Families that never volunteer - swim team

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's clear that the volunteer requirements are more than many bargained for and are the cause of a lot of resentment. Rah rah parents who spend the most time and run the whole thing seem more sympathetic than the proles who crowd three deep behind a lane and leave the meet with wet sandals. Parents who pay to belong to the club think they get a pass from volunteering because they are really super busy like you wouldn't believe.

Asking for a hefty volunteer deposit doesn't really solve the problem because no one wants to show up for a 2 hour shift. It just alleviates the guilt of the people who are happy to pay and squeezes the rest of the suckers who now have to assume those shifts.

Since timers put the biggest burden on the meet, I don't think it would ruin the fun by going down to one or two timers per lane. And for those who say, "but we have always had 3 timers per lane", no you haven't. It used to be one timer and a starting gun. Times change. Three crappy stopwatch times are not much better than one crappy stopwatch time. Have those would be timers pass out popsicles or sit at a cupcake decorating table instead. I guarantee kids would appreciate that more than another timer at the end of the lane. Or better yet, let them watch their kids swim.

Just stop it already. You are in a small minority in favor of this. Most people are very happy with the way NVSL meets are run and don’t want this aspect to change. Besides, timing is a relatively enjoyable volunteer experience. I would do it every meet if our pool wasn’t short on certified judges. You should just find a pool in a league that does it the way you suggest.

PP's post was spot on. Clearly, people don't want to volunteer, and so things SHOULD change.

Those who don’t want to volunteer should simply quit swim. I suppose if there is enough that do, maybe there will be impetus to change but that seems highly unlikely

Swim teams can penalize those families who don’t volunteer holding out swimmers from A meets ..unless they are really fast of course

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TBH post COVID less and less families esp w younger kids help out. We see the same group of people pitching in
No one hides it that we need volunteers but it is frustrating to watch the same families do nothing while everyone else is stepping up. These are also the same people who don’t read emails and require tons of handholding from very exhausted team reps. I say make them pay

What is the “old guard” doing to welcome these families in? I’m sure plenty of them would help. No need to generalize. Maybe they are unsure, or intimidated, or lazy. Maybe the old guard is taking all the good shifts and tasks, leaving the new people with the crap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TBH post COVID less and less families esp w younger kids help out. We see the same group of people pitching in
No one hides it that we need volunteers but it is frustrating to watch the same families do nothing while everyone else is stepping up. These are also the same people who don’t read emails and require tons of handholding from very exhausted team reps. I say make them pay

Some of the team reps pretend to want help but when you offer they decline or play games with it. Our team assigns jobs but we've also been on teams where we have offered and been declined. Our old team rep didn't even have kids on the team anymore but wouldn't step down and did the absolute minimum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TBH post COVID less and less families esp w younger kids help out. We see the same group of people pitching in
No one hides it that we need volunteers but it is frustrating to watch the same families do nothing while everyone else is stepping up. These are also the same people who don’t read emails and require tons of handholding from very exhausted team reps. I say make them pay

I’ve encountered this type of family at both swim team and in my kids’ private school community. They can’t read emails and want personalized texts summarizing the emails they didn’t read. They have feedback about every single event but also flake at the last minute anyway. They are mad that things aren’t more organized but when something is more organized, they express annoyance at the amount of commitment it requires of them or their kids. Or conversely, if there is a way to buy their way out, they complain about the cost. I’m baffled by them and of course versions of these parents seem to follow me around from one community event to the next like bad pennies.

I would pay good money to help publish a long form Atlantic or New Yorker-style article explaining these parents, and then I could send the link to all the nice people I’ve met while volunteering at the pool and we’d have something to talk about in the off-season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TBH post COVID less and less families esp w younger kids help out. We see the same group of people pitching in
No one hides it that we need volunteers but it is frustrating to watch the same families do nothing while everyone else is stepping up. These are also the same people who don’t read emails and require tons of handholding from very exhausted team reps. I say make them pay

This is an interesting observation and it does fit with what I am seeing at our pool. This was the first year we had very young kids swimming B meets that absolutely shouldn’t be, endless 8U breast and fly heats where the S&T judges were dq’ing so many it slowed down the meets and parents standing in area’s reserved for coaches screaming at kids to “beat” other kids. Yet there was a definite increase in the desperate pleas at the beginning of the meets for timers, clerks etc. and it was the rest of us fools stepping in so we could get the meets going.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's clear that the volunteer requirements are more than many bargained for and are the cause of a lot of resentment. Rah rah parents who spend the most time and run the whole thing seem more sympathetic than the proles who crowd three deep behind a lane and leave the meet with wet sandals. Parents who pay to belong to the club think they get a pass from volunteering because they are really super busy like you wouldn't believe.

Asking for a hefty volunteer deposit doesn't really solve the problem because no one wants to show up for a 2 hour shift. It just alleviates the guilt of the people who are happy to pay and squeezes the rest of the suckers who now have to assume those shifts.

