Why don’t Potomac Marlins staff their own meets?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We swim in the Maryland LSC and we don’t typically volunteer at meets hosted by other clubs. For example we recently attended the NBAC Fastival and they never asked other any teams to volunteer for roles like timers or marshals.

This is more the normal. Marlins host a LOT of meets which I assumed was how they make more revenue for the owners. I am not sure what the fees happen to be for the swimmers but assumed they might be lower than other teams due to the volunteer requirements.

This is actually not the normal in PVS. We have never gone to a PVS meet that another club has hosted and not been expected to volunteer. I will say though we have attended meets hosted by a Maryland Swimming club and have not been asked to volunteer. At many PVS meets we are the largest group there and we are expected to provide more timers than any other club, including the host club. It’s just how things work in PVS. And honestly if you didn’t have clubs like the Marlins and Makos hosting less competitive December meets the kids that aren’t super fast wouldn’t have a winter champs meet to compete at, so maybe stop complaining about it. Volunteering is part of club swim, it is what it is.

OP here … I am not in PVS and I think the issue is we simply have different volunteer practices in our LSC as we rarely, if ever, volunteer at a swim meet someone else is hosting unless it’s a champ meet in St Mary’s. So asking for volunteers from other teams is unusual.

And for the record, I have a sectionals level swimmer who is well under the NCAP qualifying times. They would rather attend that meet but our club isn’t invited. So… we are stuck going to the Winter Classic with the “slow kids” instead!

OP if you live close to a PVS club leave maryland swimming. Champs meet at UMD over St.Marys is worth it and better competitors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just attended the Marlins meet at UMD and they were desperate for volunteers to time - so much so that one of our coaches had to text parents in the stands to BEG them to come down and time on Saturday. Do they not have a Volunteer Coordinator for their own team that is responsible for filling volunteer positions? I understand asking other teams to fill some spots, but it seems like they rely on other teams to fill ALL of their spots. Aren't there like 700 swimmers in their club?

It has 700 swimmers only 120 of them attend winter classic it’s broken up into sessions so they’re not all there at one time AND marlins hosts a second meet the winter classic weekend that we also provide volunteer for. Marlins hosts a large number of PVS meets specifically the opens because other teams are too lazy or don’t know how. So marlins parents end up volunteering several weekends a month sometimes just to cover other teams who don’t want to host meets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We swim in the Maryland LSC and we don’t typically volunteer at meets hosted by other clubs. For example we recently attended the NBAC Fastival and they never asked other any teams to volunteer for roles like timers or marshals.

This is more the normal. Marlins host a LOT of meets which I assumed was how they make more revenue for the owners. I am not sure what the fees happen to be for the swimmers but assumed they might be lower than other teams due to the volunteer requirements.

They host a lot of PVS meets because PVS begs them to do so since other teams refuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Fish team provides all volunteers for the meets it hosts.

This is not true. I was timing at the FISH long course meet last year. Was happy to do so, but am not with Fish.

I was at the November open this weekend hosted by FISH and I timed…. I’m not a fish parent. This is just pure delusion!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Fish team provides all volunteers for the meets it hosts.

This is not true. I was timing at the FISH long course meet last year. Was happy to do so, but am not with Fish.

I was at the November open this weekend hosted by FISH and I timed…. I’m not a fish parent. This is just pure delusion!

Open meets are not club meets. A lot of leagues do not hold opens. PVS does it so that all swimmers have a monthly opportunity to swim in a meet. Without them, smaller clubs might not get invited to an invitational or not enough meets happen to give all swimmers a chance.

So Open meets are really done by PVS and then they ask a club to host a location. Last year they could not find a club to host, and AAC ended up hosting a site in Prince William County at the last minute.

Also, fees for the Opens are discounted and affordable to the swimmer. This translates into it does not make money like a Club hosted meet. The difference in the fees are substantial. So the club hosted meet generally will take the bulk of the volunteer slots because they are making money whereas when they host an Open they do not.

The November Open was an individual event charge $5, per swimmer surcharge $5 and deck entry $10

Swim Rock and Roll is swimmer surcharge $20, individual event $10

Turkey Claus is $18 per swimmer surcharge, relay fee $20, individual event $10

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Fish team provides all volunteers for the meets it hosts.

