The Tiger Shark program is focused on the development of our swimmers. Our swim meets are what we use to measure their progress and also use as an opportunity for our swimmers to show how hard they have been working! We wouldn’t be able to host the meets without our parents help.
Parental participation is the key to the success of the Tiger Sharks! Due to the size of our team, we have a good base of volunteers, as long as everyone participates. Home swim meets require over 80 Tiger shark parent volunteers and away swim meets require over 40 parent volunteers; therefore, it is necessary for every family to volunteer for at least 3 shifts (for the most part,1 shift equals ½ of a meet) each half season. When signing up for a volunteer shift, make every effort to choose a slot that will work for you and your family.
Specific job responsibilities will be explained at the beginning of season parents meeting.
Parent Volunteer Opportunities
The YMCA of Greater Richmond Swim League operates with the help of parent volunteers. We ask that ALL parents participate in volunteering at regular season swim meets, Holiday Classic and the Championship meet in order to successfully run and operate a quality meet experience for you and your swimmer. Thank you in advance for your participation and time!
Please read over the following volunteer opportunities. All parents are required to help at least one meet per half season if their child participates in any of the swim meets. Sign-ups for dates and times will be on a first come first serve basis through our Team Unify website. Please speak with your coach or branch’s aquatic director for instructions on signing up.
MEET DIRECTOR
• Home Aquatic Director or assigned volunteer acts as Meet Director.
• Away Aquatic Director ensures all volunteers are in place as the meet begins.
• Home Aquatic Director delegates clean up responsibilities at the end of the meet.
• Away Aquatic Director ensures all volunteers have rotated halfway through the meet.
• Home Aquatic Director knows where all supplies are kept and also is familiar with the facility layout.
HEAD REFEREE
• A thorough knowledge of strokes and turns is necessary. Must be trained in strokes and turns.
• Three to five years experience as strokes and turns judge is highly recommended.
• Calls a “meeting” with coaches and strokes and turns judges prior to start of meet.
• Must sign off on all DQ’s.
• Communicates closely with aquatics and meet directors.
• The final arbitrator of any dispute, including the full authority and responsibility for the conduct of the competition in conjunction with the home team’s aquatics director.
STROKES AND TURNS JUDGE
• It is highly encouraged to attend a volunteer training which shows the video from USS Swimming.
• Needs to “shadow” an experienced strokes and turns judge for at least an entire meet.
• Must be knowledgeable and familiar with DQ cards and the proper way to fill them out.
• Interaction is with the head referee only. Please direct all questions or concerns to the head referee.
STARTER
• Inexperienced starters must “shadow” an experienced starter for at least half a meet.
• Experienced starters may be “shadowed” in order to train inexperienced starters.
• Responsible for knowing how to set up equipment.
• Needs to practice speaking into starter for tone and speed.
• The starter controls the “pace” of the meet. Please keep the meet moving.
HEAD TIMER
• Meets with timers prior to start of meet.
• Ensures all stopwatches are working properly, verifies all timers have their timer sheets and reviews the process with them.
• Must be visible to all lanes throughout the entire meet.
• Needs to carry three (3) stopwatches as back up.
• Every time an event starts, head timer starts two (2) stop watches in case of a malfunctioning stopwatch with a timer.
• Must have all the requirements of a timer.
TIMERS
• Needs to be able to operate a stopwatch correctly.
• Verifies swimmer in their lane is in the proper lane (checks timer sheet).
CLERK OF COURSE
• Recommended to have three (3) clerks of course per meet.
• One person calls names.
• Second person organizes and seats the swimmers in heats.
• Third person releases swimmers to the blocks and assists person seating heats.
COMPUTER/TABLE WORKERS
• Must be knowledgeable/familiar with Meet Manager/Team Manager software.
• Table workers need to know how to verify results and place labels on ribbons.
• Table workers verify that computer data entry is correct.
ANNOUNCER
• Volunteer uses PA system or bullhorn to announce what event is being called to Clerk of Course and any other pertinent information.
RUNNERS
• Recommended to have three (3) runners per meet.
• First runner takes timer cards from timers to scoring table after each event, not heat.
• Second runner takes DQ cards from strokes and turns judge to head referee, then to scoring table.
• Third runner assists other runners, posts results and gets DQ cards to coaches.
MITE PARENT
• Assists mite swimmers to clerk of course and behind starting blocks for their events.
• Follows the direction from clerk of course to keep swimmers in appropriate seating order.
FALSE START ROPE ATTENDANT
• Sits on the pool deck beside false start rope, if a false start is sounded, will drop the rope to help signal swimmers to return to the edge of pool and not complete swim.
• Once all swimmers are alerted, pulls false start rope back out of water and is attentive to next heat up.
