PVS Champa not letting parents in

[Anonymous]

On Friday night, there were NO coaches timing. They had enough parents before the meet started and still didn’t let parents in. My husband was timing and I was upstairs waiting. It was a huge cluster. There ARE parents stepping up. There is a breakdown happening between PVS and the staff at UMD. Pretty sure neither cares. My husband also mentioned the rude lady official that a PP mentioned. Really disappointing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those new to Championship Meets and swim meets in general:

If an athlete makes Finals, doesn't scratch, and fails to appear, that athlete faces penalties.

Additionally, if a meet cannot run to ensure fair and equitable competition, including staffing minimums, the meet will not be held until those minimums are met. Everything done on these decks are for the athletes.

Timer slots are not assigned for finals; finals requires timers. Competing is an option; if parents are unwilling to collectively step up and be willing to volunteer, have your athlete scratch from finals or be patient until the minimums are met to ensure fair and equitable competition.

Yeah, that didn’t happen. At senior champs, the meet (1500) WAS held but doors were not opened.

- take the money you’re putting towards bag checkers and pay for timers

- advertise for service hours to HS kids to time

- charge an entry fee and pay timers (campus was full of students)

- come up with reasonable solutions (telling timers they have to stay the whole finals session is not reasonable when their kid may be in the first event OR say upfront no guaranteed entry into the facility until we have timers but for every session you time, you get a wristband allowing you entry to an evening session, etc)

The solution to start the meet (which they did at senior champs) and then not let anyone (even previous timers) in is absurd.

+1,000 to all of this. PVS, if anyone comes across this post, please consider these suggestions.

Spot on!

All sides had egg on their face Friday night and it’s time to stop pointing fingers at one another and find reasonable solutions. Leadership at PVS please stand up and lead the way.

Let me add that on Friday, they locked the parents out of the entire building and forced them to queue in the sun and heat. One of these parents had younger children with them. One even had a newborn in her arms, but fortunately she was let in without waiting.

As has been pointed out, the meet didn't have contingency plans for a timer shortage. Rather than punishment, perhaps a positive incentive can be offered. PVS is not summer swim. Parents pay thousands of dollars for club fees, and then meet fees on top of that. They are paying customers and should be treated accordingly. I'd be curious to know how much money was made from those meet fees and who received it.

On top of that, many parents were frustrated with the cell phone dead zone that is Epply. While you could register for the wifi, I've worked with the big telcos and there is a better solution (that is often free or discounted to the university, depending on various factors). It's called Active Digital Antenna System.(Active DAS).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent on deck Friday, I can attest it was the biggest single cluster that I have ever witnessed at a Champs event and PVS should be embarrassed by how it all went down. I witnessed one particular PVS official literally in glee saying how she proudly wasn’t letting any parents on the deck and was gloating how she was going to kick all parents out of the building. It was appalling. That particular official also started power tripping on deck with 800 parents, telling them they couldn’t leave and attempted to force them to time the whole session. I got her name and will be reporting her to the league. No official should act with that kind of complete contempt for parents who volunteer with timing constantly. The meet host was also way in over his head I’m in how to run a successful champs meet and it showed. Parents pay an exorbitant amount to these teams, volunteer around the clock, and work their tails off to get their kids to practices at all hours of the day. To rob them from watching their kids swim a finals champs race is downright wrong and PVS needs to find a better way.

WOW! This post here makes me sad for all our swimmers.

I too am a parent that pays “an exorbitant amount” to the teams, work my “tail off” to get my kids to practice at all hours of the day, and “volunteers around the clock.”

As an official for PVS who has volunteered my time for 100 PVS sessions this season alone, it’s disheartening to see this. Do I think that everyone should have to do what we as officials voluntarily do, not at all!

Many times official’s don’t have kids swimming in meets that we work at, or if we do, our swimmers wait and sit around so that we can help swimmer’s NOT OUR OWN get to swim.

When you say “rob them from watching their kid swim a finals champs” I have often thought, it’s really sad how hard the swimmers have worked to make it to finals for PVS to not be able to get 18 out of “800” parents to step up to help these kids swim. They’ve worked hard all season. They’ve warmed up. They’re ready to go, waiting behind the blocks, nervous and we can’t get 18 parents down to time. And if you have to stay to the end, well that’s awesome because you’ve helped other athletes accomplish something too and you’ve taught your swimmer that staying and cheering on teammates, or timing or sometimes having to sacrifice a little is a good thing for our community.

