Our swim team expects parents to become active, contribute their time, and assist the team in various swimming and related activities. Parents are expected to provide the physical equipment (suits, caps, etc.); transportation to practices and meets, proper food and rest, and unconditional encouragement and interest in the child’s swimming activities. Unlike other sports, summer swim league only functions with parent participation. Swim meets require parent volunteers to fill positions ranging from head referee to timer and everything in between. Our meets don't work without your support and participation. Because of this, all parents must volunteer at least six half or three whole meets and get trained in one of the positions below. Parents will be asked to volunteer for finals in addition to the required meets.
Training dates for 2018:
NOTE: There will be NO added or make-up training dates, so make sure you plan to attend one of the above sessions!
The clinics will instruct you on the rules and responsibilities of these jobs. The training is not difficult and is vital to insure that meets run more smoothly.
We cannot emphasize enough the importance of training for these positions. The more people we have qualified to work these jobs, the more flexibility we have when running a meet.
Has the final authority for all decisions and questions during the meet and oversees the work of all officials, assigning and instructing them. The referee must be thoroughly familiar with all applicable League rules, as well as meet procedures and the duties of all meet officials. The Referee meets with coaches of each team prior to the meet and all officials and timers to go over meet procedures.
Judges rule on infractions on their side and lanes of the pool. They observe strokes, turns, and finishes to see that swimmers comply with requirements for that stroke.
Starts each event with the announcement of the age and stroke and the words "SWIMMERS TAKE YOUR MARK", pauses to make sure that all swimmers are motionless, and then gives an electronic sound or a blast of a whistle.
Responsible for lining up the swimmers by event, heat and lane and getting them to the starting blocks in the correct order and on time. Assigned to work for one half of the meet. This job gives you the chance to see your swimmer immediately before his/her event.
Supervises the timers. Responsible for assembling them; assigning them to the lanes; distributing and collecting the watches, pencils, and clipboards; and conducting the timers' briefing. Coordinates with the Referee to make sure timers are doing their jobs. Starts two watches for every race and uses them to replace malfunctioning watches on the lanes. For each heat, capture time for heat winner; additional time is recorded on lane’s timing sheet.
Responsible for entering data from time cards, judges slips and verifying data entered. With this job, you see the race results before anyone else.
Because we cannot run a meet unless those positions are filled, we expect one parent from each family to be trained in these critical positions.