Volnteer Requirements and Meet/Practice Schedule Updates

Galen Ziegler

Volunteering

Every family is required to volunteer. We understand that some people have challenges with childcare during a swim meet while also fulfilling their volunteer duties. This is something many parents have to manage. It takes a lot of people to run a successful swim meet and we appreciate your hard work and dedication to the swimmers and our team!

  • Volunteering requirements will be determined by approximated hours. Considering most meets will be about 3 hours. One half of the meet will be counted as 1.5 hours and a full meet will be counted as 3 hours. We will not be tracking if meet finish 20 minutes early or run a little late. You either get 1.5 or 3 hours depending on what you signed up for.
  • Every family will be required to volunteer for 7.5 hours. This equates to about two and a hald meets. You are welcome to volunteer more, but this is the minimum requirement.
  • The majority of volunteer roles are split up into 1.5 hour time frames. You can choose to sign up for only 1.5 hours at a time throughout the season. Or, you may sign up for two time slots within one meet and get three hours done in one meet.
  • You are being asked to select your meets by June 4th. Volunteer duties are first come, first served.
  • You will have the option to volunteer as a timer, computer operator, clerk of course, or official. Here is a brief description of each role if you are a new swim family.
    • Timers will be stationed at the end of the pool and will use various equipment including stopwatches to record the times for each swimmer throughout the meet.
    • Computer operators will be stationed at the meet operations table near the start end of the pool. You will assist the home team with data entry and posting meet results.
    • Clerk of course will be stationed behind the blocks in order to line swimmers up for their races. This is an important job to help maintain the flow of the meet. You will need to be comfortable interacting with the swimmers and making sure they follow directions.
    • Officials will be judging the technical side of swimming and ensuring all athletes are abiding by the rules while competing. Pre-season training is required to volunteer in this position. There will be one admin/starter and 3 stroke/turn officials at each meet.
  • You will get an auto email the day before your assigned volunteering duty to remind you to come prepared.

Detailed directions for signing up to volunteer:

  1. Log into our team website at acswimteam.org
  2. Click “EVENTS” at the top of the screen.
  3. Scroll down and click “Job Signup” next the meet you wish to volunteer for.
  4. Find the empty slots shown as "---------".
  5. Click on the checkbox in front of the empty slot that you want to sign up for.
  6. Select the “Signup” button to sign up for the slot that you selected

Note: If your Account name is printed right after the checkbox, you've signed up for that job. You do NOT have to "Signup" again. You, however, can use the "Remove Signup" button to remove the signup if you no longer want to work on that job.

If someone else's name is printed, that job slot is not available for you to sign up (this is a first-come-first-serve system). You can only sign up for the empty slots shown as "---------".

Meet Schedule and Signup

The Meet Schedule is finalized and everything has been entered onto the team website. You will see them all listed under “EVENTS.”

Signing up for meets:

  • You are required to either commit or decline each swimmer for each meet.
    • This is how we know if your swimmer should be entered in the lineup.
    • You must do this for every meet to get everyone entered in the meet and to properly make the lineup to be competitive with the other team.
  • The signup deadline for each meet is four days before the event.
    • We ask that you please commit to the meets as soon as possible.
    • You will be automatically emailed one week before the deadline as a reminder to commit or decline the next meet.

Practice Information

  • I have attached the practice groups and corresponding times here.
    • Please be aware that these groups are not always participating in the same activities. Each group will share the pool. However, a different coach could be doing entirely different things in the pool. Do not be alarmed if your swimmer is in the same group as a dramatically older or younger swimmer.
  • A swimmer’s morning and evening practice times will remain the same throughout each week.
    • Per the handbook, swimmers are not allowed to change practice groups. If the coaching staff feels that a change is needed with any swimmer, we will contact you on a case-by-case basis. A parent may not choose which practice to attend. Swimmers attending a practice at the incorrect time will not get the appropriate work-out, pose distractions and safety hazards. If you have a schedule conflict a swimmer may swim down a practice with our permission but they may not swim up.
  • Practice Requirements
    • 10&Under: 2 swims a week. One of those should be a class at the swim school.
    • 11&Older: 3 swims a week. One of those can be a class at the swim school.
  • You are welcome to attend more practices than what is required. We will have plenty of swimmers who attend 3 and 4 practices a week in addition to their lessons. The more time in the water, the faster they will improve! But do not feel overwhelmed by our schedule. It is designed to give families flexibility within their schedule.
  • We would like as many people as possible to take advantage of HCC evening practices. It is a great opportunity to get more swimmers in the water with the added space. They will also get more practice in the longer pool. We pay to rent this space as a service to our athletes, so please take advantage of it!