Freeloading swim team parents suck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Superior beings,
If you don't want kids with non-volunteer parents on your swim team, then make it SUPER CLEAR that enrollment is limited to parent volunteer families only. Drop kids whose parent doesn't occupy a volunteer role in the first A or B meet.

I feel like the leagues are shaming me because I can only volunteer part-time. I can't volunteer for every B meet during the season. I can't commit to judge training, like stroke and turn. But I do what I can with the time I have available.

Teams absolutely make it super clear. And give numerous chances to back out. People know and just don’t care. Takers gonna take.

My kid wants to swim, so I sign him up. I have other kids that play other sports, I have elderly parents that I’m the caretaker for, and I have a job. So I don’t volunteer. I offer to write a check for whatever, but I’m not denying my son an opportunity to swim because his grandparents are dying or I have to work. If it comes back to bite me, as previous posters have threatened, than that’s fine with me.

What exactly are we paying for with swim team sign up fees anyway? It’s not cheap. My other son plays little league, and for the $125 sign up fee they get a uniform, paid umpires, and an end of year party budget. For swim team I buy the swimsuits, volunteers run everything, and concession sales pay for social events.

You’re one of the people OP is talking to then.
Swim team is absolutely cheap considering that pools are expensive and it’s a daily activity.
I had a deployed husband and six kids and still could find a way to volunteer. Everybody has a lot going on.

so do you and your spouse/child's father never come to watch your kid swim? if you can watch the meet you can volunteer.

False, I can't watch my kid swim if I'm stuck in the snack bar or timing in a lane in which DC isn't swimming in or clerking or creating stupid ribbons etc.

Let me rephrase it then.

If you have time time to sit on your *ss watching your kid swim then you have enough leisure time to volunteer at a meet or two. You clearly aren't working or caring for a the aging elders ever minute of the day and can suck it up like the rest of the parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If volunteer obligations are not being met - the expectations are too great. Period.

The fact that they aren't too much for some does not mean they are reasonable. If it isn't working, the answer is - it's not working.

Highly disagree. There are always moochers. If everyone contributed a reasonable share it wouldn’t be bad, but they don’t. I think that’s the OPs point.

I'm generally not going to volunteer for a task that isn't necessary (above-referenced pancake breakfasts, ribbons at every meet / heat, etc.). Swim parents sound crazy.

My kid does travel and school softball and there's little of this bullshit. Current travel team has people volunteer to bring coffee to early start games for the coaches and parents, but that's it. If you don't end up in the championship of the tournament, there's no ribbon or anything. Typically 144 (12 girls on a team x 12) girls in each age group walk away from a tournament without anything -- and that's okay. (assuming a "gold" and "silver" bracket at the end with 16 teams in the tournament). If we are going to be at a field all day, we may put together a potluck lunch, or not. Just depends. Concesssions are not always available, and we plan accordingly.

Summer swim and travel softball have literally nothing in common.

I don't get the point in comparing two completely different activities. Swim volunteering isn't for you, and that's fine. Don't sign your kids up. Easy peasy.

+1
Nothing in common

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't have time to read through 19 pages of this nonsense but I judge the volunteer nazis like OP who deliberately try to make people feel bad. Same person who gets into a tizzy when the volunteers' shirt isn't 100% white cotton or if someone makes a mistake when filling out those unnecessary ribbons. SMD, OP.

Riddle me this, how is a single parent with one kid swimming and two others who aren't because they aren't old enough or don't want to but aren't old enough to be at home by themselves supposed to volunteer for 5 effing swim meets, plus all of the other stupid events such as needing volunteers for tie-dying shirts, or for pancake breakfasts or for the rootbeer floats. It's so much bullshine.

Perhaps at registration allow folks to opt out from volunteering for an additionl $50-$100. Then you could hire the additional help needed to do the meets.

For B meets, why not just one or two timers? It's not important at all and if little Johnny is going to swim in 8 meets he doesn't need 24 different time samples for each stroke to figure out if he's good enough for all stars or whatever else.

