Preseason Information #3 - RSVPs for Meets and Volunteer Requirements

Hello everyone!

I have a couple of things to bring to your attention as we get closer to the start of the season! After this email, you will have received the bulk of the information. If you have major questions that you feel have not been answered yet, please send them my way! Remember to review previous “News” items on the team website if you missed an email or have recently registered.

Practice Information Update

• Practice Groups will be made very soon. There are a couple of families still waiting to finalize their registration.
• Schedule change: There will not be 8&Under practice on Tuesdays with the exception of July 1^st. There is not enough space in the pool from 6pm to 7pm for swim team practice and swim lessons. No worries, because there are still plenty of practice opportunities for the little swimmers to train!

Instructions to RSVP for the Meets

The Meet Schedule is finalized, and everything has been entered into the team website. You will see them all listed under the “Events” tab.

Signing up for meets:

• You are required to either commit to or decline each swimmer for each meet.
  • This is how we know if your swimmer should be entered in the lineup.
  • It also ensures the lineup is constructed properly to be competitive with the other team.
• The signup deadline for each meet is five 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. This email goes out to the entire team. Please note: you will still get that reminder email if you have already committed. That is just a system flaw that the company has not chosen to change.

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 the approximate 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 a meet finishes 20 minutes early or runs 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 6 hours. This equates to about two full 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 1st. Volunteer duties are first-come, first-served.
• You will have the option to volunteer as a timer, computer operator, or clerk of course. 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 somewhere 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. I have added an extra person to this role to help supervise the swimmers. This also seems to be a hotspot for behavioral issues. So, the more adult presence, the better.
• You will get an auto email the day before your volunteering duty to remind you to come prepared.

Detailed directions for signing up to volunteer for new families:

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
7. If you are not the person volunteering, please put the name of the person

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. However, you 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. You can only sign up for the empty slots shown as "---------".

Officials

I have only heard from one brave soul! We will help train you! You will not be expected to officiate right at the beginning. Let me know if you are interested.

Important Upcoming Dates

• May 29^th – Preseason Parent Meeting (Virtual @ 8:00pm)
• June 1^st – First Day of Practice! Deadline to Volunteer!
• June 7^th – Preseason Intrasquad Meet @ HCC
• June 14^th – First Regular Season Meet @ Fallston

Information coming down the line…

• Assignment of practice groups
• Finalization of calendars

We are still accepting new swimmers if you know of anyone who is interested!

Thanks,

Coach Galen