Volunteer Policy

Volunteers are critical to the running of our swim meets. Competitive swimming requires parents to be actively involved in all aspects of our meets. Officials, timers, announcers, meet marshals, equipment monitors and door monitors are a few of the positions which are filled by parent volunteers. Volunteering is a requirement for our team.

Prior to our hosted meets, an email is sent from the Volunteer Coordinator describing the meet volunteer requirement which is calculated based on the number of volunteer slots needed to cover the entire meet. The requirement will vary meet to meet. Our multiple day prelims/finals meets need the most volunteers so the requirement may be more when we host such meets. The assumption is that if you have a swimmer participating in the meet, you are available to volunteer. The board understands that there may be circumstances that conflict with this obligation. Please keep the Volunteer Coordinator informed of any extenuating circumstances so there are not any misunderstandings. We cannot run these meets without the assistance of every family!

Guidelines:

  • Those families with swimmers at their first meets are welcome to volunteer but are not required to do so at the first meet. 
  • The volunteer requirement can be satisfied by you, a relative, a friend, a neighbor or any individual who can effectively fulfill the volunteer position. Be sure to let the Volunteer Coordinator know if someone else is fulfilling your family’s volunteer requirement.
  • You may sign up for a volunteer position as soon as the job signup is open on our website. Most positions require very little training or you can be trained on the spot. Otherwise contact the Volunteer Coordinator if you would like to shadow a position that requires more training.
  • You must sign up for the required volunteer positions by the deadline provided by the Volunteer Coordinator.
  • If your swimmer swims in a meet and you fail to satisfy the stated meet volunteer requirement, a $100 charge will be assessed for every session missed. 
    • Example: meet requirement is to volunteer for 3 sessions and you volunteered for 2, you will be billed $100 for the 1 missed session.

These guidelines are in place to run successful swim meets for the athletes. We can not do that without everyone doing their part. Thank you for your adherence to this policy!

 

Swim Meet Volunteer Job Descriptions 

Listed below is a brief description of the volunteer positions that need to be filled for our home meets. None of the jobs are especially difficult and simple training is supplied as needed; however, some of the positions do require attending special training sessions and some positions are better suited for our more experienced swim parents. If you are brand new to the SFST, the jobs of timer, meet marshal, set up/take down, door monitor are great places to start.

ANNOUNCER: Announces first, second and final calls for each event. Works closely with the officials to keep the meet running smoothly. The announcer will need to anticipate flow based on the number of swimmers, the stroke, the number of lengths to be swum, and the age of the swimmers. Training is required for this position. 

HEAD TIMER: Organizes and briefs the lane timers on their duties prior to the meet and oversees the lane timers throughout the meet. Previous experience required for this position, suggestion is that you are a Lane Timer for 2-3 sessions and then shadow 1 session with a head timer for proper training.

LANE TIMERS: Records the swimmer’s time. Each timer is assigned a lane; there are usually 2 timers for each lane (sometimes 1). Each timer will have a Pickle (button to stop the pad time) stopwatch, and clip board to record each time.  This job gives you the best view of the pool of the swimmers during their races. Ask any swim parent, they all have favorite memories timing their athletes. No training needed; we pair you with an experienced timer at your first meet.

MEET MARSHAL: Marshals oversee the rules of USA swimming to keep our athletes safe. There is no one allowed on deck of the pool without proper credentials, the marshal will verify that at the beginning of each session. They help maintain the rules of the facility as part of the swim team’s partnership with the Midco, hand out band aids, first aid and fill out injury reports if one occurs.  You can be paired with an experience meet marshal or shadow a session to get comfortable with this job. Click here to view the Meet Marshal Guidelines

COMPUTER: Responsible for entering data that is not recorded by the redundant timing equipment (if everything is working not much data is hand entered) and verifying data entered. With this job, you see the race results before anyone else. The administrative official is there to guide you, some training is required being comfortable using a computer is a must! Starting with the scoreboard gives you a great foundation to this position.

SCOREBOARD:  Responsible for the scoreboard equipment.  This panel is straight forward, pushing a few buttons and attention to detail is needed.   You are turning timing pads off when no swimmers are present in that lane, making sure pads are firing to ensure split times are collected. This does require training; suggestion is to shadow 1 session before singing up on your own.

AWARDS: Typically done for larger meets and state meets, there will be an awards chair appointed by the board to help facilitate, you are never alone.  You will post result stickers on the back of awards (ribbons), during and directly after the sessions are finished, very little training is needed.  The commitment to the whole session and awards time is needed. No shadowing is needed.

ATHLETE STAGERS: We usually only use this at the beginning of the season or for our large meets.  These volunteers help line up our younger athletes on the pool deck before the race.  Since we have 10 lanes it can be an interesting task to complete when there are 8 full heats of the 25 yard Free for our 8 and younger athletes.  Parents with education or that work with kids excel in this roll. It is fast paced, and you need to be organized.

HOSPITALITY:  Responsible for providing our hospitality room for officials and coaches.  Keeps things stocked and fresh during and in-between sessions. You need to be able to leave the meet during sessions to pick up lunch and dinner.  Maintains the hospitality budget for the meet. Recommended to shadow with this position and the commitment to be available for all home meets. 

SET UP AND CLEAN UP:  You help set up the tables, chairs, equipment etc.  must be able to lift 50 pounds. Commitment to being available before and after the meet. Training is required with a shadowing session. 

LIVE STREAM:  We are very proud that we offer live streaming of all our swim meets to our family and friends.  Not much training is needed, being comfortable with computers is helpful.

VIDEO BOARD:  Set up before the meet of all the video equipment, learning the system to make slides that play on our Daktronics video board. Comfortable with a computer and experience live streaming is a great place to start, shadowing is required.

DOOR MONITOR:  Selling meet programs, counting meet attendance, and handing out ribbons (if it’s a small meet).  The Midco requires us to always have 2 volunteers at the front during the meet, this is an easy job to learn, and you never miss an event with 2 volunteers to take turns to watch the station. No shadowing is needed.

Officials

Serious about swimming, your kids are loving it. Maybe you yourself are a swimmer, let’s talk!  There is education and certifications needed to be an official, the team will help you obtain these.

STARTER: Starts each event with the words "SWIMMERS TAKE YOUR MARK", pauses to make sure that all swimmers are motionless, and then gives an electronic sound or a blast of a whistle. This individual must be trained for this position. 

STROKE/TURN JUDGE: They observe strokes, turns, and finishes to see that swimmers comply with requirements for that stroke. Training is required for this position. This is where most officials start.

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICIAL:  Is the official that helps maintain the integrity of the computer system that records the official results. Typically filled with computer operating experience, hooks up printers and multiple computers and trouble shoots when equipment is not talking to each other. Experience volunteering for the Scoreboard and Computer are gateways to this position.  Calling all IT professionals and experienced computer operators!