Supporting Your Swimmer

Parent support is critical to set our swimmers up for a successful summer swim season.  Here are the most important ways in which our parents support our swimmers:

  • Bring your swimmer to practices and meets regularly and on time
  • Encourage your swimmer to eat a healthy diet and get plenty of sleep, especially the night before meets
  • Help your swimmer pack water and healthy snacks for meets
  • Encourage your swimmer to listen to their coach and to focus during team practices
  • Discuss any concerns you have about your swimmer’s progress with the coach if needed
  • Promote the fun of the season - bring your swimmer to team events, encourage your swimmer to do their best, cheer them on while they race, and celebrate your swimmer’s accomplishments!
  • Volunteer - We are a volunteer-run effort!  Please see below on the different ways in which you are needed to get involved.

Additionally, for younger swimmers or swimmers new to swim meets:

  • Parents should check in on their swimmer frequently during meets and ensure that their swimmer is where they need to be (“staged”) before each event they are swimming in.
    • ​The volunteers who run “staging” for swim meets ensure that swimmers are lined up in the correct lane.  They do not track down swimmers to alert them that their event is coming up.
  • ​Please know your swimmer.  Some swimmers are able to keep track of the meet and ensure that they are staged when they need to be.  Others need a parent to monitor and remind them.
  • If you have a younger swimmer who will need an adult with them during the meet, please aim to either:
    • ​sign up for a volunteer position that does not involve staffing the meet (e.g., food donation for pasta night or the snack stand), or
    • have another adult (a co-parent, grandparent, etc.) attend the meet who can either monitor your swimmer or volunteer to help run the meet.

 

Volunteers

The Willowdale Swim Team is almost exclusively a volunteer-run effort.  Parents of all swimmers, regardless of age, are needed to run the season, from pasta nights to swim meets.

The Swim Team has two primary coordinators:  our Tri-County representative, who coordinates with the Tri-County Swimming Association regarding meets, training of officials, etc.; and our Swim Team Coordinators, who manage the swim team’s social events and assist with meets.  In 2025, our Tri-County rep is Lee Leibowitz, and our Swim Team Coordinators are Andrea Dill and Kelly Gastley.  These are volunteer positions.

Adult volunteers are needed regularly throughout the season to help with the following; further detail follows:

  • Swim meets - 24 volunteers for running each meet, plus 4 volunteers for staffing the snack stand

  • Snack stands - 1-2 volunteers for coordinating donations, purchasing items, and overseeing sales at each home meet

  • Pasta nights - 12 volunteers to cook pasta or donate food, plus 6 volunteers to help with set-up, serving, and breakdown

  • Cherry Bowl and Tri-County - 15 volunteers needed for each, for meet positions (staging, timers, other officials, etc.) and to transport tents (including set-up and breakdown)

This means that we need approximately 50 volunteers every week to run the season.  With a swim team size of approximately 100 swimmers, that means that we need one adult per swimmer to volunteer once every other week.  If you have multiple swimmers on the team, that equates to one volunteer position every week.

Adult volunteers can be parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles, siblings in college, and so on.  If you have a younger swimmer who will need an adult with them during the meet, please aim to either (1) sign up for a volunteer position that does not involve staffing the meet (e.g., food donation for pasta night or the snack stand), or (2) have another adult (a co-parent, grandparent, etc.) attend the meet who can either monitor your swimmer or volunteer to help run the meet.

 

Volunteer Positions at Swim Meets

A swim meet needs the following 24 positions filled in order to run:

  • Overseeing the meet:
    • ​1 referee - runs the meet
    • 1 starter - announces the next event and starts the swimmers
    • 2 stagers - ensures that swimmers are lined up in the correct lane
  • ​Monitoring the swimmers:
    • ​1 head timer - keeps time for every race
    • 9 timers - assigned to a particular lane
    • 2 stroke and turn officials - monitor’s swimmers’ technique to ensure all starts, strokes, and turns are legal
    • 1 place judge - determines the finishing order for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place (used if there is a discrepancy in reported times)
  • ​Determining results:
    • ​2 runners - collect sheets from timers and hand them to the scorekeepers
    • 3 scorekeepers - determine times for each swimmers and record them in the computer software
    • 2 ribbon labellers - label ribbons for top places, and file in ribbon box
    • 1 announcer - announce results

Most of these positions require no advance training and can be done by any parent volunteer; guidance will be provided ahead of time.

A small number of positions require training at the beginning of the swim season.  The Tri-County rep will circulate information on those opportunities as the season approaches.