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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
5 is pretty standard. I think we only have 4 and an inter squad meet.

B meets are really not that much fun. Sure kids enjoy hanging out with their friends, but the meet itself is painfully long. I think people who claim b-meets are super fun have never been to an A meet  :lol:  The only B meet I do genuinely enjoy is our B meet relay event because everyone dresses up. [/quote]
As a parent I detest B meets because they take forever and our pool doesn’t divide up volunteer hours so that you can just work half the meet. There is nothing worse in summer swim than spending 4-5 hours timing a B meet. However, my kid loved it, they ate a ton of ice cream and sugar and hung out on a summer night with their friends. Her friends that are strictly summer swimmers could have cared less about the concept of A meets. [/quote]

Can you talk to your team reps about dividing volunteer roles? We have a very large team, over 200 swimmers, and our B meet jobs are all split 1st half and 2nd half except for the ref.  We have many families whose kids just do Free and Back and then leave.  Families whose kids do Breast or Fly volunteer often for the second half.  My kids love B meets hanging out for hours with their friends in the team area.  It would feel very long and boring if I didn't volunteer, so I always volunteer for one half and then socialize with my own friends during the other half.[/quote]
I haven’t said anything because I don’t want to be that parent and I really don’t mind volunteering, I get that it is part of summer swim. Our team is also quite large, I’d say maybe just under 200 kids, and the volunteer requirements are just excessive given the number of kids/families that participate. To meet the requirement you have to volunteer for 4 meets a summer without splitting the meet in half. With that many kids/families, there is no need for people to be  required to volunteer at every meet except 1, but that’s the way it’s always been done.[/quote]

At a home meet, you need a lot of volunteers.

My numbers may be a little off, but is probably 2 reps, 9 timers, 5 setup, 5 cleanup, 1 ref, 1 starter, 5+ concessions, 2 S&T, 2 clerks, 4 data and table, 2 marshals. That’s 38 volunteers. And I’ve probably forgotten some like announcer, etc.  If you have 200 kids, that’s maybe 100 families. At any given meet, I’m guessing it’s way fewer actually participating. So I’m really surprised your team can get away with only requiring you to work at 4 meets a season.  If you are complaining about just having to show up and time a meet, instead of having to do all the prep work that goes into everything, I’d have little sympathy. You may want to get educated on all the work that happens behind the scenes so that you appreciate what everyone else does so that your kid can have fun. [/quote]
I will make sure to educate myself :roll: Every B meet last summer had between 130-140 kids participating. Even if you assumed that each family had 2 kids participating (which isn’t true, I would say a solid half of the families have just 1 kid that is on the swim team) that would still be roughly 70 families to fill about 40 volunteer slots at home meets (and half of the B meets are away meets). With that ratio there is no need for people to have to volunteer for 4/5 full meets, and no reason to not be able to split some of the meet duties into shifts. [/quote]

So step up and volunteer to be the B rep for your team. You've got a plan, put it into action![/quote]
Our swim team has been run by the same people for years. For a generally friendly pool, the swim team reps and parents that have been around forever are not the most welcoming. Fortunately for me I have a break from B meets this year since my kid is now a year rounder at the upper end of their age group and will be all A meets this year. But maybe I’ll think about saying something when I return to the dreaded mix of A and B meets next summer  :)  [/quote]

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