So instead of yelling at PVS, coaches, host teams, officials, how about you turn and yell at the multitude of parents who never volunteer instead and blame them the next time the swimmers, your children are standing behind the blocks while the rest of the deck is ready to go.

When a certified official is wearing an LSC logo in their attire/name badge, you are representing the LSC and with that comes a level of calm, professionalism, respect and can do attitude to rise to any occasion that causes issue on the deck. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen Friday night and it was incredibly sad to watch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those new to Championship Meets and swim meets in general:

If an athlete makes Finals, doesn't scratch, and fails to appear, that athlete faces penalties.

Additionally, if a meet cannot run to ensure fair and equitable competition, including staffing minimums, the meet will not be held until those minimums are met. Everything done on these decks are for the athletes.

Timer slots are not assigned for finals; finals requires timers. Competing is an option; if parents are unwilling to collectively step up and be willing to volunteer, have your athlete scratch from finals or be patient until the minimums are met to ensure fair and equitable competition.

Yeah, that didn’t happen. At senior champs, the meet (1500) WAS held but doors were not opened.

- take the money you’re putting towards bag checkers and pay for timers

- advertise for service hours to HS kids to time

- charge an entry fee and pay timers (campus was full of students)

- come up with reasonable solutions (telling timers they have to stay the whole finals session is not reasonable when their kid may be in the first event OR say upfront no guaranteed entry into the facility until we have timers but for every session you time, you get a wristband allowing you entry to an evening session, etc)

The solution to start the meet (which they did at senior champs) and then not let anyone (even previous timers) in is absurd.

+1,000 to all of this. PVS, if anyone comes across this post, please consider these suggestions.

Spot on!

All sides had egg on their face Friday night and it’s time to stop pointing fingers at one another and find reasonable solutions. Leadership at PVS please stand up and lead the way.

Let me add that on Friday, they locked the parents out of the entire building and forced them to queue in the sun and heat. One of these parents had younger children with them. One even had a newborn in her arms, but fortunately she was let in without waiting.

As has been pointed out, the meet didn't have contingency plans for a timer shortage. Rather than punishment, perhaps a positive incentive can be offered. PVS is not summer swim. Parents pay thousands of dollars for club fees, and then meet fees on top of that. They are paying customers and should be treated accordingly. I'd be curious to know how much money was made from those meet fees and who received it.

On top of that, many parents were frustrated with the cell phone dead zone that is Epply. While you could register for the wifi, I've worked with the big telcos and there is a better solution (that is often free or discounted to the university, depending on various factors). It's called Active Digital Antenna System.(Active DAS).

What does a cell phone dead zone at the University have to do with PVS or the willingness of parents to volunteer?

[Anonymous]

I think it all still goes back to having people sign up via a Google form versus having a sign-up genius, where you can see which clubs of filled their spots and which clubs have not.

Google form format is just weird.

Also agree timer shifts need to be split

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those new to Championship Meets and swim meets in general:

If an athlete makes Finals, doesn't scratch, and fails to appear, that athlete faces penalties.

Additionally, if a meet cannot run to ensure fair and equitable competition, including staffing minimums, the meet will not be held until those minimums are met. Everything done on these decks are for the athletes.

Timer slots are not assigned for finals; finals requires timers. Competing is an option; if parents are unwilling to collectively step up and be willing to volunteer, have your athlete scratch from finals or be patient until the minimums are met to ensure fair and equitable competition.

Yeah, that didn’t happen. At senior champs, the meet (1500) WAS held but doors were not opened.

- take the money you’re putting towards bag checkers and pay for timers

- advertise for service hours to HS kids to time

- charge an entry fee and pay timers (campus was full of students)

- come up with reasonable solutions (telling timers they have to stay the whole finals session is not reasonable when their kid may be in the first event OR say upfront no guaranteed entry into the facility until we have timers but for every session you time, you get a wristband allowing you entry to an evening session, etc)

The solution to start the meet (which they did at senior champs) and then not let anyone (even previous timers) in is absurd.

+1,000 to all of this. PVS, if anyone comes across this post, please consider these suggestions.

Spot on!

All sides had egg on their face Friday night and it’s time to stop pointing fingers at one another and find reasonable solutions. Leadership at PVS please stand up and lead the way.

Let me add that on Friday, they locked the parents out of the entire building and forced them to queue in the sun and heat. One of these parents had younger children with them. One even had a newborn in her arms, but fortunately she was let in without waiting.

