Swim Meet Volunteer Positions
NVSL swim meets cannot run without parent volunteers. Many positions require no training. Our team must provide: 9 timers, 2 stroke & turn judges, 4 relay take-off judges, 2 clerks of course, several table workers, and marshals at every meet. Home meets also require a referee, starter, and announcer. Below, please review brief descriptions of each position. The Starter, referee, and stroke & turn judges require league training and are marked with an asterisk. NVSL and team reps track training and certifications. If interested, Team Reps or the Team's Chief of Officials can discuss the qualification requirements and different training paths. If you’re new to the NVSL, we recommend you start your volunteering career as a timer. It’s a crucial position, it’s relatively quick to learn, and you’ll get the best seat in the house.
Announcer: Using a microphone and sound system, this person is responsible for announcing all races/events.
Awards Clerk: Select the appropriate ribbons, plaques, medals, etc. and attach the correct computer generated label. Teams may choose to have the Awards Clerks perform the verifier function
Chief Timer: Official who coordinates all timers. Collects all time cards, checks for accuracy, sends time cards to Time Recorder. Gives command to “clear watches”, signals Referee that Timers are ready for next event and starts 2 watches in case a lane timer’s watch fails to start.
Clerk of Course: Organizes several heats of swimmers in the ‘holding’ area just before their races.
Concessions/Snack Shack Workers: Set up, Sales and Clean up in Snack Shack during meets.
Data Entry: Enters/reads times for the Hy-Tek software to score events. Generates event results reports (verified by awards clerks) for the announcer and ribbon labels for awards clerks. Produces hard copy of full meet results at the end of the meet for Referee review and signature.
Marshal: Maintains order and insures the safety during warm-ups and throughout the swim meet.
Place Recorder: Receive the time cards, ensure all times are legible and that the proper official time has been circled and recorded. Receive disqualification slips from the Referee and staple them to the appropriate time cards and check for league and team records.
Referee*: This is the chief official for each swim meet. He/she is responsible for the running of the meet and is the final authority on the interpretation and enforcement of all of the swimming rules.
Runner: The runners are responsible for carrying papers from the Referee and Chief Timer to the official table.
Starter*: This person uses an electronic system to start each event at the Referee’s signal.They are responsible for insuring that all swimmers are given a fair and equitable start.
Stroke & Turn (S&T) Judge*: Officials who evaluate swimmers to ensure legal strokes and turns. If something illegal is observed by the S & T Judge, a DQ (disqualification) slip is written and presented to the Referee for concurrence. Must be impartial and fair to all swimmers.
Team Area Monitor: Helps swimmers keep their gear together and helps coaches maintain a safe team area.
Timer: Arguably the most important people to every swimmer. Timers determine each swimmer’s official time for each race. Being a Timer is a good entry level position for new parents, though some have been Timers for years and wouldn’t want to see a swim meet from any other viewpoint. If you can start and stop a stopwatch, you can be a Timer. We even provide the stopwatch! Timers start their watches on the strobe light from the Colorado System and stop their watches when the swimmer in their lane touches the wall with any part of their body. There are three Timers per lane and all three times are recorded. The middle time is the Official Time.
Verifier: These people receive the time cards and printed results from the Hy-Tek Meet Manager software and independently verify that the Name, Official Time, Disqualification Status, and Team on the time cards match the printed results. If there are any discrepancies, the Verifiers bring it to the attention of the Place Recorder and Data Entry workers immediately. Teams may choose to have the Awards Clerks perform this function.
*NVSL or Potomac Valley Swim certification required. Please check with team reps before signing up for this type of position, as they require certifications.
