It takes approximately 60 – 80 volunteer parent officials to put on a swim meet. Therefore, the club requires that ALL Sunfish parents assist at our competitive meets. Volunteer shifts are two hours each and parents are needed to proactively sign‐up at meets to help with the following duties. At swim meets, parents must fill many jobs, such as timer, marshal, stroke and turn judge, place judge, starter, and behind the scenes jobs working at the "crash desk" (where the results are tabulated) or doing computer entries.
If parents do not do these jobs there will be no meet! Parents usually work one or two shifts each day, a shift lasting two to three hours. Some jobs require just a brief orientation; others need some type of training. Experience can be gained by attending the various instruction clinics that will be offered throughout the season. The first clinic to attend is the "level one", which is where you will learn how to use a stopwatch. The "level two" is the "stroke & turn" clinic, and the "level three" is the "starter & referee" clinic; Watch for dates for when these clinics will be offered. Working alongside experienced volunteers is an invaluable method of gaining skill and confidence in your own abilities. The Sunfish will hold a level one clinic early in the season to explain to new parents how a meet runs and outline the very basic job requirements.
Also, plan to attend the 'Green and Gold Meet' to learn about the structure of a swim competition. The Club will also be holding a stroke & turn clinic later on in the season. Officiating at a Development Meet is an excellent way to obtain on-deck experience. We need to increase the number of officials in our club and maintain a strong Sunfish presence on deck. Sunfish is one of the largest clubs in the Region. We have fewer deck officials every year. We need to maintain our presence on deck! Please get out and volunteer, sign up for those clinic and train with an experienced parent to learn the jobs.
The following positions require minimal / no experience. First time volunteers to any of these positions will be provided an overview.
- Lane Timers – sits at end of one swim lane and “times” the swimmers in their lane using a stop watch (provided by the club).
- Chief Lane Timer – coordinates all the lane timing
- Lane Recorder – records the times from the lane timers
- Place Judges – documents which lanes placed in which order.
- Runners ‐ brings pinks and blues from each heat to the office.
- Food for Officials ‐ helps prepare and distribute food and drink.
- Concession ‐ helps cook food and takes orders.
- Crash Desk ‐ puts the cards in order of place 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. organizes the cards for each event/heat. Checks the times on the entry cards and verifies the final time.
- Data Entry ‐ enters the verified times into the computer in a timely fashion so that results can be posted for all to see.
- Marshaling ‐ helps the swimmers get into the correct heat and lane and to the blocks.
- Announcer ‐ announces the event numbers, etc.
Positions requiring training at one of our clinics, or extensive training on the job:
- Referee – oversees all officials and runs the meet
- Starter – starts each event
- Stroke and Turn Judges – ensures swimmers swim to established criteria
- Marshal
- Clerk of the Course: Organizes the scratches, calls the events.
- Electronic Timing System Recorder: Operates the timing system, prints out the electronic time for each race/heat.
Parents interested in stroke and turn judging can attend clinics (workshops) offered during the swim season. Please talk to the Director of Officials or Head Coach. Clinics will be advertised ‐ watch for announcements on the website. The swim meets cannot go ahead unless there are enough judges, plus all other positions. At each swim meet look for the sing‐up sheet for positions needed to be filled by the Sunfish swim club members.
More infromation can be found in the Sunfish Swimming handbook on this web site.
