Parental participation is the key to the success of the Tidal Waves! Home swim meets require over 100 Tidal Wave parent volunteers and away meets about 80 Tidal Wave parent volunteers; therefore, it is necessary for every family to complete a minimum of 4 shifts. A volunteer shift is roughly a 3-hour shift and typically covers one half of the meet. The shifts are broken up to 1st half and 2nd half shifts. The 1st half is from about 5:45pm-8:15pm, and 2nd half from about 8:15 pm-11:00 pm. These time periods can shift depending on the speed of the meet or the weather. Some shifts including Swimmer Check-in and Pool Setup require you to arrive earlier.

Every family is required to volunteer for at least four designated shifts unless arrangements have been made for a different volunteer capacity (e.g., Board positions and Certified Officials). Families must sign up for four swim meet shifts during registration. Swimmers will be ineligible to compete in swim team activities (including practices) if these shifts are not fulfilled. If a parent fails to show up for a volunteer shift, they will be required to commit to making up the shift in a future meet during the season before their swimmers are eligible to compete in swim team activities.

Please make every effort to complete the shift for which you have registered. If you need to change your shift, we ask that you find a reliable replacement for your shift, as you will ultimately be responsible for your replacement’s attendance. If a meet is postponed or rescheduled due to inclement weather, please make every effort to finish the shift you signed up to fill. At meets, please register with the Volunteer Coordinator upon arrival, report promptly to fulfill your shift at the designated time, and plan to attend any required meetings (i.e., timer) before your session starts.

The Volunteer Coordinators maintain a list of paid volunteers that you can hire to fulfill your shifts. You make the arrangements with the paid volunteer and are responsible for payment and their attendance at the meet. Click here for a link to the list of paid volunteers.

Job Descriptions for Swim Meet Shifts

Non-Certified Positions - Training for these positions is usually “on-the-job” and done by the Tidal Waves.

• Table Worker – Home and away meets. The volunteer will be indoors, in the air-conditioned clubhouse during the volunteer shift. Table workers sort time cards in order of event and categorize, match DQ cards with proper time cards, and are given additional tasks by the Head Table Worker.
• Clean-Up Crew – Home meets. The volunteer should be comfortable on their feet and outside. This position requires general meet take-down, such as speaker disassembly, “No parking” signs retrieval, lane and heat chair removal, trash removal, etc. .
• Clerk of Course Assistant – Home and away meets. The volunteer should be comfortable on their feet, outside, and potentially in the sun. This position provides support to the clerk of course, helping to organize the swimmers in the correct order, and keep them in the right order until they get to the blocks.
  
• Clerk of Course Board Operator – Home meets. The volunteer should be comfortable outdoors, and able to follow the heat sheet events as they are called. This position requires maintenance of the event/heat number board, with continuous updating as the swim meet proceeds.
• Pool and Concession Setup/Pre-Meet Worker – Home meets. This position requires general meet set-up, such as speaker assembly, “No parking” sign distribution, lane and heat chair set-up, concessions tables, etc. Shift begins at 4:00 PM. Once meet is set up, this position will work in concessions until 6:00 PM.
• Concessions Worker – Home meets. The volunteer should be comfortable on their feet and outside. This position requires general concession stand work, such as food sales, handing out food, managing the cash drawer, clean-up etc. All 1st half concession workers must report by 5:45 PM. All 2nd half concessions workers stay to help clean up after closing.
• Floating Volunteer – Home and away meets. Report to the Volunteer Coordinator at 5pm. You will be required to work ANY non-certified open job in the meet half in which you sign up as Floater, or wherever there is a need for extra hands. The volunteer should be comfortable on their feet, outside, and potentially in the sun.
  
