WE NEED YOUR HELP... SIGN UP!

THE MEETS CANNOT HAPPEN WITHOUT THE VOLUNTEERING FROM FAMILY / FRIENDS AND WE THANK YOU!!

Let's have another fun and successful Summer Swim Season and that starts with the volunteers! It will take around 120-150 volunteers to run a meet sucessfully!

It takes many people to run a swim meet and there is literally a job for everyone. As such, volunteering at swim meets is REQUIRED. In your registration packet, all families signed and agreed to volunteer during the swim season (there are NO EXEMPTIONS). Most swim meet positions – such as concessions, timers, recorders, or runners – are learned in a few minutes, but others – namely Officials - require more training. We encourage you to attend one of the free training clinics. Even if you ultimately decide that it’s not for you, at least you’ll gain insight about the positions.

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT OPPORTUNITY: OFFICIATING

Every sport has rules and guidelines to ensure that the competition is fair and fun for all the competitors. Swimming is no different and it takes a crew of folks to keep everything and everyone working together toward the same goal. This is the officiating team and the Stroke and Turn judges are in the thick of the swim meet. These are the officials you see at the edge of the pool, sporting their standard white polo and blue shorts and when they raise their hands, the entire crowd is watching. This is the entry point for officiating and it requires training and a few practice meets where you will serve as an apprentice to a more experienced official. If you have already been certified as a S&T Judge, that's awesome. We can certainly use you on deck and you may consider leveling up by learning a new trick on the crew, such as Starter, Chief Judge, or Deck Ref. Flexibility is fun!

WHAT'S THE COMMITMENT? That's a fair question. Stroke and Turn (S&T) judges must take a training class (usually about 2-3 hours online or in person) that explains the rules of swimming including the infractions related to each individual stroke. As a S&T judge, you will need to arrive promptly at the pool for each meet and check in with the Deck Referee or your Head Official. There will be a quick briefing each meet to go over the rules of each stroke and any particulars about the pool. Your shift at the meet will last the entire meet, but usually you get plenty of breaks. You do need to wear a white shirt and blue shorts (no team logos or anything like that) but they can’t make you wear shoes

HOW DOES IT HELP THE TEAM? The BWaves have had a long history of great officiating crews. In fact, many of our officials have served in officiating roles for USA Swimming and have played instrumental roles in building the sport of swimming in our area. But that's just our reputation. The brass tax is that without officials, the meet isn't, well, official. And the times don't count and it just snowballs from there. A meet needs officials and we need to provide them. 

HOW DOES IT HELP ME (THE VOLUNTEER)? As a S&T judge, you will learn more about the sport your children are growing to love than you ever thought possible. You also won’t have a hard time picking your outfit for each meet, nor will you have to worry about getting your volunteer position of choice. At most meets you will usually get some free food and, depending on your disposition, you’ll get to make kids cry OR help them learn the correct way to swim their favorite stroke because the coaches will see the DQs and focus on fixing them.

HOW DO I SIGN UP? As mentioned, you will need to take the appropriate training class. They are all presented using MS Teams this year. The full list and details of those classes are here in this pdf, but for planning purposes here is a quick list:

• The Stroke and Turn Clinic will be on (Coming Soon). 
• The Starter Clinic will be on (Coming Soon).
• The Referee Clinic will be on (Coming Soon).  

Please also touch base with our Head Official, Beth Sowers, and let us know that you're interested by emailing: [email protected].

WORKING AT SWIM MEETS

Swim meets are unique amongst youth sports. The large number of people needed to run the meets keeps most parents so busy, there’s no time for poor sportsmanship. Parent workers ensure that our children participate in swim meets that are: safe and organized (set-up and clerk of course), timed (timers and recorders), fair (officials, runners, scorers, and computer), fun (ribbons & concessions), and clean (clean-up). The meet jobs that aren’t right next to the action are flexible enough for you to take a break and watch your child swim. Each meet, there will be an option to choose which volunteer positions and shifts you would like to sign up for. Watch for an email early in the week – usually Sunday afternoon – letting you know when you can log in and sign up. All jobs are important! If you are not able to work as scheduled, try to find a replacement. If you’re unable to find a substitute, please notify the Volunteer Coordinator of the need to fill that position as soon as possible.

POSITIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS

Below is a brief description of each of the positions available at the meets.

