Yeah this was an issue at SC champs. Our son was texting us to come back so time and count and she wouldn’t let he in. I finally told him to send his coach out so they would listen to the coach. It worked but it was unnecessarily stressful.

Anonymous wrote:Also the lady manning the table at UMD is the most unpleasant person I have ever felt with. My kid does a bunch of distance events and I have almost missed his races on several occasions because she waits so long to let people in. She is also impossible to reason with

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These posts are confusing. There weren't enough timers so they didn't let anyone IN? But the races went on and were all timed?

Coaches were timing until enough volunteers were found, and given its been taking 5-10 minutes to get everyone in once the doors open, there are plenty of potential volunteers and it’s you all (the parents who felt so wrong done that you made this thread) that are the entire issue.

I’m one of the PPs who was aggravated by the situation and it was because I have timed at this meet already (and will be again tomorrow) and I shouldn’t be treated the same way as the freeloading a-holes who never volunteer.

Also the lady manning the table at UMD is the most unpleasant person I have ever felt with. My kid does a bunch of distance events and I have almost missed his races on several occasions because she waits so long to let people in. She is also impossible to reason with

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCAP brought in college students from Marymount to time finals at NCI, which was awesome. They absolutely need to come up with a solution to this. Because it was BS that people that timed for prelims couldn’t get in and were treated just like the parents who never volunteer. What is my incentive to volunteer, I’ll just wait it out like everyone else then. Part of it is also the session set up. It started with the 800 free and it wasn’t parent timed. You’re going to be hard pressed to find someone that wants to time someone else’s kid swimming the 800. On the flip side, for the last events tonight, the 200 breast, those parents were not necessarily there when doors opened or the meet started.

The fastest heat of the distance event is never parent timed at finals.

The host team needs to require their parents to time one or two sessions whether they have a swimmer or not. When host teams have taken this approach, they haven’t run into these issues.

No parent is driving to IMD to time if their kid isn’t racing…unreasonable and unrealistic to expect this

I agree, there are more than enough parents there to not have to require parents of kids not swimming to volunteer.

Agreed, but any DC swimming in the meet from the host club should have parents assigned to at least one session for timing. When our club hosted meets, we all had to take 1 or 2 timing sessions or kid didn’t swim. We also donated food and drinks for the meet.

Honestly it should not be limited to the host team. The host team is TOLL, they have way fewer swimmers at this meet than RMSC and NCAP. Every parent who has a kid in this meet that is swimming more than 1 day should be required to volunteer at least 1x in order for their kid to swim. You don’t volunteer, your kid doesn’t swim.

+1

The other thing that needs to be discussed at PVS is the way volunteers are handled at UMD. I’m a UMD grad, and I love the school, but after ten years of volunteering at meets there, I’m sick of the whole process. You are directed to be there early and sign in but then it’s an extended weight in that terrible storage area. There’s never chairs or any place to go to wait. The security thing, while I understand the need to be clear with parents, I’m just fatigued of being talked to like I’m a criminal suspect.

They have put timer t-shirts at NCI and at SC Champs this year, but there were no chairs in the timer room while we waited.

None of these are dealbreakers on their own, but it adds up to an inhospitable environment for parents who are almost always timing multiple sessions. I’m sure I’ll be back on the deck timing at UMD next season, but I see these meets and I dread doing it.

Anonymous wrote:The big mistake at Open champs was using a google form instead of SignUp genius for volunteer signups so no one had any clue how short they were on timers. I have heard that PVS itself is not happy with how that meet was organized and there were challenges in the lead up.

But I agree that there needs to be a better way to incentivize parents. I know some teams have fees if parents don’t volunteer but I’ve been told by multiple parents they don’t care about another $100 so they will just pay it.

Then maybe PVS should host the meet.

I’m not with the host club, but champs is a long meet, at least 12 hr days for 4 days in a row. No one should be throwing shade at anyone unless they’re willing to step up and do it themselves. I appreciate any club willing to host a champs meet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These posts are confusing. There weren't enough timers so they didn't let anyone IN? But the races went on and were all timed?

Coaches were timing until enough volunteers were found, and given its been taking 5-10 minutes to get everyone in once the doors open, there are plenty of potential volunteers and it’s you all (the parents who felt so wrong done that you made this thread) that are the entire issue.

+ 1 this anger toward UMD seems misdirected. As a parent that timed 3 out of 4 sessions I attended Thursday and Friday, my anger is directed at all the parents that attended but didn’t time a single session. It was largely the same faces each time I timed. I understand that people have younger kids, spouses already working the meet, disabilities, etc. but for the rest of the people that refuse to work even one session? Why does that feel okay to you??

Anonymous wrote:These posts are confusing. There weren't enough timers so they didn't let anyone IN? But the races went on and were all timed?

Coaches were timing until enough volunteers were found, and given its been taking 5-10 minutes to get everyone in once the doors open, there are plenty of potential volunteers and it’s you all (the parents who felt so wrong done that you made this thread) that are the entire issue.

The big mistake at Open champs was using a google form instead of SignUp genius for volunteer signups so no one had any clue how short they were on timers. I have heard that PVS itself is not happy with how that meet was organized and there were challenges in the lead up.

