Why Do We Ask You to Volunteer?

Swim meets require more volunteers than any other sport I know of! Of course, every sport has coaches to teach the athletes and keep the meet moving, but there are so many things to be done! Here's some of what's going on at Saddlebrook that you may not know about.

• Before the season even starts, the website gets updated, the registration gets updated, the new spirit wear is chosen, designed, ordered, and delivered, suits are fitted, ordered, and delivered, the roster is completed, county meetings are attended, insurance is purchased, lifeguard training and certification is attended, county requirements are fulfilled, supplies are purchased, etc. Believe it or not, the first board meeting is usually in January!
• For every meet we need people to cut, sort, hole punch, and check every single time card for every single race of every single swimmer the night before.
• Tents for the swimmers, signs, and equipment have to be delivered and set up.
• Signs and cones and tables and chairs get set up if the meet is at Saddelbrook.
• The volunteer coordinator and volunteer check-in make sure every shift is covered and every volunteer shows up for their assignment.
• Bullpen parents keep track of the swimmers and help them get to their races on time.
• Someone has to start every heat of all 86 races!
• Timers record the times of every single swimmer for every race.
• Runners take those papers to the admin tables.
• Scorekeepers work with the other team to make sure the score for every race is tallied correctly and team scores are being totaled correctly.
• Someone sorts those papers and figure out which place each and every swimmer earned and label them correctly.
• Several people get every time and place correctly entered in the computer and ribbon labels printed.
• Someone puts those labels on the ribbons and sorts them so that the swimmers can find their ribbons the next day.
• Don't forget about concessions! It starts with the shopping and cooking and sorting all the drinks, food, and candy we sell.
• We have several people to cook hamburgers and hot dogs and bag them up.
• Gotta have several people to man the concessions stand.
• An announcer is key to keeping the meet running.
• We have to have photos of the meet which eventually make their way to a coach to use for our yearly slideshow.
• Trash has to be collected, lost items found, cones are put away, signs, tables, and chairs are put away, concessions has to be cleaned up.
• The year end banquet is its own beast - slideshow, trophies/gifts, food organization, parent awards, swimmer awards, setup and clean up, etc, etc.

I'm sure I've missed some of the opportunities for contributing to the team, but all that to say that we can't be the awesome team that is Saddlebrook without your help!

More Detail on Volunteer Positions: 

• Bullpen: Several parents will assist swimmers in each bullpen which is broken down by age group. They will help the swimmers get to the dive blocks when it's their turn to swim. Swimmers will primarily hang out in their bullpens during the meet.
• Computer: The main data entry person will be entering times and places into the Swimtopia Meet Maestro software. They will also have an assistant to help with paper management, etc. 
• Concessions: Concessions is one of our biggest ways to fund raise! We also keep everyone at the meet well fed with plenty of energy to swim.
• Finish Judges: will work with the opposing team to record the order of the finish for each race. They alternate jobs so that one team of two has SST recording and the opponent calling the finish while on the other team, SST records while the opponent calls the finish. This position requires you to relocate between deep and shallow end. 
• Photographer: will photograph races, bullpens, volunteers, etc at the meet. Digital files will be given used for the website and slideshow and shared with the team. Photographers must have their own camera. 
• Ribbons: after the computer person prints stickers with times and places, the ribbon people will place them on the appropriate ribbon and file them for later pickup.
• Runner: responsible for bringing the timer sheets, finish judge place cards, etc to the head table. 
• Scorekeeper: Hopefully this will be the last season for this job! Swimtopia's Meet Maestro is supposed to be able to do this without help, but we want to do it the old fashioned way one last year to verify that it's working properly.
• Timer: verify that the correct swimmer is about to swim, use a stopwatch to time the swimmer in your lane, record their time on the timer sheet. 
• Clean Up/Breakdown: sticking around for the end of the meet? Clean up is a quick job. For a home meet, we need people to clean up the admin area, to collect signs and cones, and to make sure the pool area is ready to go for the neighborhood for the next day. 
• Uber Driver: will shuttle people inside the neighborhood from their cars up to the pool area.
• Jack of All Trades: don't know where you want to be, but are willing to do any job? This is the one for you! We'll assign you where we need you most!