Swim meets are big events and they would not be possible without the help of our parent volunteers. Each swim team family is required to complete at least 3 volunteer shifts.
Parents will have the opportunity to select which volunteer role(s) they would be interested in and we will use that information to coordinate.
A Sign Up Genius will be emailed to parents at least a week before each meet. Home meets require more volunteers than away meets. To run the meets smoothly and efficiently, we need to be able to fill all volunteer shifts.
Volunteer positions available:
Timers
- We need to provide timers for each; home meets have 2 Marlins timers per lane and away meets require fewer.
- Each timer has a stopwatch, and will start the watch on the beep, and stop when the swimmer touches the wall at the end of the race.
- Timers also record the times on clipboard and sheets to the Runners.
Bullpen
- The Bullpen helps the young age groups to line up and get to the blocks for each event to give a consistent flow and to the meets
- Bullpen volunteers will line up swimmers in order, locate missing swimmers, manage crowd control in the bullpen, and handle questions or concerns that young swimmers might have.
- Typically, the bullpen is kept empty of coaches, parents, and extra swimmers who are not yet called for their events. Crowd control is the most important aspect of the bullpen, and most bullpen volunteers are used to control it.
- Overall, the Bullpen helps the young age groups to line up and get to the blocks for each event to give a consistent flow and to the meets. Bullpen volunteers and child runners work together to get swimmers to the correct blocks on time
Runners
- Card Runners: Collect time sheets after each race
- Child runners: Helping young swimmers move from the bullpen to the blocks
Ribbons and awards
- Ribbon labels are printed during the meet, and ribbon volunteers stick them to ribbons, return them to the pool, and file them in each swimmer’s folder.
- Following the meet, a list of swimmers who have broken their own times are printed, and these swimmers receive a goalbreaker pin in their folder as well.
Announcer
- The meet announcer uses the starting system to announce the Event, Distance and Heat of each event prior to each race.
- They are also responsible for controlling the pace of the meet – and need to keep an eye on the bullpen and timers to be sure they aren’t moving faster or slower than the rest of the meet.
Meet Setup / Teardown
- Help setup or tear down home meets; primarily getting meet equipment out and putting it away
Officials / Starter
- Each meet needs at least 2 officials to run efficiently. If your child swims year-round, becoming an official is a great way to fulfill your volunteer requirement.
- The team and SSCL will train parents interested in officiating. It is not necessary to have a swimming background, although it may help. You will need to learn details of each stroke and turn, common disqualifications to look out for, and ultimately keep the meets safe and fair.
- The starter uses the starting system and works with the announcer to begin each race according to league regulations. The starter must keep a close eye on officials and starts to be ready for false starts and occasional mishaps.
- Volunteers interested in being trained as an Official should email bexleymarlinsswimteam@gmail.com to coordinate with Bill Litfin
Computer Entry
- Inputs the times for each swimmer from the cards brought to them by the card runner
- All events, heats and swimmers are entered into a Meet Manager system by coaches before the meet.
- During the meet, it’s necessary to enter the times for each swimmer. The computer will calculate the overall score, and create labels for each swimmer’s ribbon in each event. The computer entry volunteers enter the times for each swimmer from the cards/sheets brought to them by the Runners.
- Volunteers interested in being trained to manage the computer during meets should email bexleymarlinsswimteam@gmail.com to coordinate with Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan