Work Obligation Policy PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

  • Parents or their representatives are required to work at all sessions of home and away meets in which they have a child swimming. This includes swimmers that are over the age of 18, drive themselves, carpool, and/or travel with another family.

  • If a family has swimmers at meets in two different locations, they must provide a volunteer for each swimmer/location.

  • If a parent has more than one child swimming, they will be put into slots by the volunteer coordinator at a rate proportionate to the number of their children swimming in that meet.

  • If parents struggle to work a meet that falls on a workday, they should arrange with another parent to cover their shift. They may later be asked to work a double shift themselves. They must notify the STPA or volunteer coordinators of such an arrangement.

  • Families must check in at the Meet Manager's table at the start of warmups
    for their work assignment at home meets. Failure to check in at the designated time may constitute an absence. If alternate check in arrangements have been designated for a specific meet, please follow those instructions.

  • All parents must check in with the volunteer coordinator at away meets to get proper credit for working. Failure to check in at the designated time may constitute an absence. If alternate check in arrangements have been designated for a specific meet, please follow those instructions.

  • If a child makes finals, the parents must check in with the volunteer coordinator. If a family has more than one swimmer at finals, they will be assigned a timeslot proportionate to their number of swimmers in that session.

  • Time slots are determined by the work assignments required by the meet host. Connecticut Swimming rules and host expectations change regularly. The CDOG coordinator will adjust as needed to ensure a situation that is as close to equitable as possible.

  • During championship season, all families may be asked to work, regardless of current or past positions held on the board, as officials, or as other team representatives.

  • If you are unable to work a meet for a particular reason, please give advanced notice to the STPA or volunteer coordinator. If a family does not provide volunteers, they will be fined $50 a swimmer per session missed as a first offense. A second offense will incur a $75 fine and their swimmer will not be allowed to swim. A third offense will incur a $100 fine and their swimmer will not be allowed to swim. If there are any additional offenses, the family will be charged a $100 fine, their swimmer will not be allowed to swim, and they must meet with Coach Sean and/or the STPA to seek a resolution.

Officials are pivotal to the meet. It can't run without them. When you get comfortable in our swim family we encourage you to think of becoming an official. There is an incentive given by STPA involving splash fees. It's worth thinking about.

 

Commandments of a Swim Parent Meet Volunteer
  • Thou shall sign up as soon as possible so as to avoid bathroom safety marshal.
  • Thou shall keep thine eyes peeled for the actual heat winner as 6 out of 8 swimmers will look for the duckie heat prize.
  • Thou shall not complain about a one hour timing slot to a person who does 20 hours or more volunteer work per week for your team.
  • Thou shall not swear (out loud) when you get the late timing slot.
  • Thou shall be grateful to those who work a full session, and often every session, without fanfare.
  • Thou shall cheer all swimmers equally because each has a different goal to achieve, sometimes just getting through the race legally.
  • Thou shall understand that every family is as busy as your family, and they pitch in.
  • Thou shall bring a good cup of coffee on deck for the coach every now and then, and learn their favorite candy for a sugar hit.
  • Thou shall mentor other volunteers into complex roles so that they can know the joy of shared chlorine brain and the raucous jokes that develop by the end of a 5th session of a meet.
  • Thou shall always share thy sunscreen.
  • Thou shall multiply by at least four the amount of hours you think it takes to put a meet together.
  • Thou shall never be mad at your volunteer coordinator.
  • Thou shall never forget the friends that you made volunteering and thou shall miss them when your child leaves the nest.
-Kathleen Maloney