This is not true. I was timing at the FISH long course meet last year. Was happy to do so, but am not with Fish.

I was at the November open this weekend hosted by FISH and I timed…. I’m not a fish parent. This is just pure delusion!

Open meets are not club meets. A lot of leagues do not hold opens. PVS does it so that all swimmers have a monthly opportunity to swim in a meet. Without them, smaller clubs might not get invited to an invitational or not enough meets happen to give all swimmers a chance.

So Open meets are really done by PVS and then they ask a club to host a location. Last year they could not find a club to host, and AAC ended up hosting a site in Prince William County at the last minute.

Also, fees for the Opens are discounted and affordable to the swimmer. This translates into it does not make money like a Club hosted meet. The difference in the fees are substantial. So the club hosted meet generally will take the bulk of the volunteer slots because they are making money whereas when they host an Open they do not.

The November Open was an individual event charge $5, per swimmer surcharge $5 and deck entry $10

Swim Rock and Roll is swimmer surcharge $20, individual event $10

Turkey Claus is $18 per swimmer surcharge, relay fee $20, individual event $10

All of this is true, but it still doesn’t mean that non-open meets only use volunteers from the host club. All of the meets you just listed above, Swim and Rock, Turkey Claus, and Winter Classic, along with NCI, will have on deck volunteer slots that other invited clubs are expected to fill. We just got a volunteer link for NCI that is for hospitality positions, and that is limited to NCAP families. The on-deck volunteer link will go out to all participating clubs.

[Anonymous]

I love volunteering at the meets. What else are you doing? It's a great way to be part of the event and get a good view of your kiddo swimming!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love volunteering at the meets. What else are you doing? It's a great way to be part of the event and get a good view of your kiddo swimming!

Agree with this as well. And if your kid is swimming one of the last events it should be mandatory that you time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our team is attending the Sport Fair Winter Classic and we just got another “sign up” link to volunteer with a directive that they want every swimmer attending to volunteer for one spot. This is the only club that ever does this… why? Don’t the Marlins have parents who are capable of volunteering at their own meets? They seem very disorganized.

Yes. They absolutely do. In fact, Marlins swimmers are not allowed to swim at this meet unless their parents sign up to volunteer- which makes me think your club just forwarded the email that was actually meant for Marlins parents. Personally, I am volunteering every day even though I am not required to. I much prefer volunteering to sitting in the stands, squished like a sardine for multiple hours. Most of us Marlins parents feel like same. We’re a small club that operates with a village mentality. If you would like to help with that, great. If not, you do your thing. No one is going to judge you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our team is attending the Sport Fair Winter Classic and we just got another “sign up” link to volunteer with a directive that they want every swimmer attending to volunteer for one spot. This is the only club that ever does this… why? Don’t the Marlins have parents who are capable of volunteering at their own meets? They seem very disorganized.

Yes. They absolutely do. In fact, Marlins swimmers are not allowed to swim at this meet unless their parents sign up to volunteer- which makes me think your club just forwarded the email that was actually meant for Marlins parents. Personally, I am volunteering every day even though I am not required to. I much prefer volunteering to sitting in the stands, squished like a sardine for multiple hours. Most of us Marlins parents feel like same. We’re a small club that operates with a village mentality. If you would like to help with that, great. If not, you do your thing. No one is going to judge you.

You all are not a small club and have not been for several years now. You all also have the most swimmers in the meet as the host (120) whereas the other teams are at 80.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our team is attending the Sport Fair Winter Classic and we just got another “sign up” link to volunteer with a directive that they want every swimmer attending to volunteer for one spot. This is the only club that ever does this… why? Don’t the Marlins have parents who are capable of volunteering at their own meets? They seem very disorganized.

Yes. They absolutely do. In fact, Marlins swimmers are not allowed to swim at this meet unless their parents sign up to volunteer- which makes me think your club just forwarded the email that was actually meant for Marlins parents. Personally, I am volunteering every day even though I am not required to. I much prefer volunteering to sitting in the stands, squished like a sardine for multiple hours. Most of us Marlins parents feel like same. We’re a small club that operates with a village mentality. If you would like to help with that, great. If not, you do your thing. No one is going to judge you.

