Anonymous wrote:I think families should have to volunteer per child and not per family. It’s not fair that I have to volunteer the same 4 times as those with three or four kids on the team.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading this, I'm astonished. First off, I'm gen-X, and no, we're not the ones insisting that everything be done the old way. The "old way", when we were kids, was to be dropped off at the event and picked up later. Our parents did NOT hang out at every meet or practice. If we were hungry, we had to bring our own snacks. When I saw the lists of how the meets require 36-40 volunteers per meet, there were a LOT of unnecessary things on that list. You're getting pissed off because a lot of people don't want to do all the make-work stuff and give a ribbon to every kid. If parents were too noisy, you turned around and told them to be quiet, but wait, our parents weren't there anyway.

I"m writing the check.

If you had done swim meets your parents would have been volunteering.

No. We had a functional school system with school-based extracurriculars and it was all done by the schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading this, I'm astonished. First off, I'm gen-X, and no, we're not the ones insisting that everything be done the old way. The "old way", when we were kids, was to be dropped off at the event and picked up later. Our parents did NOT hang out at every meet or practice. If we were hungry, we had to bring our own snacks. When I saw the lists of how the meets require 36-40 volunteers per meet, there were a LOT of unnecessary things on that list. You're getting pissed off because a lot of people don't want to do all the make-work stuff and give a ribbon to every kid. If parents were too noisy, you turned around and told them to be quiet, but wait, our parents weren't there anyway.

I"m writing the check.

If you had done swim meets your parents would have been volunteering.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm glad our swim doesn't allow opting out. There are tons of different jobs for people with different schedules. Everyone has to pitch in, even the rich busy people.

OP here. Our team doesn’t allow it either. We need too many volunteers and too many people would opt out. The problem is that there is no real repercussion to being an entitled jerk. You get a few harassing emails and phone calls, but the jerks just ignore them and nothing else happens. But everyone knows who you are. I wish these families would get their registration blocked the following summer.

I think that’s a pool enforcement problem tho - the kids shouldn’t be allowed to swim if their parents owe volunteer hours.

Anonymous wrote:How much would it cost to put in automatic timing on 6 lanes? If parents are willing to buy their way out, wouldn't that be a way to use the money?

Anonymous wrote:Reading this, I'm astonished. First off, I'm gen-X, and no, we're not the ones insisting that everything be done the old way. The "old way", when we were kids, was to be dropped off at the event and picked up later. Our parents did NOT hang out at every meet or practice. If we were hungry, we had to bring our own snacks. When I saw the lists of how the meets require 36-40 volunteers per meet, there were a LOT of unnecessary things on that list. You're getting pissed off because a lot of people don't want to do all the make-work stuff and give a ribbon to every kid. If parents were too noisy, you turned around and told them to be quiet, but wait, our parents weren't there anyway.

I"m writing the check.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does it take 40 volunteers to run a swim meet?

Yes, it's just summer swim that is supposed to be fun for kids but the rules are followed very seriously. NVSL (which is where my kids swim) wants to make sure that the time that a kid swims is the correct time and is entered correctly into the computer. Also, they want to ensure that swimmers are swimming the strokes "legally." There are multiple "eyes" (multiple checks and balances) to make sure both occur.

Here's way more information than you asked for!

The largest number of people are timers. 6 lines, 3 timers per lane = 18 timers. At B meets, at our pool, they ask for 1st half timers and 2nd half timers so the timers aren't standing in the heat for 3 hours. So right there, you have 36 people. You also have a "Head Timer." That's the person that usually has 3 stop watches around their neck so in case someone's stopwatch isn't working, you can ask the head timer for their time. At our pool, our head timer is one of the 18 timers, but other pools may have a separate head timer so 19 people total.

Referee - this is the head person who stands next to the starter. They are the main person in charge of the meet.
Starter - 2nd in charge. The one who blows the whistle.

Stroke & Turn Judges - 4 individuals. Two on each side of the pool. They make sure the kids are swimming the strokes legally.

Clerk of Course - the person who "herds" all the kids and gets them into the correct lanes.
Assistant Clerk of Course - again, a second person to assist with getting the swimmers to the correct spots.

So the officials around the deck count for 26 (plus 18 if you have second half timers.)

Then you have the Table, which can run with 7 people but ideally should have 10:
Announcer
Data entry - the person who enters the times into the computer.
Reader - the person who reads the times to the individual entering the times
Verifier - one from each team - they verify that the times entered into the computer match the time cards
Place Recorder - 1 from each team. They make sure the middle time was circled on the time cards and they put the cards in place order.
Ribbons - each team usually supplies 1 person to make sure the ribbons get labels and they get back to the home team. This is not a taxing job so can be done by 1 person.
Head Table Person - individual to make sure everything is working at the table. Again, your head table person may also be doing ribbons.

Concessions - our pool usually has 4 people who work concessions.
Marshall - this is the person who makes sure spectators are quiet at the start and keep non-swimmers out of the swimmer areas and spectators out of the officials areas. Depending on the layout of the pool, you probably have 2 or more marshalls.

Parking Lot Marshall - our pool gets someone to assist with parking at the beginning of the meet.

That's where your 40 people come from!

Ho.Ly. Crap.
Surely now that you’ve written it out you see how crazy and unnecessary this all is, right?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm glad our swim doesn't allow opting out. There are tons of different jobs for people with different schedules. Everyone has to pitch in, even the rich busy people.

OP here. Our team doesn’t allow it either. We need too many volunteers and too many people would opt out. The problem is that there is no real repercussion to being an entitled jerk. You get a few harassing emails and phone calls, but the jerks just ignore them and nothing else happens. But everyone knows who you are. I wish these families would get their registration blocked the following summer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much would it cost to put in automatic timing on 6 lanes? If parents are willing to buy their way out, wouldn't that be a way to use the money?

thousands

How many thousands?

As someone scrambling to figure out how to manage timing tonight with a complicated schedule and multiple kids and people with health issues, I know I'd pay a couple hundred to have my volunteer hours cut in half. I'd bet there are at least 20 parents on my team who agree with me, including parents like me who volunteer regularly.