Volunteering
It takes a village to pull off a swim season. While we, like many area teams, collect a volunteering deposit it is not our intention to use it as a source of income. We can’t do this without our volunteers and keep our rates affordable. Volunteering has tremendous rewards though beyond just the return of a check at the end of the season. It’s an opportunity to dive in, get connected and utilize your unique talents to help enhance the experiences our athletes have. To find out more on how you can help out, please contact [email protected]
Requirements for return of deposit:
- 40 Pts Total
- Volunteer at 2 dual meets
- Volunteer at 1 invitational or divisional.
Extenuating circumstances will be considered by presenting them to the board.
High Schoolers
1 hr per week for a total of 10 hours to receive the high school rate.
Volunteer work by any swimmer regardless of age, done in excess of any other volunteer requirements may be applied to the family’s commitment.
Any high school student joining independently, may fulfill the family volunteer requirement without putting down a deposit, by signing and completing an agreement to complete 20 hours of volunteer work throughout the season.
- High School Swimmer Registration Discount Waiver, for Swimmer with Additional Swim Siblings.
- High School Swimmer Volunteer Check & Registration Discount Waiver.
1 pts are earned for every hour volunteered.
Committees
Become a part of the committees that plan and do much of the behind the scenes work. They are:
Maintenance- Liaisons with the board and the coaching staff and is responsible for cleaning bathrooms, organizing garage, repairing various equipment and setting up/taking down for meets and practice as needed.
Front Desk- Manages daily attendance at practice, check in at Meets, directs parents to information on websites as needed to answer their questions, Receipts for payments made for registration, invitationals, volunteer deposits etc...helps treasurer with collection of funds.
Banquet/Social- Liaisons with the board and plans venue and activities for end of year banquet and during season social activities including annual end of year invitational morning breakfast.
Concession- Maintains inventory, menu (after consulting with coaching staff to ensure food choices that help athlete performance) and staffing for home meet concessions stands and snack bars.
Fundraising- Plans revenue generating opportunities for the team including fundraising events such as dinners and game nights, spirit nights with local restaurants, swim a thons etc... and executes those events.
Merchandise- Assists with the order and distribution of the team t-shirt. Maintains inventory and sales of other merchandise such as team caps, additional t-shirts, Team Mom or Team Dad shirts etc. Also responsible for disseminating information on divisional and invitational swag and organizing pre-ordering for that.
Volunteer- Liaisons with the board and coaching staff to help coordinate point tallies for volunteer requirements, finds volunteers for critical areas and ensures meets are adequately staffed. Also maintains and collects stopwatches for meets.
Communication- Liaisons with the board, coaching staff and committee leads to assists with webpage, Remind, phone trees to update and disseminate information (Including emergency cancellations) to the team. Translators needed for this committee as well.
Officials/Meets- Takes appropriate training, works with coaching staff on infractions and understanding their role, and serves in the role at the meet to help it run. Roles include, Referee, Starter, Stroke and Turn officials, Computers (Lead), Ready Bench (Lead) of which all require a background check. Additionally Ready bench assistants, Timers, Runners, DJ/Announcer, Computer Assistants serve on this committee.
Awards- Recommend end of year trophies/certificates. Work with coaching staff to plan awards for mid and end of season award ceremonies. Ensure mid-season invitational ribbons are picked up at the end of the meet for the mid season ceremony. Get Ribbons and prepare them from each dual meet.
Membership/Registration- Assist with recruitment events. Help with beginning of year registration and assist in ensuring accurate records.
Volunteering at Meets
A meet could not happen without the help of many volunteers. Look for sign up for any of these roles.
Setup (Home Meets Only)- Usually done the night before and incentivized with a higher point value. This includes setting up tents over the swimmer area, cordoning off deck area, moving ready bench and behind the block furniture and bringing out the concession side blocks.
Tear Down (Home Meets Only)- Done after the meet and incentivized with a higher point value. This includes taking down, and putting away all of the meet furniture, as well as any cleanup on the grounds, in the bathrooms and in the kitchen.
Head Timer- Keeps two stop watches running for each race in case one of the lane timers has a watch malfunction. Swaps with lane timers watches as needed. Also helps the referee ensure that all lanes have the proper number of timekeepers.
Lane Timers-Start and Stop watches for races.
Timer/Scribe-Start and stops watches for races as well as writes down times from all 3 timers in lane.
Ready Bench Lead- Organizes the swimmers by Event, Heat, and Lane on the benches. Ensures that the swimmers are lined up, and taken to the correct end of the pool for each Event and Heat being swum. Communicates with the referee and works with him/her to combine heats as needed. Also ensures the heats are flowing to blocks to keep Swim Meet rolling, may hold Clerk of Course certification.
Ready Bench Assistant- Helps Lead with any tasks they need including getting messages to announcer, or computer personnel, helping swimmers get to blocks etc…
Concessions Lead- Works with the board to determine inventory needs and manages the concession stand at the home meets. Checks with coaching staff to ensure that some of the items on the menu have adequate nutrition for swimmers. Also responsible for the flow of cash.
Concessions Assistant- Helps in the concession stand. May involve preparation & heating of items, and light cleanup. May also run water out to officials and coaches, and meet volunteers.
Computer Time Verifiers- Assists with verification of times between time sheets, and final result report. May also assist computer personnel with data entry and printing.
Time Sheet Runner- Gathers completed Timer Sheets from the timers, and carries them to the computer room. Post Meet Results, brings new Timer sheets out to timers as needed and directed by the Head of Computer’s. May pass messages to the referee from the computer room.
Ready Bench Runner- Passes messages between the computer room, and the Lead of Ready Bench. Also communicates with the announcer on what events are needed at the ready bench and any missing swimmers for upcoming heats. May also pass messages between referee and ready bench.
Custodial- Checks bathrooms periodically for needed toiletries. Cleans as needed. Surveys grounds and reminds families to clean up and “leave no trace”.
Check In Desk- Takes temperatures of swimmers, marks attendance for the swim meet, and helps them know their races. Writes event information on swimmers arms with sharpie if needed, to help the swimmers remember their events.
Age Group Mom/Dad- Stays with their group of younger swimmers in the team family tents to help them know when they should be reporting to the ready bench. Assists with caps, goggles and other needs. May assist at check-in.
Announcer- Plays the in between races music and makes announcements for meet as necessary.
Officials- Requires specialized NWAL rules training and certification plus a passed background check. These people will be wearing badges and usually wearing white. They run the meets.
Referees- Meet and Deck Referee may be the same person, but the Meet referee is the lead official and may be anywhere on the grounds managing the meet. The Deck Referee blows the whistle by the starter and keeps the meet flowing.
Starter- Announces each race and sends the swimmers off.
Stroke and Turn Officials- Alerts the Referee of any rule infractions (DQ’s) seen in their jurisdiction.
Team Representative- Is the liaison between the coaching staff, other officials and the opposing team. Is also a communication center for our team’s parents at a meet.
Computers- Enters results from races into the Swimtopia system.
COC-Clerk of Course- Ensures entries into races are following NWAL rules.