Summer swim team is not for the person is this situation then.
The social culture -root beer floats and pancake breakfasts and the other stuff you deem billshine - is what makes it fun for the kids. Versus year round swimming which is a grind.

Listen to yourself: year round swimming is a grind. That's a bat signal that you've overscheduled your child and making them do something that isn't fun but is actually... a grind. That's pathetic.
Being at the pool all summer is fun for kids and it isn't only for the kids who swim year-round. It doesn't require a social culture for the swim team that isn't inclusive of the other members of your pool. It doesn't require an event every freaking week that requires additional volunteers aside from those needed to actually put on a swim meet. It doesn't require a social event every freaking week that commandeers the pool and areas of the pool that other folks are also paying to use beyond closing the pool down for the swim meets themselves.

OP and you others are creating your own problem. Ribbons aren't necessary at every meet nor for heat winners, either. Other sports don't hand out ribbons for scoring the third most points in a game. Coaches often acknowledge individual players in the team huddle after a game for something special they might have done but they don't give them a cheap ribbon. Other sports don't have a social event like this every week. They might have an end of year team party; and many just hand out their team trophies and patches in 15 minutes after the last game.

For someone who is too busy to volunteer at a swim meet, you have a lot of free time to complain on the Internet.

[Anonymous]

Snort

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't have time to read through 19 pages of this nonsense but I judge the volunteer nazis like OP who deliberately try to make people feel bad. Same person who gets into a tizzy when the volunteers' shirt isn't 100% white cotton or if someone makes a mistake when filling out those unnecessary ribbons. SMD, OP.

Riddle me this, how is a single parent with one kid swimming and two others who aren't because they aren't old enough or don't want to but aren't old enough to be at home by themselves supposed to volunteer for 5 effing swim meets, plus all of the other stupid events such as needing volunteers for tie-dying shirts, or for pancake breakfasts or for the rootbeer floats. It's so much bullshine.

Perhaps at registration allow folks to opt out from volunteering for an additionl $50-$100. Then you could hire the additional help needed to do the meets.

For B meets, why not just one or two timers? It's not important at all and if little Johnny is going to swim in 8 meets he doesn't need 24 different time samples for each stroke to figure out if he's good enough for all stars or whatever else.

Summer swim team is not for the person is this situation then.
The social culture -root beer floats and pancake breakfasts and the other stuff you deem billshine - is what makes it fun for the kids. Versus year round swimming which is a grind.

Listen to yourself: year round swimming is a grind. That's a bat signal that you've overscheduled your child and making them do something that isn't fun but is actually... a grind. That's pathetic.
Being at the pool all summer is fun for kids and it isn't only for the kids who swim year-round. It doesn't require a social culture for the swim team that isn't inclusive of the other members of your pool. It doesn't require an event every freaking week that requires additional volunteers aside from those needed to actually put on a swim meet. It doesn't require a social event every freaking week that commandeers the pool and areas of the pool that other folks are also paying to use beyond closing the pool down for the swim meets themselves.

OP and you others are creating your own problem. Ribbons aren't necessary at every meet nor for heat winners, either. Other sports don't hand out ribbons for scoring the third most points in a game. Coaches often acknowledge individual players in the team huddle after a game for something special they might have done but they don't give them a cheap ribbon. Other sports don't have a social event like this every week. They might have an end of year team party; and many just hand out their team trophies and patches in 15 minutes after the last game.

For someone who is too busy to volunteer at a swim meet, you have a lot of free time to complain on the Internet.

Thata's because they are offloading their kids on others...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If volunteer obligations are not being met - the expectations are too great. Period.

The fact that they aren't too much for some does not mean they are reasonable. If it isn't working, the answer is - it's not working.

Highly disagree. There are always moochers. If everyone contributed a reasonable share it wouldn’t be bad, but they don’t. I think that’s the OPs point.