As has been pointed out, the meet didn't have contingency plans for a timer shortage. Rather than punishment, perhaps a positive incentive can be offered. PVS is not summer swim. Parents pay thousands of dollars for club fees, and then meet fees on top of that. They are paying customers and should be treated accordingly. I'd be curious to know how much money was made from those meet fees and who received it.

On top of that, many parents were frustrated with the cell phone dead zone that is Epply. While you could register for the wifi, I've worked with the big telcos and there is a better solution (that is often free or discounted to the university, depending on various factors). It's called Active Digital Antenna System.(Active DAS).

What does a cell phone dead zone at the University have to do with PVS or the willingness of parents to volunteer?

Did you miss the phrase "on top of that...."? It's another point of frustration for the parents. PVS held the meet at a place known for poor cell coverage. It could tell the university that this was a point of frustration, and if the university doesn't get it fixed, another venue might be considered in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those new to Championship Meets and swim meets in general:

If an athlete makes Finals, doesn't scratch, and fails to appear, that athlete faces penalties.

Additionally, if a meet cannot run to ensure fair and equitable competition, including staffing minimums, the meet will not be held until those minimums are met. Everything done on these decks are for the athletes.

Timer slots are not assigned for finals; finals requires timers. Competing is an option; if parents are unwilling to collectively step up and be willing to volunteer, have your athlete scratch from finals or be patient until the minimums are met to ensure fair and equitable competition.

Yeah, that didn’t happen. At senior champs, the meet (1500) WAS held but doors were not opened.

- take the money you’re putting towards bag checkers and pay for timers

- advertise for service hours to HS kids to time

- charge an entry fee and pay timers (campus was full of students)

- come up with reasonable solutions (telling timers they have to stay the whole finals session is not reasonable when their kid may be in the first event OR say upfront no guaranteed entry into the facility until we have timers but for every session you time, you get a wristband allowing you entry to an evening session, etc)

The solution to start the meet (which they did at senior champs) and then not let anyone (even previous timers) in is absurd.

+1,000 to all of this. PVS, if anyone comes across this post, please consider these suggestions.

Spot on!

All sides had egg on their face Friday night and it’s time to stop pointing fingers at one another and find reasonable solutions. Leadership at PVS please stand up and lead the way.

We are literally arguing over 18 people. Solution is 18 parents come time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The root cause is an insufficient number of parents willing to pull their weight. For every parent that had already timed a session and just wanted to spectate last night, there were probably at least two more that hadn’t, for no good reason (some have valid reasons). You can blame the host team, PVS, and/or UMD processes all you want, but that doesn’t change the number of volunteers required to run a swim meet. If all families felt the sense of accountability that some families feel, then they wouldn’t need to resort to these tactics. I’m really over the parents that show up at these multi-day meets and don’t volunteer a single session if they’re physically able to. You’re the problem. Why do you expect other families to do this on your behalf?

NP. Every meet needs enough timers. I wasn’t at the meet this weekend, but UMD is the only venue where I’ve seen them lock parents out AND treat them with such hostility. They don’t do this at GMU or PWCS or the FFX Co rec centers, for example, even when they have finals and need more timers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those new to Championship Meets and swim meets in general:

If an athlete makes Finals, doesn't scratch, and fails to appear, that athlete faces penalties.

Additionally, if a meet cannot run to ensure fair and equitable competition, including staffing minimums, the meet will not be held until those minimums are met. Everything done on these decks are for the athletes.

Timer slots are not assigned for finals; finals requires timers. Competing is an option; if parents are unwilling to collectively step up and be willing to volunteer, have your athlete scratch from finals or be patient until the minimums are met to ensure fair and equitable competition.

Yeah, that didn’t happen. At senior champs, the meet (1500) WAS held but doors were not opened.

- take the money you’re putting towards bag checkers and pay for timers

- advertise for service hours to HS kids to time

- charge an entry fee and pay timers (campus was full of students)

- come up with reasonable solutions (telling timers they have to stay the whole finals session is not reasonable when their kid may be in the first event OR say upfront no guaranteed entry into the facility until we have timers but for every session you time, you get a wristband allowing you entry to an evening session, etc)

The solution to start the meet (which they did at senior champs) and then not let anyone (even previous timers) in is absurd.

+1,000 to all of this. PVS, if anyone comes across this post, please consider these suggestions.

Spot on!

All sides had egg on their face Friday night and it’s time to stop pointing fingers at one another and find reasonable solutions. Leadership at PVS please stand up and lead the way.

