Preston Village Tiger Sharks

The Tiger Sharks swim team is run on volunteers — managing the team and running swim meets require a large volunteer staff.

A commitment from the families of the swimmers is essential to make the swim season as smooth and fair as possible. All skills are welcome – there are non-meet related positions and volunteer jobs before, during, and after the meets.

Prior to registration make sure you take time to familiarize yourself with our point system to track family job requirements.  You need to select your volunteer jobs to complete registration.

Positions are chosen on a first-come first-serve bases.  So if you have a preferred job, be sure to register early to claim the position.

Season Jobs are worth 6 points.

Single shift Meet Jobs are worth 1 point.  

Double shift Meet Jobs are worth 2 points.

•  Announcer

• Kid Pushers

• Data Managers

NOTE: We know jobs and availability changes. These jobs can be edited once registration is complete. It is your responsibility to let the Volunteer Coordinator know if you cannot fulfill your meet job.

Please bear with us as we tune the point system. We have purposefully under-allocated the required number of points this year, meaning if all familys only work 6 shifts, then we will still have some gaps in filling volunteer positions. However, if we set the minimum points to 7, there would not be enough shifts for all families to meet their requirements. So keep in mind, that we still hope (and may request) for volunteers to work more than the minimum requirement of 6 shifts.

Calculating Points

Each family can earn their points by volunteering for a Season Job, or working a minimum of 6 shifts at dual meets.

You don't have to fulfill the 6 job shifts by working all 7 meets. If your family doesn't attend away meets, you can still sign up for 2 jobs at each home meet. The 2 jobs could be different jobs in the same half, or a job (same or different) for both 1st and 2nd half shifts. You can carve up how you choose jobs whatever best fits your needs. 

Note: Banquet donations are not opened until late in the season and do not factor into the total points required at time of registration.

These jobs are all worth 6 points, meaning if you choose to volunteer for 1 season job, you have met your minimum volunteer requirements for the season, and are not obligated to work meet jobs.

Concessions Coordinator

Runs our Concessions for Time Trials and 3 Home Meets. Includes inventory, purchasing, stocking, pricing and ordering dinner items.

Fundraising Coordinator

This role begins by the volunteer reaching out to the previous year’s sponsors to ask if they will continue to sponsor the team. The volunteer then collects the sponsorship funds and team logos for use on the team t-shirt and website. The volunteer also collects any other donated goods - e.g., swim bags, towels, or gift cards that are used for volunteer raffles or for other purposes.

Meet Setup/Tear Down/Cleanup

This is a new season long position (all 4 home meets) for 3 Volunteers. We have moved these positions to a season job so the setup team can retain the knowledge of how to set the pool up and where to return equipment after the meet (and not have to train new volunteers each meet.) Job Details: 1. Show up early to arrange the pool deck to host the meet. Includes: moving pool furniture (chairs, tables), setting up scoring table, swimmer tents, rope barriers, lane lines, flags, setting up coaches' seating areas, etc. 2. After meet ends, clean up the deck (pick up trash), and return furniture and meet equipment back to their storage positions.

Purchasing Coordinator

This includes purchasing ribbons, year-end awards and sponsor plaques. This may include ordering t-shirts and swim caps, as well as other merchandise.

Ribbons Coordinator

Print labels for all home meets. Pre-sticker the ribbons and organize by race prior to the home meet. Can easily and quickly be distributed to the ribbon writers the night of the meet. After a meet, volunteers sort the ribbons by name, using paperclips to organize ribbons. They can then be distributed at the Wednesday afternoon practice after the meet (or later in the week, if necessary, but Wednesday is the goal).

Social Coordinator

This role oversees our pre-season kickoff ice cream social, movie night, pancake breakfast, and banquet. We also delegate to additional volunteers to run the events on an individual basis.

Volunteer Coordinator

Serves to coordinate the weekly volunteers who enable the meet to run smoothly. Includes emailing parents to remind them to sign up to volunteer, printing the meet materials and bringing them to the pool, setting up the volunteer table at the meet and distributing materials to the volunteers. The VC fills holes in the volunteer schedule by recruiting parents or assigning Floaters to particular jobs.

It often takes some trial runs to figure out which meet job you will enjoy the most. As a new family you may wish to experiment and sign up for a variety of meet jobs to find your best fit. The majority of jobs are working in conjunction with other swim team parents so there is always guidance available and it is also a great way to meet other team members.

Meet jobs (with a couple excepts) are only for 1/2 (1 shift) of a swim meet and are worth 1 point. Full-meet (2 shifts) jobs are worth 2 points.

