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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]

A meet swimmer doesn't swim B meets?  I don't understand.  Our swimmers swim both.[/quote]
Our A meet swimmers are not eligible to swim their A meet events in the B meets. [/quote]

Our rule is that A meet swimmers can't swim an even that they scored points in in the next B meet. My kids usually just swim them to put up times in strokes they don't swim in A meets. [/quote]
My kid did that last summer because they were at the low end of the age group and would only qualify for A meets in 1 or 2 strokes. This year they are going to qualify for all 4 strokes (we are not in one of the top divisions and my kid will be one of only a few club kids in their gender and age group, I’m not trying to be that parent), so this year there won’t be a need for them to do a B meet just to do the 1 stroke they weren’t allowed to do in the A meet.[/quote]

It really isn't about "needing" to do the Monday night meets if you have a Saturday swimmer - it's about showing up and supporting all of the kids and being a part of a team. Our team requires all of its Saturday swimmers to show up for at least the first half of a Monday night meet. If they don't want to swim - that's fine - but they need to show up and support the other swimmers, help get the younger kids excited and engaged and cheer on their friends. I have 3 kids - 2 have always been Saturday swimmers and they always go to Monday night meets. We know it's hot and those meets are long (and often get storm delays) but how sad that you don't think it's important to show up. We also have lots of kids come on Saturdays to cheer - even if they aren't swimming - so showing support goes both ways.[/quote]
If that was the culture of our pool, that’s one thing, but it’s not at ours. Only A meet swimmers are at the A meets, and generally the A meet swimmers who aren’t eligible to swim at the B meets aren’t at the B meets, unless they have a sibling swimming or are a junior coach. No one seems to care either way. It never even crossed my mind that the kids that swam at the A meet should then come to the B meet even if they aren’t swimming and vice versa, and I’ve never heard anyone complain about it either. [/quote]

Does your pool swim 5 strokes on Mondays (free, fly, back, breast and IM)? Since kids can only swim 2 individual events max on Saturdays - they have 3 options of things to swim on Mondays. I just can't figure out how your Saturday swimmer isn't eligible to swim on Mondays?[/quote]

NP, I’ve been a member of a B league that excludes an A swimmer entirely if that swimmer placed top 3 in 3 Saturday events.  This is my kids on the regular. My current team rule is that kid can’t swim their Saturday events, but if my kid has just won all their Saturday events, they kind of look like a jerk to come swim the other event, so it is not in our team culture to do so. However, if there are lots of competitive kids and one wants to be back on the roster in a particular event, they may come out to try to get a new best time.[/quote]

Wow - this is so interesting. I had no idea that MCSL you could swim 3 events plus IM on a Saturday (we're in NVSL where IM is only on Mondays) and so interesting that some teams don't want Saturday swimmers at all on Mondays. My kid is usually a top swimmer in his Saturday events and loves to go on Mondays to hang out with his friends, cheer them on, etc. He usually could be one of the faster swimmer in his Monday events but I guess we have more of a spirit of camaraderie - let's hang out and eat dinner and play UNO for a few hours:). [/quote]
I didn’t know that’s how NVSL worked either. NVSL’s set up is definitely more conducive to creating a one team mindset as opposed to an A meet team and a B meet team. It also gives more kids a chance to make the A meets I would imagine. [/quote]

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