Family participation is essential to the success of the Benicia Stingrays Swim Team. Each meet requires 65+ volunteers to run smoothly. We require all families with swimmers ages 4-14 to fulfill volunteer requirements. Families with ONLY 15/Up swimmers will not have a season volunteer requirement but they must still volunteer at Invitationals and League Meet if their swimmer participates in these events. The volunteer requirements can be fulfilled by serving your required hours at regular meets and social events, serving a "core volunteer position", serving on the Board, or by “buying out” of your requirements. The required volunteer hours fulfill requirements for the regular meets/season only. Invitational meets/special meets (ECI/Battle/Otters 8 and Unders, League Meet and County Championships) have separate volunteer requirements that must be fulfilled by all participating families at those meets, whether you have bought out of your regular volunteer requirements or serve a core volunteer/board member position.
Meet Volunteer and some of the Social Event Jobs will be open for signups as soon as your family's registation has been approved (48-72 hours after you complete your registration). The remaining Social Event Jobs will be open for signups as the information becomes finalized. If you elect to participate in invitational meets, these volunteer jobs will be assigned to you the week of the actual event (you do not sign up online for invitational jobs).
Volunteer Deposit:
- This is separate from “buying out” of your volunteer hours (see below). The very first time you register for swim team, you will be asked to pay a $150 volunteer deposit. This will carry over from season to season and is refundable to you when you officially leave the team. If you miss a job you signed up to volunteer for, the volunteer deposit of $150 will be taken from you (so that we can hire a last minute sub to fill your job) and it must be re-paid ASAP before your swimmer will be allowed to return to future practices or meets.
- Note that in past seasons, we have had a volunteer deposit of $100. We are not asking returning families to add to their $100 volunteer deposit, BUT if you miss a job and only have $100 on file, you will have to pay the difference of $50 (to cover the $150 missed job fee) AND are required to put a new deposit of $150 into your account. If this is the case, you will owe $200 before your swimmer can participate in future practices or meets.
2024 Required Volunteer Hours: All families with swimmers between the ages of 4-14 are required to volunteer at 4 regular meets (see Meet Volunteer Jobs) and 2 social events (such as Lapapalooza, other fundraisers, Family Fun Night, Awards Ceremonies, etc) OR sign up for a Core Volunteer Position, OR serve a Board Member Position. All regular meet volunteer and social event jobs are reserved online under the Events and Meets tab. The requirements are per family, not per swimmer (two or more swimmers does not double or triple your volunteer requirements). Families with ONLY 15 and older swimmers are exempt from family volunteer requirements of regular meets and social events (they are not exempt from invitational/League Meet volunteer assignments). If you have a 15-18 swimmer AND a younger swimmer, you are required to fulfill the volunteer job requirement. If you are interested in serving as a Core Volunteer, please email Wendy Buresh at [email protected]. If you are interested in a board position, please email [email protected] or [email protected].
Job Buy Out: If you choose, at the beginning of the season, to not fulfill your volunteer requirements, you may “buy out” of your requirements by paying $500 at registration. This is in addition to the volunteer deposit that you must pay the very first time you register for swim team. Remember that buying out of regular season jobs does not buy you out of volunteering at invitationals, League Meet, or County Championships.
Job Substitutes: If you do not want to completely buy out of your volunteer requirements, but are not able to fulfill all 4 meets/2 social events, you may hire job substitutes to fulfill your job for you at individual meets. You may also have a friend/family member over 16 years of age work your hours for you. You are welcome to contact individuals listed on the job sub list and pay them directly to work your shift. It is your job to make and confirm all of these arrangements. To sign a job substitute up to work for you, sign up for a job as usual. There will be a prompt to fill in if someone other than a parent is working the job. List the name of the family member/job sub working for you and make sure this person checks in with Wendy Buresh, volunteer coordinator, at the meet so you get credit for fulfilling those hours.
How to sign up to work a dual meet or volunteer job: To sign up for a meet or social event volunteer job, make sure to first log in to the website. Click on the “Events and Meets” tab. The meets and events will then be listed. Find the meet/event you are interested in volunteering at. Click the “Job Signup” button and select your shift(s). Make sure to save your selection at the bottom of the page.
Invitational Meet Job Assignments: Jobs for Invitational Meets/League/County Championships will be assigned to you a few days before the event. You do not sign up for these jobs. ALL participating families will be assigned jobs, even if you have bought out of your regular meet volunteer requirements, only have 15 and up swimmers, or you serve as a core volunteer/board member.
Penalties for Missing a Job/Not Fulfilling the Requirement: If you or your hired job sub misses a volunteer job without finding a suitable replacement, $150 will be taken from your $150 work deposit and you will receive an email notice. Swimmers will be restricted from practices and meets until a new $150 deposit is paid.
At the end of the season, any missed jobs will be billed at $100 per missed job PLUS the $150 volunteer deposit. You will be billed for these missed jobs.
If you have difficulty fulfilling your required volunteer hours at our regular meets, please email Wendy Buresh at [email protected] and they can work with you to find ways to fulfill your requirements in other ways.
