Garrett Park Ladybugs Swim Team

Summer swim team is run 100% by volunteers. Without parent volunteers, there is no swim team. It takes 30+ volunteers to run each swim meet. Swim team families are required to fulfill their volunteer requirements.

• 1 swimmer family - required to complete 4 volunteer requirements at meets
• 2+ swimmer family - required to complete 5 volunteer requirements at meets
• Sign-up for job requirements by deadline: Signup Calendar - notification will be sent when 2024 sign-up is open.
• Complete job requirements. When unable to complete a job, find a substitute and communicate the change to the team reps. If unable to find a substitute, as a last resort, reach out to the team reps.
• Volunteering at A-relays & Divisionals is in addition to regular meet volunteer requirements. If your child is swimming, the team will need you to volunteer. 

Some jobs are carried out over the course of the whole summer season and cover some or all of the volunteer requirements for a family.

The season-long jobs that must be filled in order to run the summer swim season are listed on the  Team Organization page.

• Certified Officials
  • Referee – must have attended MCSL training; oversees meet, including briefing S & T judges prior to the meet, verifying disqualifications with S & T judges, overseeing timers and signaling starter when to start races.
  • Starter – must have attended MCSL training; uses electronic starter to start all races
  • Stroke and Turn (S &T) Judge – must have attended MCSL training; watches swimmers and determines if they are doing the strokes and turns correctly according to MCSL rules
• Other Meet Jobs
  • Meet Logistics
    • Parking Attendant - Instructs meet attendees where to park for home meets; arrives early (7:30am for A meets/3:55pm) and remains on duty until half time
    • Set-up/Take-down Help get everything set up for the home meet, including pulling chairs up onto the hill, setting up tables on deck, assisting with concessions set-up,etc. Also stay after the meet to make sure that all the chairs, tables & concessions stuff goes back where they should and that all trash is properly disposed of.
    • Concessions – sets up/cleans up and sells food and drinks during home meets (arrival is 7:45am for A meets, 3:55pm for B meets)
  • In-Meet Jobs
    • Announcer – announces races/heats; at A Meets, announces the names of the participating swimmers 
    • Clerk of Course – lines swimmers up prior to races and sends them in order to sit behind the lanes to prepare for races
    • Head Timer – briefs timers prior to meet, signals referee when timers are ready for next event, starts and distributes backup watches each event as needed (watch breaks, timer misses the start)
    • Assistant Head Timer - backs up the Head Timer, including starting and distributing backup watches each event as needed (watch breaks, timer misses the start)
    • Timers – use stopwatches to time events; one timer per lane records the times on cards
    • Runner - picks up heat sheets after each event and turns them into the automation table
    • Verifier - works with Computer Operator to verify times after each event
    • Awards – affixes stickers to ribbons and sorts them into envelopes; usually lasts until 30 minutes after meet ends 

There are several division-wide or county-wide meets each season which you can read more about on the Types of Meets page:

• A Relay Carnival
• B Relay Carnival
• Divisional Championship
• Coaches Long Course Invitational
• All Star Relays
• All Star Individuals

There are more strict time requirements for swimming in these meets than our normal A and B dual meets, and a limited number of swimmers will participate.  As such we ask all families with a participating swimmer to volunteer at these meets. More information about which positions need to be filled will be available as we approach the time for each of these meets.

 Information about applying for this volunteer opportunity will be sent out to registered team members.