Volunteer to Help
It takes a lot of people to run a swim meet smoothly. This is where the parents of our swimmers come in. Traditionally, Pinewood parents have been one of the best (if not the best) in the St. Tammany Swim League when it comes to this. Let's not change the tradition this year! Listed below are some of the areas where parent volunteers are needed. Pick out something that looks interesting to you, and give it a try. If you want more information, contact someone from the "Pinewood Board" page on this web site, or just grab another parent and ask. Anyone will be happy to help you. Thanks.
Lane Timers: Three timers are needed for each lane in the pool, as well as backups. Timers work in shifts, so you will only have to work for part of the meet. So as you can see, we can always use volunteer timers! As an advantage, you get much closer to the action this way! Timers are instructed before each meet on how to time, so anyone can volunteer.
Clerk of Course: These hard working people check in all the swimmers for each event, and give each swimmer their event card. The clerk of course area can get quite hectic with all the swimmers and action. I'm sure they would welcome any help.
Runners: Runners take the event cards from the swimmers to the timers (if necessary), and from the timers to the scorers. They do lots of walking back and forth through the pool area, and get to see the action from many different angles.
Scoring/Awards: They sort the event cards and any DQ slips, determine the finish order for each event. They also identify, label, and distribute the meet ribbons.
Communications: Volunteers are used to call team members in the event any information needs to be distributed in a quick manor.
Setup: Before each meet the pool area has to be transformed from a public swimming area into a competitive swim meet area. Chairs and tables must be moved, awnings erected, blocks installed, flags erected, lane ropes installed, clerk of course setup, and other things I'm sure I've forgotten. If you get many parents to the pool early, the job is quick, easy, and fun (nothing like a little playful joking while you work). If only a few people have to do it all, it can be quite a chore. So let's get there early and help out!
Cleanup: Everything that was done by the setup crew (above) must be undone after the meets. Again, if we get enough parents to stay behind and help out, the job is quick and easy. If only a few remain, then those poor souls end up getting to pizza long after everyone else has started. So let's all help out, and get everyone to pizza in record time!
Fund Raiser: Assists in raising funds for the Pinewood swim team. So if you have any good ideas, or energy in this area, contact the Pinewood board.
Special Activities: Coordinate special team activities such as wave pool trips, skating parties, team pool party, end of season awards party, etc. So again, if you have any good ideas in this area, contact the Pinewood board to get involved.
Deck Marshall: The deck marshall manages the pool deck during swim meets hosted at Pinewood. Controls access to the pool area and works closely with the clerk of course etc.
Announcer: The announcer works with the PA system to announce events, calling the swimmers to report to the clerk of course. Also announces any special information to the swimmers and spectators during the meets.
Hospitality: For the larger meets, Pinewood sets up water and wet towel stations, and provides volunteers to run the drinks and towels to the coaches, timers, stroke judges, clerks, and others who can't take a break and get their own. Believe me, on a long HOT summer day, these volunteers are a welcome site to everyone out on the pool deck!
Stroke Judges: You must attend a class to become a stroke judge (see a board member for more details) but if you become a stroke judge you will be watching the swimmers for any violations which can get them disqualified (or "DQ'ed" in swimmers parlance) during the races. The judges typically watch lanes on their side of the pool, and work in shifts I believe.
Starter: Again, you must attend a class to become a starter, see a board member for more details. The starter calls each event heat to the starting blocks, sets them in position, and then starts each heat.
