Thornwood Thunder Parent Responsibilities

Thornwood Thunder cannot run without the parents.  A great coach once said to me and my child, that the coach, the athlete and the parent make a triangle to help the program be the best it can be.  As a parent, you have several responsibilities to help keep this program running at its best.

There are three main things that you as a parent need to do to help out: get your kid to practice on time, declare your swimmer for each swim meet, and sign up as a parent volunteer for the meet if your child is swimming in the meet.

The first thing is making sure your child gets to practice on time.  Practice starts at 8am or 9am for your child.  What this means is that they are ready to go in the water at 8am or 9am.  There is limited time that the coaches have with your swimmer and every minute is important.  Please make sure that they are ready to go at the start of their practice.

The second thing is declaring your swimmer for the swim meets.  The next meet’s rsvp opens up on Tuesday the week prior and that gives you a full week to declare your swimmer.  The coaches will be building the meets on Wednesday and any swimmer who hasn’t been declared as swimming in the meet may not be able to swim in the meet.  This is a bummer for the kids as the meets are where we get to see all the growth.

The last is volunteering at a swim meet if your child is swimming in the meet.  If you have more than one child in the program, you only need to provide one parent volunteer for the meet.  All jobs allow you to watch your swimmer, some are just easier to do than others.  Job sign ups will typically open up on Friday the week prior to the meet.  If your swimmer is swimming and you do not sign up for a volunteer job, one will be assigned to you.  Additionally arriving at the time of your shift for the meet is critical so that we can run the meet as smoothly as possible.

Volunteer Job Descriptions

Below is a breakdown of the different jobs and what they entail.

Bullpen - This is changing up this year.  The bullpen is where all of the 10 and under swimmers will be.  Coaches will be in the bullpen helping the parent volunteers bring the kids to the proper lanes for their events.  There are 4 parent volunteer positions for this shift.  This position is for the duration of the meet.

Clean Up - Responsible for cleaning up the pool area after the meet and setting it up for general use for the next day.  There are 3 people for this position.

Concessions first shift - you are in charge of setting up the concessions area and running the concessions until 6:15pm.  This includes, but is not limited to, setting up the drink buckets, pizza, hot dogs, candy, and more.  When your swimmer is swimming, you will be able to watch your swimmer as there are multiple people in concessions. There are 3 positions for this shift.

Concessions second shift - you are in charge of taking down the concessions area when the meet is over.  You will put away any food and drink, tables, etc…  This shift starts at 6pm and goes until the concessions area is cleaned up after the meet ends.  You will still sell concessions for at least 15 minutes after the meet as parents & kids will still purchase items.  There are 3 positions for this shift.

Event Board - you are responsible for writing down the current event on the white board and filling in as need be for the starter.  This position is for the duration of the meet.

Master Timer - you are the backup timer in case someone’s stopwatch wasn’t started properly for the heat.  This position is for the duration of the meet.

Runner - You will grab the timing sheets and bring them to the computer console to be scored.  This position is for the duration of the meet.

Set-up - You are responsible for setting up the pool deck for the swim meet.  This includes chairs, kickboards, stop watches and more.  The only thing that is not set up by the parent volunteers are the lane lines and the backstroke flags.  This position starts at 4pm and you may or may not be asked to do things till the meet starts.  There are 3 people for this position.

Shallow End Coordinator - This person will confirm that the swimmers at the shallow end are who they are supposed to be.  Additionally you will have a kickboard to make sure no swimmer hits their head doing backstroke.  There are 8 positions and this runs from 5:15 till the end of the meet.

Starter - You are responsible for starting each event.  You will be provided with a heat sheet, which events are combined, and making sure the meet runs on time.  This position is for the duration of the meet.

Timer - You are responsible for keeping track of swimmers times.  You will have a clipboard with each swimmer in your lane for their respective heats.  You will hand off the paper to the runner when they come to collect it.  Additionally you will make sure that no swimmer hits their head doing backstroke with a kickboard.  This position starts at 5:15 and runs until the end of the meet.  There are 8 positions for this.