Freeloading swim team parents suck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is incorrect that A meet swimmers get twice the number of meets B meet swimmers do? It is incorrect that A meet swimmers get to attend the extra special relay meets? It is incorrect that A meet swimmers can get more attention from coaches?

Yes
Yes
Yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

That’s a really easy riddle. You don’t sign your kid up for swim team if you can’t fulfill your volunteer duties. Swim team is optional, remember?

Someone way upthread said exactly this about themselves- their kids do not swim because they can't or won't fulfill their volunteer duties...and she/he got jumped on for that.

Not quite.
She got jumped on because of her bratty comment on superiority. In fact I believe one poster even said she did the right thing by not signing up if she didn’t want to volunteer.

My bratty comment about superiority was because you people are horrible. If I knew that a family didn’t have their kid participate in a sport I was heavily involved in because they couldn’t figure out the volunteer requirement, I would feel terrible. I would NEVER want a kid to be excluded because both parents work night shifts and grandma couldn’t manage being a meet timer. This whole thread is disgusting, tit for tat, judgmental martyrs.

Ehh, there are plenty of volunteer opportunities that don’t involve evening hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

That’s a really easy riddle. You don’t sign your kid up for swim team if you can’t fulfill your volunteer duties. Swim team is optional, remember?

Someone way upthread said exactly this about themselves- their kids do not swim because they can't or won't fulfill their volunteer duties...and she/he got jumped on for that.

Not quite.
She got jumped on because of her bratty comment on superiority. In fact I believe one poster even said she did the right thing by not signing up if she didn’t want to volunteer.

My bratty comment about superiority was because you people are horrible. If I knew that a family didn’t have their kid participate in a sport I was heavily involved in because they couldn’t figure out the volunteer requirement, I would feel terrible. I would NEVER want a kid to be excluded because both parents work night shifts and grandma couldn’t manage being a meet timer. This whole thread is disgusting, tit for tat, judgmental martyrs.

Ehh, there are plenty of volunteer opportunities that don’t involve evening hours.

This makes zero sense. There are tons of jobs off the deck and not at night. Most of you probably aren't swim parents if you don't know this. There are things that don't even have to be done at the pool. If parents work night shift, A meets are generally on Saturday, so they can volunteer at a meet. Grandma can help supervise the kids, she can work concessions, she can help with set up or clean up. Or, parents can if they work nights. Or, they can help with behind the scenes stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids swam for years -- in the summers and all through HS and college; the youngest is now a college sophomore and is coaching. DH and I did our share of volunteering. I agree that yes, it's annoying when people don't volunteer. And, yes, some of the volunteer gigs are unnecessary (though they do contribute to making swim team fun). All that said, my kids have wonderful memories of swim team and are grateful not only for our -- relatively small -- volunteer efforts over the years, but for the work of those parents who made the huge commitment of being A reps. So, know that your kids see you and that you're setting an example of how to build community.

Thank you. I needed this right now. I will power through. . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do they get to swim for their team if they don’t practice with their team?

That’s right. Winning. I forgot.

Because my child just finished a hard 2 hr practice at 5:30 am and doesn’t need to take the space during a summer swim practice 1 hr later. However, she is at every other activity, helps coach the minis and participants in every pep rally and team event. Our pool prefers club swimmers not come to practice so they can focus on the other kids.

Same. And in this regard, summe swim team is a good "deal" for B meet swimmers. They may not get quite as many opportunities to race, but they get much more coaching at our practices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is incorrect that A meet swimmers get twice the number of meets B meet swimmers do? It is incorrect that A meet swimmers get to attend the extra special relay meets? It is incorrect that A meet swimmers can get more attention from coaches?

It is incorrect at our pool. There is one more a meet than b meet. A meet swimmers don’t swim b meets but they do come and cheer for their teammates and serve as clerks do course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is incorrect that A meet swimmers get twice the number of meets B meet swimmers do? It is incorrect that A meet swimmers get to attend the extra special relay meets? It is incorrect that A meet swimmers can get more attention from coaches?

It is incorrect at our pool. There is one more a meet than b meet. A meet swimmers don’t swim b meets but they do come and cheer for their teammates and serve as clerks do course.

I think this is pool dependent. My DC has qualified for the A meet in 1-2 stokes all season, but still does B meets because they aren’t in the top 2 and didn’t qualify for A meet in the other 2 strokes. There are a good number of kids on our team in the same position as my DC. So our A/B meet swimmers have truly gotten the most out of the summer swim season with 2 meets a week. It’s commitment on the part of the parents of these kids, but our A/B swimmers are the most enthusiastic about improvement, etc. because they are motivated to stay in the A meets or move up to the A meets in other strokes.

[Anonymous]

I'm guessing the "competitive pool" poster is from a NVSL Division 1 pool, where they recruit swimmers and it is INTENSE.


Only Tuckahoe and Chesterbrook.

It’s off topic but I can’t let this slide. Overlee invented NVSL recruiting, and I imagine any number of upper division teams who don’t have geographic membership boundaries do it as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is incorrect that A meet swimmers get twice the number of meets B meet swimmers do? It is incorrect that A meet swimmers get to attend the extra special relay meets? It is incorrect that A meet swimmers can get more attention from coaches?

This is all true at our pool.

I didn’t realize there were pools where A meet swimmers weren’t allowed to swim in B meets. Our B meets are for everybody. But very few kids get to swim in the A meets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is incorrect that A meet swimmers get twice the number of meets B meet swimmers do? It is incorrect that A meet swimmers get to attend the extra special relay meets? It is incorrect that A meet swimmers can get more attention from coaches?

Yes
Yes
Yes

At our pool most A meet swimmers can't swim B meets, and there is a separate B relay meet.

And B meet swimmers get almost all the coaching. The A meet swimmers are on clubs.

[Anonymous]

And at our pool, everyone swims B meets, there are no B relays, and the A meet kids get a ton of extra attention at practice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And at our pool, everyone swims B meets, there are no B relays, and the A meet kids get a ton of extra attention at practice.

Same, and only the A kids do the relay carnivals etc.
The A swimmers get much more than the B kids at our pool.

[Anonymous]

We moved but our old pool was so small and in such a non-competitive division that almost all of the kids swam in A meets, even the 8&Us. Lots of parent volunteers because the meets basically wouldn’t have happened if everyone didn’t pitch in. We may not have been good but the kids had a blast and cheered each other on. We’re in a single digit division now and I can’t say that we’re as excited about swim as we used to be.

[Anonymous]

I am jealous of the moms who are friends with the volunteer head who get first crack at volunteering. They always grab the short social slots while the other parents run meets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And at our pool, everyone swims B meets, there are no B relays, and the A meet kids get a ton of extra attention at practice.

Same, and only the A kids do the relay carnivals etc.
The A swimmers get much more than the B kids at our pool.

But it’s so inexpensive…I mean, can you really be mad about 8 weeks of 5 day per week swim lessons for less than $200?