Volunteering

As many of you know, and some of you will soon learn, volunteers are critical to the running of our swim meets.  Each home meet requires more than 70 dedicated volunteers (from our team) to properly execute all the necessary positions.  We cannot run these meets without the assistance of every family. Away meets require 38 volunteers from our team to support the meet. 

Your generous gift of time and effort will help make your child’s swim team experience a pleasant and memorable one. If your work schedule is such that you cannot be at a meet until 7 p.m. or later, please let the Volunteer Coordinator know so you will be assigned to work the second half of the meet. Likewise, if your child only swims freestyle (among the first events in every meet); you might want to request to work the first half of the meet. 

Free two-hour training sessions for particular volunteer positions are available through the RSL prior to the beginning of our season (dates have not been confirmed at this time). These volunteer positions are not difficult and can be a lot of fun.  Please contact an ARRST Board member if you are interested in attending an RSL training session. Volunteer positions which require training are marked (*) on the following page.
 

Volunteer Descriptions

• *Clerk of Course: Assembles all the swimmers into their correct lane/heat and distributes deck cards to each swimmer.
• *Head Timer: Gives instruction to all the timers before the meet and assigns them to lanes. The Head Timer’s watches are used for back-up.
• *Referee: An experienced official that authenticates disqualifications and determines if a heat is ready to begin.
• *Scorer: Oversees the entire scorekeeping process.
• *Starter: Signals the start of each race.
• *Stroke and Turn Official: Observes the swimmers during a heat to ensure their strokes and turns are legal according to USA swimming rules.
• Announcer: Announces the upcoming events to the swimmers and also makes general announcements.
• Card Runner: Collects deck cards from timers/recorders after each heat and deposits them at scoring table.
• Clerk Runner: Distributes deck cards to the timers.
• Concessions: Works in concession stand during home meets.
• Data/Scoring: The scoring table is where the official times are determined and entered into the computer.
• Heat Ribbons: Distributes ribbons to the heat winners of every “10 and under” event.
• Relay Parent: Gathers relays together and ensures they get to the blocks/lanes.
• Ribbon Writer: Labels and sorts the ribbons.
• Timer: Uses stopwatch to get accurate times for each swimmer.
• Safety Marshall: Ensures RSL safety measures are followed during team warm-ups.
• Setup/Takedown: Helps setup/takedown tables, chairs, canopies, lights, and other necessary meet equipment.
• Walker: Walks the younger swimmers from the Clerk of Course to the starting blocks.

*You must receive or have had training to volunteer for these positions.