Dear Parents,

As we prepare for another summer swim season, I wanted to let you know about volunteer roles and points.

As you are aware, a swim meet takes A LOT of volunteers to be successful. We are so thankful for all the parents who volunteer at every meet to make sure our swimmers have the opportunity to compete and have fun together.

Once registration closes on May 20, we will count up the number of families and divide the number of jobs evenly. I will let you know the required number of points per family and the job sign-ups will be opened.

In the meantime, I wanted to send a document that lists all the jobs and their descriptions. Please take some time to read through the jobs to see which ones you would like to do. If you have any questions, please ask one of the board members at the pool during swim practices. One of us will be at every practice, so this is the best time to have your questions answered.

There are a few new jobs/changes that I’d like to share with you:

1. Bullpen: We will have 4 bullpen volunteers each for 6 and Unders, 7-8s, and 9-10s. Swimmers ages 11 and up will not have bullpen volunteers assigned to their group. Swimmers ages 11 and up will be responsible to get to the ready bench area 3 events before each of their events. If your 11+ swimmer cannot do that, then a parent will have to help him or her.

We are asking parents of bullpen aged swimmers to volunteer in their child’s bullpen. We have divided the bullpens into age groups (6 and Under, 7-8, and 9-10) and then boy/girl groups for each age group. (2 volunteers for 6 and under boys, 2 volunteers for 6 and under girls, etc.)  This will make it more manageable for the bullpen volunteers to keep track of a specific group of swimmers. Please see the attached document to read more about the bullpen volunteer job.

2. Ready Bench: The ready bench volunteers will have a copy of the heat sheet and will call up swimmers and line them up by event and heat. In theory, swimmers should be in their correct bullpen by age group, so you can call out to the specific bullpen and have your swimmers line up to pass on to the deck manager.

3. Volunteer coordinator: This is a new position available to parents. Essentially, you will sign-in volunteers, distribute clipboards and equipment, and help parents read the job descriptions of their roles. You will also facilitate the volunteer transition at event #47. If you are interested in this role, please read the volunteer descriptions and reach out if you need any further clarification.

4. Hospitality: This is another new position. It involves arriving at our home meets early to greet and direct our visiting team as they set-up their bullpen and spectator area. Once the meet begins, the hospitality shift ends.

**All the other roles remain the same as last year. Please see the document to review the specifics of each role. 

Thank you again for all you do to make these swim meets a success for our kids! Please take the time to read Swim Meet 101 to learn what happens at a swim meet (especially if you are new!), but also if you are a returning parent. This page is very helpful as it lists the order of events, how to mark up your child, and more information. If you have a friend with questions, please feel free to point them to this page, too!

Don't forget your $200 volunteer checks are due the first day of practice--we will hold onto these and return them to you at the end of the season when volunteer points are met. Swimmers will not be allowed to register for meets until the volunteer checks are submitted. 

Thanks again for all your help!

Vanessa Rough