Let me add that on Friday, they locked the parents out of the entire building and forced them to queue in the sun and heat. One of these parents had younger children with them. One even had a newborn in her arms, but fortunately she was let in without waiting.

As has been pointed out, the meet didn't have contingency plans for a timer shortage. Rather than punishment, perhaps a positive incentive can be offered. PVS is not summer swim. Parents pay thousands of dollars for club fees, and then meet fees on top of that. They are paying customers and should be treated accordingly. I'd be curious to know how much money was made from those meet fees and who received it.

On top of that, many parents were frustrated with the cell phone dead zone that is Epply. While you could register for the wifi, I've worked with the big telcos and there is a better solution (that is often free or discounted to the university, depending on various factors). It's called Active Digital Antenna System.(Active DAS).

What does a cell phone dead zone at the University have to do with PVS or the willingness of parents to volunteer?

Did you miss the phrase "on top of that...."? It's another point of frustration for the parents. PVS held the meet at a place known for poor cell coverage. It could tell the university that this was a point of frustration, and if the university doesn't get it fixed, another venue might be considered in the future.

This is a stupid complaint. Meets held at Jeff rouse also have iffy service. But the point of the meet isn’t for parents to have good cell service for kids to play brawl stars.

[Anonymous]

Note to PVS and UMD event staff. There is a saying “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”.

I’m less inclined to help out with timing multiple sessions when I’m a paying customer (meet fees - where does that money go?) and your staff is flat out rude and yelling.

Maybe UMD has more issues getting timers because of how they treat volunteers? As someone pointed out meets at GMU, PWCS, Fairfax Co, don’t seem to have these issues. They might be looking for a few volunteers at the start but it hasn’t been the catastrophe of UMD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those new to Championship Meets and swim meets in general:

If an athlete makes Finals, doesn't scratch, and fails to appear, that athlete faces penalties.

Additionally, if a meet cannot run to ensure fair and equitable competition, including staffing minimums, the meet will not be held until those minimums are met. Everything done on these decks are for the athletes.

Timer slots are not assigned for finals; finals requires timers. Competing is an option; if parents are unwilling to collectively step up and be willing to volunteer, have your athlete scratch from finals or be patient until the minimums are met to ensure fair and equitable competition.

Yeah, that didn’t happen. At senior champs, the meet (1500) WAS held but doors were not opened.

- take the money you’re putting towards bag checkers and pay for timers

- advertise for service hours to HS kids to time

- charge an entry fee and pay timers (campus was full of students)

- come up with reasonable solutions (telling timers they have to stay the whole finals session is not reasonable when their kid may be in the first event OR say upfront no guaranteed entry into the facility until we have timers but for every session you time, you get a wristband allowing you entry to an evening session, etc)

The solution to start the meet (which they did at senior champs) and then not let anyone (even previous timers) in is absurd.

+1,000 to all of this. PVS, if anyone comes across this post, please consider these suggestions.

Spot on!

All sides had egg on their face Friday night and it’s time to stop pointing fingers at one another and find reasonable solutions. Leadership at PVS please stand up and lead the way.

Let me add that on Friday, they locked the parents out of the entire building and forced them to queue in the sun and heat. One of these parents had younger children with them. One even had a newborn in her arms, but fortunately she was let in without waiting.

As has been pointed out, the meet didn't have contingency plans for a timer shortage. Rather than punishment, perhaps a positive incentive can be offered. PVS is not summer swim. Parents pay thousands of dollars for club fees, and then meet fees on top of that. They are paying customers and should be treated accordingly. I'd be curious to know how much money was made from those meet fees and who received it.

On top of that, many parents were frustrated with the cell phone dead zone that is Epply. While you could register for the wifi, I've worked with the big telcos and there is a better solution (that is often free or discounted to the university, depending on various factors). It's called Active Digital Antenna System.(Active DAS).

What does a cell phone dead zone at the University have to do with PVS or the willingness of parents to volunteer?

Did you miss the phrase "on top of that...."? It's another point of frustration for the parents. PVS held the meet at a place known for poor cell coverage. It could tell the university that this was a point of frustration, and if the university doesn't get it fixed, another venue might be considered in the future.

This is a stupid complaint. Meets held at Jeff rouse also have iffy service. But the point of the meet isn’t for parents to have good cell service for kids to play brawl stars.

Agreed about the brawl stars (lol), but if I want to check the signup genius or know if my kid made finals (because the PA system at UMD is completely incomprehensible), the current way of doing things requires cell signal and/or wifi. Both are hard to get at Eppley. Also, if there was an expressed timer shortage ahead of Friday finals, it would have helped for the teams to push out an email or text early enough to let volunteers step up in advance. But then people would also need good enough signal to receive those messages.