Clerk of Course jobs:

Head Clerk of the Course (2 points) – Responsible for organizing swimmers by event, heat, and lane and getting them safely to the starting blocks while minimizing delays between adjacent heats. Has the authority to add/remove/combine heats and re-arrange swimmers to accommodate scratches, substitutions, and walk-ons. Works with the ACC to document and notify the Timing Console of seeding changes. [Previous CoC Experience Required]

Assistant Clerk of the Course (1 point) – Assists the Clerk of the Course as needed to seat swimmers, lead swimmers to starting blocks, and keep starting area clear of spectators. Keeps track of any manual changes to the meet (scratches, substitutions, collapsed heats, and walk-ons, etc.) for both teams, then notifies the Timing Console when changes are made. [No Experience Necessary]

Lane Jobs:

Head Timer (1 point) – Responsible for all the Timers and Recorders. Assures the Timers & Recorders are properly briefed prior to each session, including reviewing how the Dolphin timing works; Supervises the Timers during the session, starts additional watches to be used as a substitute in the event a Timer's watch fails. [Previous Timer and Recorder Experience Required]

Timer (1 point) – Stops the electronic timing and starts/stops a manual stopwatch. Relays the manual time to the Recorder. [No Experience Necessary]

Recorder (1 point) – Records the manual watch times, verifies that the proper swimmers are competing in that lane. [No Experience Necessary]

Table Jobs:

All table jobs require training ad we offer some (Training) positions so you can shadow at a meet and learn the position.  Training jobs are worth 1 point.

Scorer / Data Manager (2 points) – Verifies times against the backup time and the Order of Finish judge. Works with the TSA Reps to resolve conflicts. Records DQs. Can relay updated scores and broken records to the Announcer. Previous experience as a Scorer/Data Manager is recommended. MUST BRING A PERSONAL LAPTOP TO THE MEET. [Training Required]

Timing Console (1 point) - Oversees the Dolphin electronic timing system and works with the Starter to verify equipment status. Keeps track of timing result file numbers; marks empty lanes and unknown swimmers. [Training Required]

Ribbon Writer (2 points) - Hand writes on ribbons and/or on stickers for main event ribbons. Coordinates delivery of ribbons to the visiting team. [No Experience Necessary]

Ribbon Distributor (1 point) - Hand heat-winner and participation ribbons to swimmers as they emerge from the pool for all heats in individual events except main event. [Previous Experience Recommended]

Volunteer Check-In (1 point) - Take attendance as volunteers arrive for their shifts. Fill in any gaps with a Floater. Make sure that the important jobs are covered in a timely fashion. Ensure that all the volunteers are in place prior to the start of the 2nd shift (prior to the start of the Breaststroke events) [No Experience Necessary]

Deck Jobs:

Stroke & Turn Judge (1 point) – Ensures that the rules relating to the style of swimming designated for the event are being observed. [TSA Clinic Attendance Required]

Announcer (2 points) – Controls the tempo of the meet. Announces each race and calls the swimmers to the Clerk of Course before their races. Keeps spectators, coaches and swimmers informed and their interest maintained throughout the meet via timely announcements, information, snack bar specials and enthusiastic descriptions of the races, where appropriate. Can music (or tell jokes) during breaks and give thanks to our sponsors. [Shadow Training Required]

Starter (1 point) – Ensures that all swimmers receive a fair and equitable start. Must know the rules and governing starting procedures; operates the electronic timing progression; works with Announcer to control pace of the meet. Note: TSA Training Required. [TSA Clinic Attendance Required]

Order of Finish Judge (1 point) – For all main events, records the order of finish of each lane (all 6 lanes). Each team provides an OOF judge, and the judge's sheets are used to reconcile the timing results. [No Experience Necessary]

Runner (1 point) – The Runner is responsible for collecting timing sheets from the timers following the completion of each age group for each event. Time sheets are delivered to the Timing Manager. The Runner also takes the main event sheets from the Clerk of Course and gives them to the Recorder. Also takes the completed DQ sheets from the Stroke & Turn Judges and the recorded main event sheets from the Recorder to the Scorers. [No Experience Necessary]

Floater (1 point) – This job will help us fill any unexpected vacancies. The Volunteer Coordinator will reach out the week of the meet to help fill any needed jobs. [No Experience Necessary]

Concessions:

Concessions Worker (1 point) – Work in Concessions booth selling food items & other team merchandise. Includes Hospitality duties, such as delivering water and/or snacks to meet officials (S&T, Starter, Coaches, etc.). [No Experience Necessary]

Kid Pushers:

Kid Pusher (2 points) – Gathers all swimmers and puts them in their lane assignments before the start of each race. Sends the swimmers of each race to the Clerk of Course. A Kid Pusher is responsible for a particular age/gender group (e.g., 7/8 boys). Groups are assigned to volunteers on a first-come, first-served basis the night of the event. (If you want a particular group, please arrive promptly.) [No Experience Necessary]