CONCESSIONS

Volunteering in concessions primarily includes serving, exchanging cash for goods, and – everyone’s favorite – the grill master. 

PHOTOGRAPHY

With everyone volunteering, hustling, and bustling around the deck each week, who has time to take all the pictures we want to freeze those memories on film forever? (Plus mine always come out blurry.) That’s where the Photography team comes in. If you have one of those fancy cameras and/or a knack for capturing that perfect shot, consider signing up to take pictures during one (or more) of the shifts. Duties include taking the pictures and uploading them to the team’s TBD site so everyone can enjoy. Please no watermarks or anything fancy – it’s just for the team. If we use it anywhere else, you’ll get credit. 

CLERK OF COURSE

Every event begins at clerk of course. All swimmers check in and parent volunteers make sure they get set up in the right heat, lane, and event. Each week you can sign up for a shift or two to help corral our swimmers and get them in the proper lanes.

TIMING TEAM

Swimming is measured in hundredths of seconds. Some would say milliseconds, but it’s really centiseconds (though apparently that’s not a widely-used term). Those times come from stopwatches and those stopwatches are operated by timers. We assign three timers to each lane (and mix teams to keep things honest and fair). Recorders write those times on the cards and send them on their way to becoming official results. Recorders must have neat handwriting so the scoring team can read them and there are no discrepancies. NOTE: You will get wet in these positions.

SCORING TEAM

The results, ah, yes, the results. Enjoy the air-conditioned clubhouse as you verify times, enter them into the computer, and print out the results sheets everyone is waiting to see. Runners collect the times from the recorders and deliver them to the clubhouse. Scorers verify that the times on the card make sense and are accurate. There are some math skills required here, but there are also cheat guides and calculators, so it’s not too stressful. The computer rep enters the results into the system and prints out results as they are finalized.

AWARDS TEAM

Swimming is a sport fraught with ribbons. The awards team hands out ribbons to heat winners at the end of each race and helps sort out other achievement ribbons. This also includes labeling placement ribbons each meet as the results come in (usually starting in the second shift) and sorting them out for distributing later. Sometimes this position is in the air conditioning – just saying.

POOL AND GROUNDS CLEAN UP

It is not the Bridlewood HOA’s job to clean up after us; it’s ours! (They told us as much). During home meets, the grounds crew will monitor the trash cans and change bags as needed, make sure the bathroom stalls have toilet paper in them and the kids didn’t leave the water running, and just generally make sure the area is safe and clear of debris. After each meet, our team is responsible for “putting the pool back together again”. This means removing lane lines and backstroke flags; returning tables, chairs, and lounges to their original spots; disassembling temporary pavilions, as well as picking up and removing all trash and lost & found items. If everybody cleans up around their area and helps move just a few chairs, the job will get done in minutes. 

FRIDAY NIGHT SETUP CREW

One of the most coveted spots on the volunteer team is the Friday night setup crew. This position is open for home meets only and it comes with the perk of priority tent placement. This does not cover your volunteering responsibily on meet day, so please don't forget to sign up for a Saturday job too! The pool undergoes a pretty significant transformation before we are ready to host a swim meet and this is the crew that make it happen. The Friday night crew congregates at the clubhouse around 7:45pm after the pep rally to help set up the pool deck before we all head home for the night. We pull ropes, move chairs and tables, set up clerk of course tents, and so much more. If you get on the list, you can also bring your tent with you and get a prime spot after set up is complete. (Others can set their tents up the night before as well, but they have to wait for the Friday Night Setup Crew before they are allowed on deck.)

VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR

The Volunteer Coordinator is the head herder of volunteers. Duties include: creating the signup list each week, harassing folks over email until they sign up, bringing a list of the volunteers to the meet – with name tags – and ensuring that all the positions are covered. Often this includes communication with the other team – to convey our needs at a home meet or understand their needs for an away meet.

OFFICIALS (TRAINING REQUIRED)

Officials – Stroke & Turn Judges, Referees, and Starters – require some training. If you’d like to learn about these jobs, attend one of the upcoming Officials’ Clinics. No appointments are necessary – just show up! This year’s clinics will be conducted in May (TBD). You can find all the dates and specifics on the team website under team events and in the news section. If you can’t wait and want to get a head start on the training, check out the USA Swimming YouTube Playlist that details all the rules of each stroke and event.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJUznzZd1j8Urx4pxOW9gYFCzrWMb0jgx