Swim Meet Job Descriptions
Jobs That Would Be Good for New Families with Young Kids
You WILL be able to take moments to watch your swimmer(s) swim, help adjust swim caps, give a little pep talk.
You WILL NOT be able to pay constant attention to a child who needs it
Concession Assistant, Onsite: Helps set up and break down concession area at home meets. Runs concessions at the meet, including accepting payment and giving cash to Board treasurer at end of meet. You will perform this role with others so you will be able to go see your kids swim during their events, help with caps, etc.
Concession Assistant, Safeway Food Pickup: Orders 24 donuts two days in advance from Safeway, picks them up, as well as bananas and brings them to AKC by 7:30 AM—before the meet begins. Helps set up and break down concession area at home meets. Runs concessions at the meet, including accepting payment and giving cash to Board treasurer at end of meet along with Safeway receipts for reimbursement. You will perform this role with others so you will be able to go see your kids swim during their events, help with caps, etc.
Concession Assistant, Big Box Store Pickup: Purchases two boxes of variety muffins from BJs or Costco and brings them to AKC by 7:30 AM—before the meet begins. Helps set up and break down concession area at home meets. Runs concessions at the meet, including accepting payment and giving cash to Board treasurer at end of meet along with muffin receipts for reimbursement. You will perform this role with others so you will be able to go see your kids swim during their events, help with caps, etc.
Concession Lead: Orders breakfast sandwiches at Chik-Fil-A and coffee at Dunkin Donuts (both in Seven Corners) two days before the meet and picks up and brings to AKC by 7:30 AM—before the meet begins. This person will also help run concessions for the entire meet, return any unused non-perishable items to the pump room and collect payment. Any cash will be counted with the Concession Assistants at meet end, total noted on envelope and submitted to the Board treasurer along with receipts for reimbursement. You will perform this role with Concession Assistants so you can see your kids swim during their events, help with caps, etc.
Gear Sales: Sells Holy Mack Gear and related items at meets, including accepting payment and giving cash to Board treasurer at end of meet. You will perform this role with others so you will be able to go see your kids swim during their events, help with caps, etc. May also involve handing out team items, such as team shirts, and tracking distribution.
Fin Swap Sales: For the Blue & White Meet (Time Trials for ages 7+), sells donated outgrown fins and team suits/gear to families who can now use them. Job includes accepting payment and giving cash to Board treasurer at end of meet. You will perform this role with others so you will be able to go see your kids swim during their events, help with caps, etc.
Meet Photographer: Takes pictures of swimmers in and out of the water throughout the whole meet. Submits pictures to Photography Coordinator for the banquet slide show. Must have own DSLR camera.
Ribbons Writer: Places printed labels on ribbons and sorts ribbons by team. If ribbons are not finished by the meet's end, the Ribbon Writer Director will set a time with you to finish the ribbons the following day. Very easy job with some flexibility. No actual writing involved!
Volunteer Check-in: Receives volunteer sign in sheet before the meet and checks off volunteers as they arrive for duty. Does walk arounds to get any volunteers who forgot to check in already, signed in. Needs to stay for ENTIRE meet, as we could need a sub at any time, and let Meet Coordinator know if we are missing volunteers. Also makes sure to check that deck restoration crew is present and knows where to gather after the meet. Hands the completed sign in sheet (or emails a pic) to one of the Volunteer Coordinators.
Water Runner: Ices down water (found in the pump room) before the meet starts. Then walks the deck periodically offering water to adults working the meet. Water Coordinator will help get you set up.
Jobs That Would Be Good for New Families
Jobs are on deck and/or require constant attention. You will still be able to see your swimmer(s) swim
Card Runner: Before each heat, collects cards from swimmers and deliver to timers for all 25M events (50M+ swimmers will hand the timers their cards before each heat themselves). After each heat, collect cards from the timers and delivers cards to the computer card sorter table. Also collects DQ slips from deck officials and delivers them to computer card sorter table, as needed after each event. Wear your sneakers! This is a very active job. Great for people who like to move and see all the action (you’re right on deck). Don't worry, sometimes you get to speedwalk.
Computer Card Sorter: Sorts time cards as races finish so the results can be entered in the computer. Also matches DQ slips with the correct swim card, as received. No previous experience required—you will be instructed day of.
Deck Marshall: Keeps people off the deck where they are not supposed to be. Helps direct parents to the proper places to view their swimmers. Help prevent running, horseplay and other dangerous activities on deck. Great for people who like rules.
