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
- 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 pass these cards/sheets to the Runners.
- We need to provide timers for each meet; home meets have at least 2 Marlins timers per lane and away meets have 1 Marlins timer per lane.
Bullpen
- Bullpen volunteers are responsible for organizing swimmers for upcoming events. Using cards/heat sheets provided by the coaches, swimmers are arranged from left to right – front to back on benches set up in the bullpen area.
- When seated on the benches, each heat is one bench, followed by the next heat, followed by the next event.
- If a swimmer is missing, and a coach or parent from that team is available and can find them quickly, they can be sent to find that swimmer. Otherwise, the meet continues with an empty lane.
- Swimmers hold hands and exit the bullpen LANE 8 FIRST. In this way, the Child Runner can drop the first child in line off at their lane in order as they pass the blocks.
- 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.
- 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/sheet runners: Work with the computer volunteer to get event sheets/cards to the timers and then collect them after each race
- Child runners: Responsible for helping swimmers move from the bullpen to the blocks
Concessions
- Set up a concession stand to sell snacks, drinks and meals at home meets
- Includes food preparation, set-up, sales during the meet and tear-down
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.
Officials / Starter
- Each meet needs at least 4 officials to run efficiently. If your child swims year round, becoming an official is a great way to fulfill your volunteer requirement on your winter league.
- The team and TCAL 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.
- First 3 officials who sign up and officiate at least 3 meets will receive a reimbursement of their registration fee (reimbursed after the end of season)
- 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