I'm generally not going to volunteer for a task that isn't necessary (above-referenced pancake breakfasts, ribbons at every meet / heat, etc.). Swim parents sound crazy.

My kid does travel and school softball and there's little of this bullshit. Current travel team has people volunteer to bring coffee to early start games for the coaches and parents, but that's it. If you don't end up in the championship of the tournament, there's no ribbon or anything. Typically 144 (12 girls on a team x 12) girls in each age group walk away from a tournament without anything -- and that's okay. (assuming a "gold" and "silver" bracket at the end with 16 teams in the tournament). If we are going to be at a field all day, we may put together a potluck lunch, or not. Just depends. Concesssions are not always available, and we plan accordingly.

Oh wow! Does your son’s baseball team have 100+ kids??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s always the people who don’t volunteer who decide the system is inefficient and they could do it with fewer people!!

Except several people here have commented that they do volunteer and see how it could be more efficient.

In my experience it’s the martyrs who get upset both when other people don’t volunteer and when people who do volunteer try to make suggestions.

I read all the pages and didn’t see a suggestion from someone that actually sounded like they had experience. So what, particularly did I miss?
I heard just have one timer instead of three, no concussions. Neither of those is realistic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Superior beings,
If you don't want kids with non-volunteer parents on your swim team, then make it SUPER CLEAR that enrollment is limited to parent volunteer families only. Drop kids whose parent doesn't occupy a volunteer role in the first A or B meet.

I feel like the leagues are shaming me because I can only volunteer part-time. I can't volunteer for every B meet during the season. I can't commit to judge training, like stroke and turn. But I do what I can with the time I have available.

Teams absolutely make it super clear. And give numerous chances to back out. People know and just don’t care. Takers gonna take.

My kid wants to swim, so I sign him up. I have other kids that play other sports, I have elderly parents that I’m the caretaker for, and I have a job. So I don’t volunteer. I offer to write a check for whatever, but I’m not denying my son an opportunity to swim because his grandparents are dying or I have to work. If it comes back to bite me, as previous posters have threatened, than that’s fine with me.

What exactly are we paying for with swim team sign up fees anyway? It’s not cheap. My other son plays little league, and for the $125 sign up fee they get a uniform, paid umpires, and an end of year party budget. For swim team I buy the swimsuits, volunteers run everything, and concession sales pay for social events.

You’re one of the people OP is talking to then.
Swim team is absolutely cheap considering that pools are expensive and it’s a daily activity.
I had a deployed husband and six kids and still could find a way to volunteer. Everybody has a lot going on.

Holy Cow. Have you ever taken care of elderly parents? Perhaps she just needs a few minutes to sit down and not have to take care of everyone's needs but herself. PP- I get it. Could you not be the person who brings the ice or baked goods? It is cheep and easy, but it is at least something.


so do you and your spouse/child's father never come to watch your kid swim? if you can watch the meet you can volunteer.

False, I can't watch my kid swim if I'm stuck in the snack bar or timing in a lane in which DC isn't swimming in or clerking or creating stupid ribbons etc.

Let me rephrase it then.

If you have time time to sit on your *ss watching your kid swim then you have enough leisure time to volunteer at a meet or two. You clearly aren't working or caring for a the aging elders ever minute of the day and can suck it up like the rest of the parents.

[Anonymous]

I also think a lot of people don’t realize the leagues have rules. So each individual pool is not always at liberty to change what they want if they want to remain in the league (like timers which people seem to have issues with).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't have time to read through 19 pages of this nonsense but I judge the volunteer nazis like OP who deliberately try to make people feel bad. Same person who gets into a tizzy when the volunteers' shirt isn't 100% white cotton or if someone makes a mistake when filling out those unnecessary ribbons. SMD, OP.

Riddle me this, how is a single parent with one kid swimming and two others who aren't because they aren't old enough or don't want to but aren't old enough to be at home by themselves supposed to volunteer for 5 effing swim meets, plus all of the other stupid events such as needing volunteers for tie-dying shirts, or for pancake breakfasts or for the rootbeer floats. It's so much bullshine.

Perhaps at registration allow folks to opt out from volunteering for an additionl $50-$100. Then you could hire the additional help needed to do the meets.

For B meets, why not just one or two timers? It's not important at all and if little Johnny is going to swim in 8 meets he doesn't need 24 different time samples for each stroke to figure out if he's good enough for all stars or whatever else.

Summer swim team is not for the person is this situation then.
The social culture -root beer floats and pancake breakfasts and the other stuff you deem billshine - is what makes it fun for the kids. Versus year round swimming which is a grind.

As someone who does my best to volunteer whenever I can, while working around a full-time job, this attitude makes me sad. As a timer, does it really make my job harder if there's an extra kid in Lane 6 vs that lane being empty, or maybe having one extra heat of freestylers? No? Then why should the kid be barred from joining the team if his parents have a hard time with the volunteer schedule, or don't want to bring him to the extras?

I'm glad our team isn't that clique-y. We welcome all swimmers, regardless of the family situation. Of course we request and encourage volunteering; we have the same needs as every other team. But we would never push a family out or shun a kid if the parents are in a tough spot schedule-wise. I mean, some of the 'freeloader' parents on swim team are really active in PTA or Scouts or other time-consuming activities throughout the year, in which my kids benefit from their volunteer time. Or not ... but the kid should still have an opportunity to participate regardless. I volunteer because I want to make the activity better for all kids, not just the ones from families I deem worthy of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know why you swim team parents put up with this system. I did summer swim team with people who were later Div I recruited swimmers, and my older sib swam with st least one Olympic qualifier. You know how many parent volunteers there were? Zero. Older kids ran the snack bar (I guess a parent did volunteer to do the Costco run in advance). The coaches or the paid referee monitored for false starts and touch violations. Like what is done in other kids sports. I just don’t know why you swim parents don’t rise up against how ridiculous this system is. I constantly hear people complaining about it but everyone seems to just accept it as a necessary evil. But why is it necessary?

This is dumb.
There is a huge difference between summer swim and year round. Year round you will be at big pools with touch pads and they won’t usually ask for parent volunteers (although they still do some like timing long course). If you want your kid to swim without volunteering, then do year round and be prepared to pay for it. Then you will realize how cheap summer swim is and why they need concessions to finance it. However, most of those kids got started in their summer team. And the Pp you haven’t even covered a plan to have timers or automation covered in your revolt.

We are in PVS and even with touch pads they still need volunteers as back up times. We typically have 2 per lane. Onl y1 this year due to COVID.

I think I mentioned that? However the volunteer timing is a fraction of what is neeeded at summer swim meets.

Summer meets require 18 timer volunteers. 3 per lane and most pools only have 6 lanes/only 6 lanes on Saturdays with the volunteers split between the 2 pools. Winter swim tends to use more lanes, often 10 so at least 20 timers. But for those meets they don't need parent volunteers for all the other jobs like ref, judges and so forth there are also typically a lot more kids and teams per meet .

There are a lot of parent volunteers at PVS year round meets (and I assume this is similar in all other regions). All of the officials (ref, stroke and turn, marshall, etc.) are volunteers. Swimming has a long tradition of being volunteer run at all levels.

[Anonymous]

But, qualifying for championships is not just times. We are also factoring participation. By kids at practices and by parents volunteering. Feels good.

Love this! Great idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know why you swim team parents put up with this system. I did summer swim team with people who were later Div I recruited swimmers, and my older sib swam with st least one Olympic qualifier. You know how many parent volunteers there were? Zero. Older kids ran the snack bar (I guess a parent did volunteer to do the Costco run in advance). The coaches or the paid referee monitored for false starts and touch violations. Like what is done in other kids sports. I just don’t know why you swim parents don’t rise up against how ridiculous this system is. I constantly hear people complaining about it but everyone seems to just accept it as a necessary evil. But why is it necessary?