Since timers put the biggest burden on the meet, I don't think it would ruin the fun by going down to one or two timers per lane. And for those who say, "but we have always had 3 timers per lane", no you haven't. It used to be one timer and a starting gun. Times change. Three crappy stopwatch times are not much better than one crappy stopwatch time. Have those would be timers pass out popsicles or sit at a cupcake decorating table instead. I guarantee kids would appreciate that more than another timer at the end of the lane. Or better yet, let them watch their kids swim.

Just stop it already. You are in a small minority in favor of this. Most people are very happy with the way NVSL meets are run and don’t want this aspect to change. Besides, timing is a relatively enjoyable volunteer experience. I would do it every meet if our pool wasn’t short on certified judges. You should just find a pool in a league that does it the way you suggest.

PP's post was spot on. Clearly, people don't want to volunteer, and so things SHOULD change.

Those who don’t want to volunteer should simply quit swim. I suppose if there is enough that do, maybe there will be impetus to change but that seems highly unlikely

Swim teams can penalize those families who don’t volunteer holding out swimmers from A meets ..unless they are really fast of course

The coaches want to put in the fastest swimmers, they don't really care about their volunteer status

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TBH post COVID less and less families esp w younger kids help out. We see the same group of people pitching in
No one hides it that we need volunteers but it is frustrating to watch the same families do nothing while everyone else is stepping up. These are also the same people who don’t read emails and require tons of handholding from very exhausted team reps. I say make them pay

What is the “old guard” doing to welcome these families in? I’m sure plenty of them would help. No need to generalize. Maybe they are unsure, or intimidated, or lazy. Maybe the old guard is taking all the good shifts and tasks, leaving the new people with the crap.

What we've always done- reach out to the parents of the young kids in winter swim and the fast kids. Try to get the later into the former category and try to get those parents to volunteer. We're not wasting time training parents whose kids will probably drop in a year, but if we can get those parents with kids more likely to stick involved, the team will continue to have enough volunteers. It's worked for decades and is still working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TBH post COVID less and less families esp w younger kids help out. We see the same group of people pitching in
No one hides it that we need volunteers but it is frustrating to watch the same families do nothing while everyone else is stepping up. These are also the same people who don’t read emails and require tons of handholding from very exhausted team reps. I say make them pay

What is the “old guard” doing to welcome these families in? I’m sure plenty of them would help. No need to generalize. Maybe they are unsure, or intimidated, or lazy. Maybe the old guard is taking all the good shifts and tasks, leaving the new people with the crap.

What we've always done- reach out to the parents of the young kids in winter swim and the fast kids. Try to get the later into the former category and try to get those parents to volunteer. We're not wasting time training parents whose kids will probably drop in a year, but if we can get those parents with kids more likely to stick involved, the team will continue to have enough volunteers. It's worked for decades and is still working.

You sound nice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's clear that the volunteer requirements are more than many bargained for and are the cause of a lot of resentment. Rah rah parents who spend the most time and run the whole thing seem more sympathetic than the proles who crowd three deep behind a lane and leave the meet with wet sandals. Parents who pay to belong to the club think they get a pass from volunteering because they are really super busy like you wouldn't believe.

Asking for a hefty volunteer deposit doesn't really solve the problem because no one wants to show up for a 2 hour shift. It just alleviates the guilt of the people who are happy to pay and squeezes the rest of the suckers who now have to assume those shifts.

Since timers put the biggest burden on the meet, I don't think it would ruin the fun by going down to one or two timers per lane. And for those who say, "but we have always had 3 timers per lane", no you haven't. It used to be one timer and a starting gun. Times change. Three crappy stopwatch times are not much better than one crappy stopwatch time. Have those would be timers pass out popsicles or sit at a cupcake decorating table instead. I guarantee kids would appreciate that more than another timer at the end of the lane. Or better yet, let them watch their kids swim.

Just stop it already. You are in a small minority in favor of this. Most people are very happy with the way NVSL meets are run and don’t want this aspect to change. Besides, timing is a relatively enjoyable volunteer experience. I would do it every meet if our pool wasn’t short on certified judges. You should just find a pool in a league that does it the way you suggest.

PP's post was spot on. Clearly, people don't want to volunteer, and so things SHOULD change.

Those who don’t want to volunteer should simply quit swim. I suppose if there is enough that do, maybe there will be impetus to change but that seems highly unlikely

Swim teams can penalize those families who don’t volunteer holding out swimmers from A meets ..unless they are really fast of course

Not true. Name the team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TBH post COVID less and less families esp w younger kids help out. We see the same group of people pitching in
No one hides it that we need volunteers but it is frustrating to watch the same families do nothing while everyone else is stepping up. These are also the same people who don’t read emails and require tons of handholding from very exhausted team reps. I say make them pay

What is the “old guard” doing to welcome these families in? I’m sure plenty of them would help. No need to generalize. Maybe they are unsure, or intimidated, or lazy. Maybe the old guard is taking all the good shifts and tasks, leaving the new people with the crap.

Spoken like a true millennial!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
What is the “old guard” doing to welcome these families in? I’m sure plenty of them would help. No need to generalize. Maybe they are unsure, or intimidated, or lazy. Maybe the old guard is taking all the good shifts and tasks, leaving the new people with the crap.