• Head Timer / Assistant Head Timer – Home and away meets. The volunteer should be comfortable on their feet, outside, and in the sun. The Head Timer does not time a specific lane in the pool. The Head Timer will start 2 stop watches at the start of each race to hand off to any lane timer with a stopwatch malfunction. This position does not require recording any race times.
• False Start Rope – Home meets. The volunteer should be comfortable on their feet, outside, and in the sun. This position is in charge of the false start rope and must drop the false start rope when needed.
• Lollipop/Duck Parent – Home meets. The volunteer should be comfortable on their feet, outside, and potentially in the sun, and able to accurately determine the heat winner. This position monitors each race, and gives the winning swimmer of each heat a lollipop/rubber ducky/small prize.
  
• Ribbon Labeler – Home and away meets. The volunteer will be indoors, in the air-conditioned clubhouse during the volunteer shift. This position requires attaching labels to the ribbons for winning/placing swimmers and sorting ribbons in the ribbon boxes.
• Runner – Home meets. The volunteer should be comfortable moving between the crowds on the pool deck, outside, and potentially in the sun. Must be 16+ years old. Runners pick up time cards from timers after each event, and DQ cards from strokes and turns judges, has DQ cards signed by referee, then takes all cards to the Table Workers.
• Timer – Home and away meets. The volunteer should be comfortable on their feet, outside, and in the sun. This position requires starting a stopwatch for each race; one member of the timing team will record those times on an event sheet. More experienced volunteers should be in charge of the times recordation. There will be three timers on each lane, with half of the timers provided by the home team, and half provided by the away team. Must arrive at 5:30 PM for a Timer Meeting on the pool deck.
• Swimmer/Volunteer Check-In/First half floater – Home and away meets. This person assists with swimmer and volunteer check-in and serves as a first half floater. After check in is complete, contact volunteer coordinators for 1st half floater shift. As a floater, you will be required to work ANY non-certified open job in the meet half in which you sign up as Floater, or wherever there is a need for extra hands. Arrive at 4:15 PM.
  
• Parking Attendant and 1^st Half Floater – Home meets. The parking attendant will direct traffic in the parking lot assuring away team only uses the parking lot. Will serve as a 1st half floater. After parking lot is full, contact volunteer coordinators for 1st half floater shift. As a floater, you will be required to work ANY non-certified open job in the meet half in which you sign up as Floater, or wherever there is a need for extra hands.
• Computer Caller – Away meets. Requires providing support to the computer operator and reading times for computer entry.

Certified and Trained Officials - These positions require participation in at a GRAL training class (either virtual or in person depending on the position). Reach out to [email protected] if interested in learning more about these positions.

• Head Clerk of Course (Certified) – Home meets. Responsible for assembling swimmers and moving swimmers through benches to blocks.

• Referee (Certified) – Home meets only. This person is the Head Official. Directly responsible for efficient running the meet. The referee must remain on event/heat throughout the entire course of the meet and must signal the Starter that the competition can begin before each event. The Referee has final say in all disputes. The Referee should remain until the last event has been scored. Consult USS Handbook for more detailed duties.

• Starter (Certified) - Home meets. Starts each race and makes sure that each heat begins evenly and legally. Also, disqualifies swimmers for false starts. Responsible for operation of electronic starting equipment.

• Strokes & Turns Judge (Certified) – Home and away meets. Ensures that all swimmers comply with the style of swimming, the turn and the finish applicable to each stroke.

• Computer Worker (Trained) – Home meets. Enters registration information into league-provided database. Records pre-meet information on swimmers, heats and events to generate meet programs and event/heat cards for each event and heat. At swim meets, records swimmer times and runs reports for meet officials.

• Head Table Worker (Certified) – Home meets. Sets up table prior to each meet with all equipment and materials needed. Coordinates tasks of Assistant Table Workers. Processes information from the Runners all the way through posting of the results. Tasks include receiving event/heat and DQ cards, sorting, verifying meet IDs, and ribbon labeling.

• Meet Director (Trained) – Home meets. Responsible for ensuring that all physical needs are ready for each meet, including pool and pool event/heat, clerk of course area, and the PA and Electronic Starter system.