggles. Kids aren’t signing out of meets and are screwing other kids on the ladder out of event spots. We’ve never had a problem with this and so it’s too late to put in a penalty policy for this season. The manager and coaches are putting together a policy for next season to hold no-shows out of the next meet and/or levy no-show fees to families.

It feels like Covid has damaged our families’ ability to manage swim team and/or interpersonal interactions.

When you demand volunteers you need volunteers to supervise the kids of those volunteering.

. Uh, no. You figure it out like every other family. You are not special.

+1
Do you have no friends PP? Or babysitter or older sibling? Or other parent? Plus there are not JUST timer jobs. There is other stuff that you can volunteer for if you cannot possibly be at the meet without childcare. We live in a high military area where spouses are often parenting solo but no one tells the team they cannot do anything at all since the other parent is not around. They find a different way to help or swap who is minding the kids with another mom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP who posted about “I’m not going to do that” guy: New week, new meet, new unhelpful parent.

It was time for the second volunteer shift and one mom was missing. I found her as she was walking out with a bag and two kids.

Me: “hi, you’re signed up to work the second half of the meet!”
Her: “I’m leaving! I’ll never be treated like that again!”

Her kids were playing under the scorer’s table and someone asked them to move to the team area. She found it offensive and used it as a reason to leave in a huff. It seems like every meet has a “misunderstanding” like this. I had to cover her shift.

The coaches are having their own struggles. Kids aren’t signing out of meets and are screwing other kids on the ladder out of event spots. We’ve never had a problem with this and so it’s too late to put in a penalty policy for this season. The manager and coaches are putting together a policy for next season to hold no-shows out of the next meet and/or levy no-show fees to families.

It feels like Covid has damaged our families’ ability to manage swim team and/or interpersonal interactions.

When you demand volunteers you need volunteers to supervise the kids of those volunteering.

. Uh, no. You figure it out like every other family. You are not special.

Figuring it out means the kids run wild. Either help supervise or don’t complain.

No, I don’t need to help supervise someone else’s kids. Also this person wasn’t even volunteering when her kids were “running wild”, she should have been supervising them.

This. Give me a break. There are parents everywhere. Ask a friend or a teenager to help watch while you sell snacks for 30 mins. I traded off with a friend on the team with kids our kids age when they were little. Not hard.

We have a small team, so not a lot of parents just sitting. The teens are aready helping out.