This is dumb.
There is a huge difference between summer swim and year round. Year round you will be at big pools with touch pads and they won’t usually ask for parent volunteers (although they still do some like timing long course). If you want your kid to swim without volunteering, then do year round and be prepared to pay for it. Then you will realize how cheap summer swim is and why they need concessions to finance it. However, most of those kids got started in their summer team. And the Pp you haven’t even covered a plan to have timers or automation covered in your revolt.

We are in PVS and even with touch pads they still need volunteers as back up times. We typically have 2 per lane. Onl y1 this year due to COVID.

I think I mentioned that? However the volunteer timing is a fraction of what is neeeded at summer swim meets.

Summer meets require 18 timer volunteers. 3 per lane and most pools only have 6 lanes/only 6 lanes on Saturdays with the volunteers split between the 2 pools. Winter swim tends to use more lanes, often 10 so at least 20 timers. But for those meets they don't need parent volunteers for all the other jobs like ref, judges and so forth there are also typically a lot more kids and teams per meet .

There are a lot of parent volunteers at PVS year round meets (and I assume this is similar in all other regions). All of the officials (ref, stroke and turn, marshall, etc.) are volunteers. Swimming has a long tradition of being volunteer run at all levels.

My kids have swum year round and summer. Yes, there are some volunteer spots in year round. But it’s minimal compared to summer. I think that’s the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

But, qualifying for championships is not just times. We are also factoring participation. By kids at practices and by parents volunteering. Feels good.

Love this! Great idea.

I can't imagine how that would go over at a competitive pool. A kid taking a spot in divisional and costing the team points and either a shot at a championship or a relegation would be under so much pressure to drop out at our pool. The older kids all know scores, standings, their times, opponent times... They would absolutely notice a kid 6th on the ladder swimming over a kid ranked 1st or 2nd

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know why you swim team parents put up with this system. I did summer swim team with people who were later Div I recruited swimmers, and my older sib swam with st least one Olympic qualifier. You know how many parent volunteers there were? Zero. Older kids ran the snack bar (I guess a parent did volunteer to do the Costco run in advance). The coaches or the paid referee monitored for false starts and touch violations. Like what is done in other kids sports. I just don’t know why you swim parents don’t rise up against how ridiculous this system is. I constantly hear people complaining about it but everyone seems to just accept it as a necessary evil. But why is it necessary?

This is dumb.
There is a huge difference between summer swim and year round. Year round you will be at big pools with touch pads and they won’t usually ask for parent volunteers (although they still do some like timing long course). If you want your kid to swim without volunteering, then do year round and be prepared to pay for it. Then you will realize how cheap summer swim is and why they need concessions to finance it. However, most of those kids got started in their summer team. And the Pp you haven’t even covered a plan to have timers or automation covered in your revolt.

We are in PVS and even with touch pads they still need volunteers as back up times. We typically have 2 per lane. Onl y1 this year due to COVID.

I think I mentioned that? However the volunteer timing is a fraction of what is neeeded at summer swim meets.

Summer meets require 18 timer volunteers. 3 per lane and most pools only have 6 lanes/only 6 lanes on Saturdays with the volunteers split between the 2 pools. Winter swim tends to use more lanes, often 10 so at least 20 timers. But for those meets they don't need parent volunteers for all the other jobs like ref, judges and so forth there are also typically a lot more kids and teams per meet .

There are a lot of parent volunteers at PVS year round meets (and I assume this is similar in all other regions). All of the officials (ref, stroke and turn, marshall, etc.) are volunteers. Swimming has a long tradition of being volunteer run at all levels.

My kids have swum year round and summer. Yes, there are some volunteer spots in year round. But it’s minimal compared to summer. I think that’s the point.

That's because the summer meets are dual meets so all positions filled by only two teams, while winter meets have multiple teams so they can spread out the number of volunteers across a lot more people. The hosting team needs more volunteers at both.