summer swim volunteer points

[Anonymous]

Here’s the thing- if you know signing your child up for an activity requires you to volunteer, don’t sign up your kid if you can’t volunteer. Stop throwing your parenting responsibilities on other parents. Hire a sitter to do your volunteer activities or readjust your priorities. It’s really not that hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our is something like 15 hours for a family with 2+ kids, but you can earn hours (in very small increments) for things like bringing ice. There are also some season-long jobs that count as a full complement of volunteer hours for the season, like being the ribbons person or planning one of the social events. We don't find it hard to meet the hours if one parent finds something to do at a meet each week (timing, data table, concessions, etc.), but it seems like they're always pleading for more timers, marshalls, etc. so I think something is off in the overall calculus of how many hours are required per family (or there are people not doing them and not feeling guilty about it). I have no idea what the consequences are for not doing your hours; I think we've always gone a bit over due to picking up some of these unfilled positions along the way.

Oh, and there isn't a buyout - the issue is bodies, not dollars.

Thanks for all the responses so far, folks. We aren’t a big team either but the jobs - esp meet jobs - still need to be done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here’s the thing- if you know signing your child up for an activity requires you to volunteer, don’t sign up your kid if you can’t volunteer. Stop throwing your parenting responsibilities on other parents. Hire a sitter to do your volunteer activities or readjust your priorities. It’s really not that hard.

+1

DH and I are both in the office, full-time, and have three kids who swim summer (and year-round). I do most of the volunteering and am also a volunteer official for PVS. DH does the shuttling to and from practice, wrangles them during meets, etc. Kids’ activities are a privilege, not a right.

[Anonymous]

Wow our summer swim has no requirements for volunteering or points or money paid. We just all get together as parents and step up and make it work.

[Anonymous]

The concessions price gouging is another story

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:6 points per family. Some jobs reserved for new families. Timing and officiating is 1 point at A and B meets. Certain non-meet related jobs are multiple points like banquet organizer or donut delivery person

This sounds similar to our NVSL team, although I'm not sure about the donut delivery being multiple points. Signing up for spots is competitive. You must be logged on at a certain time to the minute. They recommend multiple computers/laptops per family. The good spots get taken by committee members and those in the know. If a family doesn't have 6 points, they assign volunteer spots. No buyout option that I know of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Our NVSL pool maps out all the job shifts required to make the season work (e.g., A meet timer, B meet timer, pep rally dinner helper, etc.). Each shift is assigned a point value based on the time commitment. The total number of season volunteer points is then divided by the number of families on the team to determine how many points each family needs to fill. NVSL summer swim is unique in that it’s 100 percent volunteer-run (except for coaches). So, if you join the team, you’re agreeing to help execute the season. Our system is designed distribute the workload as equally as possible among participating families.

NVSL is unique? Which summer league do you think isn’t run by volunteers?

We’re in CSL, and the requirement is 10 hours per family. So, for example, timing 3.5 meets, would fulfill the requirement.

My point is that summer swim is unique. Many other sports are typically run by an entity that manages the team. Summer swim (NVSL, csl, etc) is run by the participants. Didn’t mean to set you off, sorry.

Our manhattan fall soccer and spring baseball leagues were volunteer run as well. Including officiating. It’s not as unusual as you think.

Sure, but you don’t need 18 refs at a baseball game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Our NVSL pool maps out all the job shifts required to make the season work (e.g., A meet timer, B meet timer, pep rally dinner helper, etc.). Each shift is assigned a point value based on the time commitment. The total number of season volunteer points is then divided by the number of families on the team to determine how many points each family needs to fill. NVSL summer swim is unique in that it’s 100 percent volunteer-run (except for coaches). So, if you join the team, you’re agreeing to help execute the season. Our system is designed distribute the workload as equally as possible among participating families.

NVSL is unique? Which summer league do you think isn’t run by volunteers?

We’re in CSL, and the requirement is 10 hours per family. So, for example, timing 3.5 meets, would fulfill the requirement.

My point is that summer swim is unique. Many other sports are typically run by an entity that manages the team. Summer swim (NVSL, csl, etc) is run by the participants. Didn’t mean to set you off, sorry.

Our manhattan fall soccer and spring baseball leagues were volunteer run as well. Including officiating. It’s not as unusual as you think.

Sure, but you don’t need 18 refs at a baseball game.

Except that you really.do need those 3 timers per lane. And even then the results aren't going to.be perfect because human beings aren't perfect. But in order to be fair to all the kids the times are taken as medians, and that's a heck of a lot better than just depending on one person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow our summer swim has no requirements for volunteering or points or money paid. We just all get together as parents and step up and make it work.

+100. I know I do more than some people and less than others. But my kids are older now so I'm trying to step it up more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The concessions price gouging is another story

Maybe? It’s hard to know for sure. Some teams have to independently fund raise without the support of the pool. Coaches salaries, equipment costs, and other items will easily run a team thousands of dollars and then some.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tanterra does this. I think it’s around 17 points per family. Feels unfair to families where both parents are working during the summer.

How is it unfair, only sahp should volunteer? My husband flexes for every meet or takes leave. You can find a way.

[Anonymous]

I think maybe we say each family needs to volunteer for at least 3 things during the season but we’ve been in it so long that I don’t know what the official rules are any more and I don’t think anyone is really counting. Usually we can fill all the jobs with a bit of scrambling/begging for timers. The families who volunteer a lot get acknowledged at the banquet and get to go first in the food line which is a pretty big incentive.

Most parents on our team work, including pretty much all the “super volunteers” and team reps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tanterra does this. I think it’s around 17 points per family. Feels unfair to families where both parents are working during the summer.

Parents need to choose activities that work for them, or find solutions.

Summer swim worked for my family when other activities that cost more because they don’t rely on volunteers didn’t. I didn’t go to those activities and complain that they were unfair to my middle class family. I recognized that they weren’t for us.

It’s ok to say that summer swim isn’t for you. It’s also ok to problem solve. My teens are happy to work set up, take down, picking up things for you, for a price. Hire a babysitter and work a meet your kids aren’t in. Or arrange your schedule to watch your kids and work at the meets they do swim in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tanterra does this. I think it’s around 17 points per family. Feels unfair to families where both parents are working during the summer.

Parents need to choose activities that work for them, or find solutions.

Summer swim worked for my family when other activities that cost more because they don’t rely on volunteers didn’t. I didn’t go to those activities and complain that they were unfair to my middle class family. I recognized that they weren’t for us.

It’s ok to say that summer swim isn’t for you. It’s also ok to problem solve. My teens are happy to work set up, take down, picking up things for you, for a price. Hire a babysitter and work a meet your kids aren’t in. Or arrange your schedule to watch your kids and work at the meets they do swim in.

Spinning off this comment, something I don't understand about the culture of summer swim at our pool is that all these strong, strapping teen swimmers leave at the end without lifting a finger at all to help while the parents are left to move all the chairs, tables, benches, umbrellas, etc. back into place. Some are wrought iron and heavy. Why can't each teen put one chair back into place or something on their way out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think maybe we say each family needs to volunteer for at least 3 things during the season but we’ve been in it so long that I don’t know what the official rules are any more and I don’t think anyone is really counting. Usually we can fill all the jobs with a bit of scrambling/begging for timers. The families who volunteer a lot get acknowledged at the banquet and get to go first in the food line which is a pretty big incentive.

Most parents on our team work, including pretty much all the “super volunteers” and team reps.

I'm hoping this is sarcasm.