[Anonymous]

BUT DID THEY HAVE BAG TAGS THIS YEAR??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those new to Championship Meets and swim meets in general:

If an athlete makes Finals, doesn't scratch, and fails to appear, that athlete faces penalties.

Additionally, if a meet cannot run to ensure fair and equitable competition, including staffing minimums, the meet will not be held until those minimums are met. Everything done on these decks are for the athletes.

Timer slots are not assigned for finals; finals requires timers. Competing is an option; if parents are unwilling to collectively step up and be willing to volunteer, have your athlete scratch from finals or be patient until the minimums are met to ensure fair and equitable competition.

Yeah, that didn’t happen. At senior champs, the meet (1500) WAS held but doors were not opened.

- take the money you’re putting towards bag checkers and pay for timers

- advertise for service hours to HS kids to time

- charge an entry fee and pay timers (campus was full of students)

- come up with reasonable solutions (telling timers they have to stay the whole finals session is not reasonable when their kid may be in the first event OR say upfront no guaranteed entry into the facility until we have timers but for every session you time, you get a wristband allowing you entry to an evening session, etc)

The solution to start the meet (which they did at senior champs) and then not let anyone (even previous timers) in is absurd.

+1,000 to all of this. PVS, if anyone comes across this post, please consider these suggestions.

Spot on!

All sides had egg on their face Friday night and it’s time to stop pointing fingers at one another and find reasonable solutions. Leadership at PVS please stand up and lead the way.

Let me add that on Friday, they locked the parents out of the entire building and forced them to queue in the sun and heat. One of these parents had younger children with them. One even had a newborn in her arms, but fortunately she was let in without waiting.

As has been pointed out, the meet didn't have contingency plans for a timer shortage. Rather than punishment, perhaps a positive incentive can be offered. PVS is not summer swim. Parents pay thousands of dollars for club fees, and then meet fees on top of that. They are paying customers and should be treated accordingly. I'd be curious to know how much money was made from those meet fees and who received it.

On top of that, many parents were frustrated with the cell phone dead zone that is Epply. While you could register for the wifi, I've worked with the big telcos and there is a better solution (that is often free or discounted to the university, depending on various factors). It's called Active Digital Antenna System.(Active DAS).

What does a cell phone dead zone at the University have to do with PVS or the willingness of parents to volunteer?

Did you miss the phrase "on top of that...."? It's another point of frustration for the parents. PVS held the meet at a place known for poor cell coverage. It could tell the university that this was a point of frustration, and if the university doesn't get it fixed, another venue might be considered in the future.

This is a stupid complaint. Meets held at Jeff rouse also have iffy service. But the point of the meet isn’t for parents to have good cell service for kids to play brawl stars.

It absolutely is a legitimate complaint when the meet is on work days like Friday and Monday. Parents needed to do work while their kids swam. You might have been able to take off and volunteer, but many parents couldn't. The best they could do was bring their laptops (and I saw a ton of parents with them doing work).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Note to PVS and UMD event staff. There is a saying “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”.

I’m less inclined to help out with timing multiple sessions when I’m a paying customer (meet fees - where does that money go?) and your staff is flat out rude and yelling.

Maybe UMD has more issues getting timers because of how they treat volunteers? As someone pointed out meets at GMU, PWCS, Fairfax Co, don’t seem to have these issues. They might be looking for a few volunteers at the start but it hasn’t been the catastrophe of UMD.

It’s got absolutely nothing to do with UMD staff or the security contractors/CSC.

The decision to not let parents into the stands and or to kick parents out of the building is coming from PVS deck officials. This is a PVS induced problem that needs a real solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Note to PVS and UMD event staff. There is a saying “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”.

I’m less inclined to help out with timing multiple sessions when I’m a paying customer (meet fees - where does that money go?) and your staff is flat out rude and yelling.

Maybe UMD has more issues getting timers because of how they treat volunteers? As someone pointed out meets at GMU, PWCS, Fairfax Co, don’t seem to have these issues. They might be looking for a few volunteers at the start but it hasn’t been the catastrophe of UMD.

It’s got absolutely nothing to do with UMD staff or the security contractors/CSC.

The decision to not let parents into the stands and or to kick parents out of the building is coming from PVS deck officials. This is a PVS induced problem that needs a real solution.

The real solution is parents step up and time.