Meet Volunteer Roles
Meet Director
(1 person; requires training)
Makes sure that the meet is a fair one, addresses issues concerns, acts as an extra place judge when not addressing issues. The Meet Director is, for all intents and purposes, the referee. The head honcho. The big cheese.
Starter
(1 person; requires training)
Gets to tell the swimmers, “Take your mark” and then hits the little red button that goes BEEP. Very fun. Also is the one who determines false starts. The starter hooks a phone up to the starting system so that it begins all the timers when the red button is pushed. You know you want to speak into the microphone and push the red button. The starter is a celebrity.
Stroke and Turn Judge
(4 people; 2 per team; requires training)
You, along with a partner from the other team, will watch half the pool and look for stroke violations. You will be trained in what to look for at one of the officials clinics. There always needs to be dual confirmation and swimmers get the benefit of the doubt. If you spot the infraction AND your partner spots the infraction, then the call is made. After that, the coaches will get a copy of the disqualifications and they will work with that swimmer to fix the problem.
Timers
(16 people; 8 per team; no training required)
Used to be you had to both start the watch and then stop the watch, but who has time for all of that? Now all you need to do is stop the watch. For that matter, it’s not even a watch anymore. It’s your phone! You can use Apple or Android for this job. You will be partnered with a timer from the other team. Once the watch is stopped (the starter starts them for you), you put in the swimmer’s number which should be written in permanent marker on his or her arm. People come around and bring you drinks (well, water, but you can drink it) and stuff. You can also yell at the coaches and tell them to get out of your way.
Head Timer
(1 person; no training required)
Let’s face it. Even though all the timers have to do is stop the watch, someone’s going to mess up (or rather, the Swimmingly system will mess up). That’s where you come in and hand out phones that are working. All the timers will think you are a minor god on earth. Around you, they will grovel and hope that you will look upon them and smile or just acknowledge their existence.
Back Up Timer
(1 person; no training required)
You’re going old school with a watch that can get lap splits. You’ll start it every race and then hit the lap button for each finish. Chances are, you won’t be needed, but if you are, you save the day. Not all heroes wear capes (but you can if you want to). If you can press a button, you can do this job.
Clerk of Course
(2 people; 1 per team; no training required)
The home team clerk takes the lead on how the clerk of course is organized. Every swimmer comes to you. You put them on the benches in the order they are seeded in the meet (you are given that information). When the next heat is up on the blocks, you send the next group of swimmers. You are the heart of the meet. Without you, this meet would be sheer chaos. You will be loved and adored by all. People will shower you with praise. Your kids will look at you with wonder and amazement.
Runner
(1 person; no training required)
Used to be the runner went everywhere to pick up slips of paper from judges, timers, and place judges. Now you only go from the place judge to the scorer. It’s a cush job! Plus, you don’t even have to run, though you can if you want to and no lifeguard can blow their whistle at you.
Place Judge
(2 people; one per team; no training required)
Who else can say they get to see every finish? You get a position on either side of the finish end of the pool and record the lanes as they finish. Rarely is it tight. You also have another person doing the same thing and the meet director is also calling it, so the pressure is off. You will get a little pad of paper that has place numbers on it (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.). As swimmers come in, you write down the lane number as they finish. You do need to be able to count up to 6, but there will be numbers on the blocks to help you out with that!
Scorer
(2 people; one per team; a little training required)
Ah, you get the shade with a fan and the iPad. As each race comes in, you make adjustments as needed. You will need someone to run you through the software so you can get used to it.
Hospitality
(2 people; no training required)
It’s summer, so people are hot. You will go around with ice cold water and give it to any worker or coach. When you come around, people love you! Plus, you get to spend time in front of the freezer cooling off checking the quality of the water.
Sign Flipper
(1 person; no training required)
Even though the scorer is announcing the heat every race, nobody really listens to him/her (don’t tell the scorer that, they believe they are some sort of celebrity). So we have a big sign that shows which heat and event we’re on. You get to hang out under the starter’s tent and look super important.
Heat Winner Rewards
(2 people; no training required)
Whenever you see a kid win a race, you go over to them and hand them the ribbon, or sucker, or whatever prize is being given out for winning. Every kid wants to see you at the end of their race. It is very gratifying. Plus, if it’s candy that’s being handed out, well, it’s up to you to do periodic quality control checks, of course.
Parent Volunteer
(1 person)
This is a general whatever needs to be done position. Usually this person hangs out near the scorer and is there to help out with getting ribbons, pens, running to get a parent rep or meet director.