Assuming the outer… above

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had to quit swim over this. There was logistically no way for me to be present at meets.

It’s too bad but the meets can’t run without volunteers. There were probably other things you could have done, but it’s too late now. Why was there no way for you to volunteer on Monday nights?

No backup childcare.

Why couldn't you bring your other kids to the meets?

Because you can't just leave a 4 year old at the pool without someone watching them.

I’m not being funny but adding the putter area is fenced what are you concerned about? They’re not falling in with all those people watching the pool….

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I’ve realized at our pool is that nothing fixes this because there’s an incentive mismatch. The non-volunteers know that fee or not, if they don’t show up, the parents of 50-200 other swimmers will step up rather than cancel a meet.

Has anyone ever forfeited or cancelled a meet at the last minute due to no-show volunteers? Ever? In the entire history of summer swim? I’m a parent rep and we were recently wondering this after the usual pre-meet scramble to cover for parents who signed up but “forgot and are out of town” but never actually planned to show up.

Tell them their kids won’t swim unless they volunteer. It’s effective.

Our team rep just assigns each family a job. Easy, simple, done.

Anonymous wrote:Every year I read these complaints but no one ever wants to propose real answers like-

pools should include in their lifeguard contracts that they must participate in a couple of meets per season

Hire a couple teens to do some jobs like timing

Drop some of the activities that aren’t really needed - fruits for breakfast? pls parents are capable of sending breakfast for their kid

How are you going to pay these people? Increase the fees to join? And that is less elitist than parent volunteers?

Anonymous wrote:Every year I read these complaints but no one ever wants to propose real answers like-

pools should include in their lifeguard contracts that they must participate in a couple of meets per season

Hire a couple teens to do some jobs like timing

Drop some of the activities that aren’t really needed - fruits for breakfast? pls parents are capable of sending breakfast for their kid

Why would lifeguard contracts come into play? They are separate employers at our pool.

Who is going to pay teens and where are you going to find them? This usually works out to be more work than help.

I don’t think these are great “solutions”.

Every year I read these complaints but no one ever wants to propose real answers like-

pools should include in their lifeguard contracts that they must participate in a couple of meets per season

Hire a couple teens to do some jobs like timing

Drop some of the activities that aren’t really needed - fruits for breakfast? pls parents are capable of sending breakfast for their kid

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our pool has many options that don't require volunteering at meets. Many other ways to volunteer.

Every Monday, a spreadsheet is emailed out to the team and shows how each family has volunteers, and how many hours are remaining.

This is a good system.

I’m thinking about coordinating volunteers for my pool next year.

Do any pools allow parents to sign up for things all at once at the beginning of the season? I would like to do something like that, but worry that people will just no show if their plans change.

Our pool does. It works well and allows both the team and the parents to plan ahead. My only gripe is they open it in the middle of a random weekday right before the season starts so those of us who work usually don’t see it until the evening so we have less choices.

Anonymous wrote:Our pool has many options that don't require volunteering at meets. Many other ways to volunteer.

Every Monday, a spreadsheet is emailed out to the team and shows how each family has volunteers, and how many hours are remaining.

This is a good system.

I’m thinking about coordinating volunteers for my pool next year.

Do any pools allow parents to sign up for things all at once at the beginning of the season? I would like to do something like that, but worry that people will just no show if their plans change.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had to quit swim over this. There was logistically no way for me to be present at meets.

It’s too bad but the meets can’t run without volunteers. There were probably other things you could have done, but it’s too late now. Why was there no way for you to volunteer on Monday nights?

No backup childcare.

Why couldn't you bring your other kids to the meets?

Because you can't just leave a 4 year old at the pool without someone watching them.

At our pool, some 13-15 year olds are hired to look after the little ones during meets. If they're an A meet swimmer they do this at B meets and vice versa.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had to quit swim over this. There was logistically no way for me to be present at meets.

It’s too bad but the meets can’t run without volunteers. There were probably other things you could have done, but it’s too late now. Why was there no way for you to volunteer on Monday nights?

No backup childcare.

Why couldn't you bring your other kids to the meets?

Because you can't just leave a 4 year old at the pool without someone watching them.

There are jobs you can do with a 4 year old (concessions, ribbons etc). People who don’t want to volunteer will find any excuse not to. For everyone else with small kids, we find a way to make it work.

Anonymous wrote:What I’ve realized at our pool is that nothing fixes this because there’s an incentive mismatch. The non-volunteers know that fee or not, if they don’t show up, the parents of 50-200 other swimmers will step up rather than cancel a meet.

Has anyone ever forfeited or cancelled a meet at the last minute due to no-show volunteers? Ever? In the entire history of summer swim? I’m a parent rep and we were recently wondering this after the usual pre-meet scramble to cover for parents who signed up but “forgot and are out of town” but never actually planned to show up.

Tell them their kids won’t swim unless they volunteer. It’s effective.

When we had a toddler and a swimmer we would pick things that could be done before/after the meet. I still prefer setup at 7 am. I then go back to get my swimmers or my H brings them. I did clean up with another parent who had a toddler with them a few weeks ago. The toddler “helped” take the lane numbers off. Clean up is a really quick job and can be done while keeping an eye on a kid.

Fundraising/getting sponsors is another thing that can be accomplished with emails after kids are in bed at night.

It boils down to whether you WANT to contribute and be part of the team or if you believe that your kid is entitled to a place on the team because you paid the fees. Whining that you can’t volunteer for this reason or that simply means that summer swim isn’t for your family right now.

We have a bunch of families with 4/5 kids of which 3/4 are swimmers. Oddly, those are not the families trying to get out of volunteering.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had to quit swim over this. There was logistically no way for me to be present at meets.

It’s too bad but the meets can’t run without volunteers. There were probably other things you could have done, but it’s too late now. Why was there no way for you to volunteer on Monday nights?

No backup childcare.

Why couldn't you bring your other kids to the meets?

Because you can't just leave a 4 year old at the pool without someone watching them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At ours you can pay or volunteer.

If yours doesn’t have that rule, don’t hate the player, hate the game. There should be enforcement.

Me again. Also - are you sure you know every job? For us some people have jobs that aren’t at meets such as doing pep rallies and other social events. There are also other certain season long jobs.

This. My “job” this season has been to drop off fruit for Friday breakfast at 7:15am. If your kid goes to 8,9, or 10 am practice, you wouldn’t know that I’ve chopped up 10-12 lbs of strawberries for the last 4 Thursday nights.

Our pool has many options that don't require volunteering at meets. Many other ways to volunteer.

Every Monday, a spreadsheet is emailed out to the team and shows how each family has volunteers, and how many hours are remaining.