Volunteer Roles
Did you know each meet requires 60+ volunteers and that families are typically required to work 3 full meets or 6 half meets? Some positions require some level of training.
Referee: Should be well versed in USA swimming rules and relevant CAL modifications. Leads Strokes and Turns meeting. Will review and sign off on pending disqualifications. Responsible for handling relevant meet points of conflict.
Strokes / Turns: Must be trained via USA swimming guidelines or CAL session. Must ensure that the rules relating to the style of stroke designated for the event are being observed when swimming, turning and finishing. Record and discuss possible infractions with Head Ref.
Starter: Strokes & Turns experience preferred. Ensure that all swimmers receive a fair start. The starter does not “command” the swimmers to start; rather, the starter invites the swimmers to swim. Additionally, it is the starter's responsibility to look for and judge false starts and recall swimmers if they occur.
Head Timer: Responsible for preparing the watches, gathering the timers together, and assigning lanes. The Head Timer also maintains multiple running watches at the start of each race in case a lane timer needs one because of a malfunction.
Clerk of Course & Assistant Clerk of Course: Organize and deliver the swimmers to their event in the appropriate heat and lane prior to being called to the blocks.
Computer Operator & Assistant: Training needed. The head table worker operates the computer. Responsible for running the meet in meet software, drawing in times, adding/modifying relays, and making adjustments/DQ’s per the verifiers.
Grill Masters: Grill hamburgers and hotdogs and provide assistance as needed to concession staff.
Heat Ribbons: Award each heat winner with a ribbon or prize when they get out of the pool.
Hospitality: Distribute bottled water to all meet volunteers throughout the meet. Restock as necessary. Check the bathroom cleanliness and report to lifeguards if needed. Hang meet results by outdoor shower.
Meet Clean-up: Assist in breaking down meet equipment and cleaning up/reorganizing the pool deck. Cleaning up trash and reorganizing furniture on the pool deck if any was left out after the meet.
Meet Set-Up: Assist in preparing the pool deck for the swim meet. Roping off areas on the deck and in the parking lot.
New Parent Helper: For a seasoned swim parent! Help first-time swim parents understand heat sheets and help to write E-H-L on their swimmers.
Photographer: Promote Smoketree swim meets and community by taking group and action shots of our swimmers. Photos to be uploaded to our Google drive the next morning. No photo editing necessary.
Runner: Collect timer slips following events and take to the results table. Collect DQ slips and take them to the Meet Ref for approval.
Timer: Timers will use Dolphin watches & stopwatches to time swimmers, record times, and make sure that swimmers are in the correct lane and on the blocks for their events.
Results Table - Verifier: Assists lead scorer with checking results. Will edit timer sheets to cross out outlying times and average remaining times as needed. Additionally, will mark DQs on timer sheets and make note of any swimmers with NT that swim a gold or silver time.