But I agree that there needs to be a better way to incentivize parents. I know some teams have fees if parents don’t volunteer but I’ve been told by multiple parents they don’t care about another $100 so they will just pay it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCAP brought in college students from Marymount to time finals at NCI, which was awesome. They absolutely need to come up with a solution to this. Because it was BS that people that timed for prelims couldn’t get in and were treated just like the parents who never volunteer. What is my incentive to volunteer, I’ll just wait it out like everyone else then. Part of it is also the session set up. It started with the 800 free and it wasn’t parent timed. You’re going to be hard pressed to find someone that wants to time someone else’s kid swimming the 800. On the flip side, for the last events tonight, the 200 breast, those parents were not necessarily there when doors opened or the meet started.

The fastest heat of the distance event is never parent timed at finals.

The host team needs to require their parents to time one or two sessions whether they have a swimmer or not. When host teams have taken this approach, they haven’t run into these issues.

No parent is driving to IMD to time if their kid isn’t racing…unreasonable and unrealistic to expect this

I agree, there are more than enough parents there to not have to require parents of kids not swimming to volunteer.

Agreed, but any DC swimming in the meet from the host club should have parents assigned to at least one session for timing. When our club hosted meets, we all had to take 1 or 2 timing sessions or kid didn’t swim. We also donated food and drinks for the meet.

Honestly it should not be limited to the host team. The host team is TOLL, they have way fewer swimmers at this meet than RMSC and NCAP. Every parent who has a kid in this meet that is swimming more than 1 day should be required to volunteer at least 1x in order for their kid to swim. You don’t volunteer, your kid doesn’t swim.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCAP brought in college students from Marymount to time finals at NCI, which was awesome. They absolutely need to come up with a solution to this. Because it was BS that people that timed for prelims couldn’t get in and were treated just like the parents who never volunteer. What is my incentive to volunteer, I’ll just wait it out like everyone else then. Part of it is also the session set up. It started with the 800 free and it wasn’t parent timed. You’re going to be hard pressed to find someone that wants to time someone else’s kid swimming the 800. On the flip side, for the last events tonight, the 200 breast, those parents were not necessarily there when doors opened or the meet started.

The fastest heat of the distance event is never parent timed at finals.

The host team needs to require their parents to time one or two sessions whether they have a swimmer or not. When host teams have taken this approach, they haven’t run into these issues.

No parent is driving to IMD to time if their kid isn’t racing…unreasonable and unrealistic to expect this

I agree, there are more than enough parents there to not have to require parents of kids not swimming to volunteer.

Agreed, but any DC swimming in the meet from the host club should have parents assigned to at least one session for timing. When our club hosted meets, we all had to take 1 or 2 timing sessions or kid didn’t swim. We also donated food and drinks for the meet.

For the Open last weekend, the notes to coaches said the spectator fee was going to be used to buy nicer food for the coaches, not to pay for timers or solve a timer issue.

My DD was only swimming the first event one of the days last weekend. Weren’t allowed in the facility due to lack of timers. Completely missed her one swim. And sorry but not staying a whole session to time when she was already done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCAP brought in college students from Marymount to time finals at NCI, which was awesome. They absolutely need to come up with a solution to this. Because it was BS that people that timed for prelims couldn’t get in and were treated just like the parents who never volunteer. What is my incentive to volunteer, I’ll just wait it out like everyone else then. Part of it is also the session set up. It started with the 800 free and it wasn’t parent timed. You’re going to be hard pressed to find someone that wants to time someone else’s kid swimming the 800. On the flip side, for the last events tonight, the 200 breast, those parents were not necessarily there when doors opened or the meet started.

The fastest heat of the distance event is never parent timed at finals.

The host team needs to require their parents to time one or two sessions whether they have a swimmer or not. When host teams have taken this approach, they haven’t run into these issues.

I know that finals distance events are never parent timed but they absolutely should be. The days where distance events start the finals session are the ones where there is the most difficulty finding volunteers. The entire girls 800 finished and the boys started before they opened the doors yesterday.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCAP brought in college students from Marymount to time finals at NCI, which was awesome. They absolutely need to come up with a solution to this. Because it was BS that people that timed for prelims couldn’t get in and were treated just like the parents who never volunteer. What is my incentive to volunteer, I’ll just wait it out like everyone else then. Part of it is also the session set up. It started with the 800 free and it wasn’t parent timed. You’re going to be hard pressed to find someone that wants to time someone else’s kid swimming the 800. On the flip side, for the last events tonight, the 200 breast, those parents were not necessarily there when doors opened or the meet started.

The fastest heat of the distance event is never parent timed at finals.

The host team needs to require their parents to time one or two sessions whether they have a swimmer or not. When host teams have taken this approach, they haven’t run into these issues.

No parent is driving to IMD to time if their kid isn’t racing…unreasonable and unrealistic to expect this

I agree, there are more than enough parents there to not have to require parents of kids not swimming to volunteer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should seriously consider having 1/2 meet shifts with a 10 min break to switch out timers. If my kid is the third event I’m not willing to time the entire meet but I would time 1/2 the session and parents with kids in late events could still arrive later in the meet and time.

+1M!!!

I’ve thought this so many times. I’d happily time half the meet and get an up close view of my kid swimming. But normally she is only swimming half of it and I don’t want to hang around the entire time once she is already done. So so stupid to not allow for this.

Yes! Does PVS take suggestions, because this and an admission fee used to pay students to time finals sessions should be something they discuss at one of their meetings.

For the person who asked how they could start the meet, they did make coaches time during prelims until parents came down from the teams that were short timers, so I would imagine the same thing happened at finals.