Team Rep here. In addition to the parent meeting at the beginning of the season we offer an additional separate session so new families can ask additional basic questions. We have detailed descriptions of all the volunteer roles on our website. Our officials and data people have a q&a session on deck during pre-season practices. We work with our officials and data coordinators to get a mix of new and experienced parents in those roles at each meet so that we can continue to grow the next generation of volunteers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's clear that the volunteer requirements are more than many bargained for and are the cause of a lot of resentment. Rah rah parents who spend the most time and run the whole thing seem more sympathetic than the proles who crowd three deep behind a lane and leave the meet with wet sandals. Parents who pay to belong to the club think they get a pass from volunteering because they are really super busy like you wouldn't believe.

Asking for a hefty volunteer deposit doesn't really solve the problem because no one wants to show up for a 2 hour shift. It just alleviates the guilt of the people who are happy to pay and squeezes the rest of the suckers who now have to assume those shifts.

Since timers put the biggest burden on the meet, I don't think it would ruin the fun by going down to one or two timers per lane. And for those who say, "but we have always had 3 timers per lane", no you haven't. It used to be one timer and a starting gun. Times change. Three crappy stopwatch times are not much better than one crappy stopwatch time. Have those would be timers pass out popsicles or sit at a cupcake decorating table instead. I guarantee kids would appreciate that more than another timer at the end of the lane. Or better yet, let them watch their kids swim.

Just stop it already. You are in a small minority in favor of this. Most people are very happy with the way NVSL meets are run and don’t want this aspect to change. Besides, timing is a relatively enjoyable volunteer experience. I would do it every meet if our pool wasn’t short on certified judges. You should just find a pool in a league that does it the way you suggest.

PP's post was spot on. Clearly, people don't want to volunteer, and so things SHOULD change.

Those who don’t want to volunteer should simply quit swim. I suppose if there is enough that do, maybe there will be impetus to change but that seems highly unlikely

Swim teams can penalize those families who don’t volunteer holding out swimmers from A meets ..unless they are really fast of course

What a dumb idea. Many teams have 200+ swimmers. Very few kids ever swim in A meets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What is the “old guard” doing to welcome these families in? I’m sure plenty of them would help. No need to generalize. Maybe they are unsure, or intimidated, or lazy. Maybe the old guard is taking all the good shifts and tasks, leaving the new people with the crap.

Team Rep here. In addition to the parent meeting at the beginning of the season we offer an additional separate session so new families can ask additional basic questions. We have detailed descriptions of all the volunteer roles on our website. Our officials and data people have a q&a session on deck during pre-season practices. We work with our officials and data coordinators to get a mix of new and experienced parents in those roles at each meet so that we can continue to grow the next generation of volunteers.

DP, who volunteers so much they call me Queen of Course. I go out of my way to welcome new parents to the team, especially when volunteering. I ask how it's going, empathize with how overwhelming the first summer swim season is, how old their kids are, etc. When they do a great job at a particular volunteer position, I tell them.

It's really not that hard to be friendly.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand the mentality of parents that other volunteers need to throw them a ticker tape parade for showing up. We are all volunteering our time! Why do some of these parents need SO MUCH handholding and cheerleading? Its exhausting and bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's clear that the volunteer requirements are more than many bargained for and are the cause of a lot of resentment. Rah rah parents who spend the most time and run the whole thing seem more sympathetic than the proles who crowd three deep behind a lane and leave the meet with wet sandals. Parents who pay to belong to the club think they get a pass from volunteering because they are really super busy like you wouldn't believe.

Asking for a hefty volunteer deposit doesn't really solve the problem because no one wants to show up for a 2 hour shift. It just alleviates the guilt of the people who are happy to pay and squeezes the rest of the suckers who now have to assume those shifts.

Since timers put the biggest burden on the meet, I don't think it would ruin the fun by going down to one or two timers per lane. And for those who say, "but we have always had 3 timers per lane", no you haven't. It used to be one timer and a starting gun. Times change. Three crappy stopwatch times are not much better than one crappy stopwatch time. Have those would be timers pass out popsicles or sit at a cupcake decorating table instead. I guarantee kids would appreciate that more than another timer at the end of the lane. Or better yet, let them watch their kids swim.

So I’m not a swim parent, but this thread is kind of fascinating to me…can someone explain why this is a burn?

I kind of love that I am apparently an elitist prole with wet sandals. I might have to get a Tshirt made.

I mean I guess I am because I’m a timer? Is that who the PP is referring to?

This whole thing is weird. We never have a timer or on deck official shortage—those jobs are coveted and usually doled out to parents with kids that swim at every A meet. The things that don’t get picked up regularly enough are things like clean up, set up, take down, and concessions.

People on this board just like to whine and make martyrs of themselves I swear. At our pool it’s the reps and table workers who moan and complain but then refuse to delegate or let anyone help. That’s why I just time every meet and then leave. They don’t want solutions they just want to crap on people.