You all are not a small club and have not been for several years now. You all also have the most swimmers in the meet as the host (120) whereas the other teams are at 80.

Marlins is the 5th largest club in PVS (NCAP, RMSC, Machine, York, Marlins, Makos, AAC, Sea Devils, Occoquan Swimming...)

York is probably the most similarly sized club to them. Not small at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our team is attending the Sport Fair Winter Classic and we just got another “sign up” link to volunteer with a directive that they want every swimmer attending to volunteer for one spot. This is the only club that ever does this… why? Don’t the Marlins have parents who are capable of volunteering at their own meets? They seem very disorganized.

Yes. They absolutely do. In fact, Marlins swimmers are not allowed to swim at this meet unless their parents sign up to volunteer- which makes me think your club just forwarded the email that was actually meant for Marlins parents. Personally, I am volunteering every day even though I am not required to. I much prefer volunteering to sitting in the stands, squished like a sardine for multiple hours. Most of us Marlins parents feel like same. We’re a small club that operates with a village mentality. If you would like to help with that, great. If not, you do your thing. No one is going to judge you.

You all are not a small club and have not been for several years now. You all also have the most swimmers in the meet as the host (120) whereas the other teams are at 80.

Marlins is the 5th largest club in PVS (NCAP, RMSC, Machine, York, Marlins, Makos, AAC, Sea Devils, Occoquan Swimming...)

York is probably the most similarly sized club to them. Not small at all.

Not a Marlins parent, BUT: Overall club size aside, they're still only sending 120 swimmers to this meet. This meet has 17 sessions and they're presumably running 8 lanes per session. That requires a lot of volunteers to pull off. And frankly, even that point isn't relevant. It's a PVS Club meet. The Marlins are perhaps expected to do more jobs given they're the host and sending 50% more swimmers, but all participating clubs are expected to send volunteers. All PVS meets are like this, along with multiple other LSCs whose meets I've attended over the years. If you begrudge this point, I'd suggest a different sport that doesn't require so many volunteers for a competition. That's the nature of this beast.
Thank you, Marlins, for hosting this meet. It's a lot to pull off during an already busy time of year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our team is attending the Sport Fair Winter Classic and we just got another “sign up” link to volunteer with a directive that they want every swimmer attending to volunteer for one spot. This is the only club that ever does this… why? Don’t the Marlins have parents who are capable of volunteering at their own meets? They seem very disorganized.

Yes. They absolutely do. In fact, Marlins swimmers are not allowed to swim at this meet unless their parents sign up to volunteer- which makes me think your club just forwarded the email that was actually meant for Marlins parents. Personally, I am volunteering every day even though I am not required to. I much prefer volunteering to sitting in the stands, squished like a sardine for multiple hours. Most of us Marlins parents feel like same. We’re a small club that operates with a village mentality. If you would like to help with that, great. If not, you do your thing. No one is going to judge you.

You all are not a small club and have not been for several years now. You all also have the most swimmers in the meet as the host (120) whereas the other teams are at 80.

Marlins is the 5th largest club in PVS (NCAP, RMSC, Machine, York, Marlins, Makos, AAC, Sea Devils, Occoquan Swimming...)

York is probably the most similarly sized club to them. Not small at all.

Not a Marlins parent, BUT: Overall club size aside, they're still only sending 120 swimmers to this meet. This meet has 17 sessions and they're presumably running 8 lanes per session. That requires a lot of volunteers to pull off. And frankly, even that point isn't relevant. It's a PVS Club meet. The Marlins are perhaps expected to do more jobs given they're the host and sending 50% more swimmers, but all participating clubs are expected to send volunteers. All PVS meets are like this, along with multiple other LSCs whose meets I've attended over the years. If you begrudge this point, I'd suggest a different sport that doesn't require so many volunteers for a competition. That's the nature of this beast.
Thank you, Marlins, for hosting this meet. It's a lot to pull off during an already busy time of year.

Running two pools, so a lot of lanes. Usually the PVS parents work it, but there are non-PVS teams invited as well.