Heat Winner Prize Distributor: Hand out a heat winner prize to the winner of each heat for swimmers ages 14 & under. You will need to be flexible in the shift for which you sign up, as it is based on strokes and times are approximate. Kids love heat winner prizes--very fun job.
Timer: Uses a stopwatch (provided by the head timer) to get accurate times for each swimmer. One timer is designated as the Lane Recorder (one of three timers in a lane) and will collect the time card from the swimmer prior to a race and ensure the accuracy of information on the card, and will then record all three times for each race onto the time card. ALL Timers MUST be on deck at least 15 minutes before the start of the meet for the Timer meeting and MUST remain on deck their entire shift (For Wednesday meets when we split the timers into two shifts, the 2nd shift needs to be paying attention to when it’s getting close to the end of the shifts and be on deck 15 minutes before their shift—the shift change is very quick). This is an easy job and gives you one of the best views in the house, but you must be able to meet the time requirements (approximately 2 hours on a Wednesday and 3 hours on a Saturday) and must be able to stay focused and watch each heat closely. No phones are allowed on deck. Also, be prepared to get splashed.
Jobs That Are Done Before or After Meet
Deck Set Up: Before meet starts (Friday night for Saturday meets; 4pm on the day of for Wednesday meets), converts the deck from club use to be ready to host the swim meet. The Deck Set-Up Coordinator will provide directions with how to set-up the pool deck. Some heavy lifting involved.
Deck Restoration: Gets deck ready for club to open for normal pool operations. Some heavy lifting required. The Deck Restoration Coordinator will provide directions for how to restore the pool deck. Job starts as soon as meet ends.
Meet Setup: Before meet starts, takes items out of pump room (sign in sign, audio, data tent, equipment etc) & sets up by baby pool area. For the Team Area, ensure sign for Visiting team is placed.
Meet Take-down: Returns all meet equipment to pump room (primarily from baby pool area). Be ready to go as soon as the meet is over.
Parking Attendant: Helps direct parking, including having our parents park on the grass, to help ease parking issues on the grounds when there are other events going on at the Club or we’re expecting a large turnout from the visiting team. Job is completed before the meet. MAY NOT be done with a kid in tow for safety reasons.
Food Prep/Item purchases: Purchases and provides food or items requested for various age group parties. Does not have to have a child in the age group to provide food or items. Brings food/items to the Grounds at the times listed. Very flexible.
Jobs That Would Be Good for Experienced Swim Families and/or Families with Older Children
Floater: Remains available for miscellaneous assignments for the duration of the swim meet. Must stay for the whole meet and be willing to take on any team job, including being a Timer or Card Runner. Floater MUST remain on site for the ENTIRE meet—things happen, you could be asked to sub in at any time. Please check in regularly with the Check-In Volunteer. If you end up doing a higher point job the entire meet, you will receive the higher point value.
Clerk of Course Assistant: Assists the Head Clerk of Course by lining up swimmers by event in the designated Clerk of Course area. Verifies information on their swim cards and directs swimmers to their lanes. You get to see all the swimmers--very easy and fun job. The Head Clerk of Course will instruct you on how to perform this role.
Computer Data Entry: Enters data into the computer during the swim meets. For Wednesday meets, volunteers must be at the pool by 5:30pm and work until the meet is over. For Saturday meets, volunteers must be at the pool by 7:30am and work until the meet is over. Bonus—Job is under the tent on those warm summer days and protected from the rain on those poor weather ones! Job is restricted to people who have received training on the Meet Manager software. This is a very important job to the team and training requires no prior swim experience. If you are interested in Computer Data Entry, please let us know.
Jobs that Require Training, but are SUPER Fun and Get You Very Involved with the Meets:
Stroke and Turn Judge: A position that requires certification by the Colonial Swim League. The responsibilities include: watching lanes during each event to determine if the stroke and turns are being completed correctly and completing DQ cards for swimmers that have been disqualified from a particular event. Parent volunteers for this role do not have to have previous experience being competitive swimmers. Our S&T Judges have the best view at the pool! (CSL training required).
Starter: A position that requires certification by the Colonial Swim League. To be eligible for the position of the Starter, an individual must have worked one season as a Stroke and Turn Judge. The Starter is responsible for the correct start of each event during a meet. (CSL training required).
Referee: A position that requires certification by the Colonial Swim League. To be eligible to be a referee, an individual must be recommended by the Team Representative. In addition, the candidate must be certified as a Stroke and Turn judge, as well as a Starter, and have knowledge of all deck official positions and meet administrative responsibilities. (CSL training required).
