Swim Team Friends, 

This is one of those emails/to-dos in which you will want to find a nice comfy chair and your favorite beverage. Oh, and have your calendar…definitely your calendar. Okay, here goes…

We are at a critical juncture with swim team in which we need your leadership and action with the following:

1. DEADLINE 5/17:Login to your profile from the home page of the website, review the information you input (swimmer names, swimmer birth dates, phone numbers and emails). MAKE SURE it is all correct.
2. DEADLINE 5/17: In your profile (accessed from the home page of the website), LOAD ALL NAMES FROM YOUR FAMILY that may participate in a swim team event. For example, planning to attend the Family Fun Night & Pep Rally? You need to register, and you’ll need to check off in your RSVP who from your family is attending. In order to do this, ALL family members must be loaded. It’s easy to add names. Please do it.
3. DEADLINE 5/17: RSVP for one of two-time trial times (you will see the time trial events on the top part of the page). This year, time trials will be run like a meet. As such, we need you to declare your swimmer(s) just as you would for a meet. Time trials are mandatory. If your swimmer is not able to attend one of the dates set aside, and you have not confirmed a make-up date with a Team Rep, we cannot guarantee that your swimmer(s) will be in the line-up for the 1st meet.
4. DEADLINE 5/17:RSVP for the Family Fun Night Potluck & Pep Rally event on May 18^th. Be sure to select each member of your family attending AND sign up for a pot luck item. All families must bring a pot luck item (description of what to bring is on the event page).
5. DEADLINE 5/23:Sign up for all four of your volunteer spots throughout the season. Yes, all four. Scroll down to the event name>click the green button tagged “Job signup”, this opens a window with parent names, click “sign up for jobs”, click the button next to the job you wish to sign up for, and hit “save assignments”. DONE! To avoid many emails and phone calls after May 23rd, please sign up for all four slots.
6. DEADLINE 5/24: Declare your swimmer(s) for 1^st meet against Vermack (AKA tell us if your swimmer(s) is swimming in a meet). To do this…click here. Scroll down to the meet name (1st Swim Meet: HOME against Vermack)>click the green button tagged “RSVP open”, this opens a window with your swimmer names, click “edit”, select the drop-down option for each of your swimmers, and hit “save”. DONE!
7. DEADLINE 5/24: RSVP for the post-home meet celebration at Abuelo’s Mexican Kitchen and Cantina. To do this…click here. Scroll down to find the event>click the green button tagged “RSVP open”, this opens a window with the names of everyone in your family (or everyone that you loaded into your profile), click “edit”, select the names for each family member attending, and hit “save”. DONE!

If you are an over-achiever (we love those!), RSVP to all meets and special events. Just go down the list (in the same link we gave you above) and knock it all out. The only meets that are purposefully closed are the ASA Divisionals and the Championships. Those will open at a later date.

You should know this before you get comfy in that chair…

1. If you are attending the Family Fun Night & Pep Rally, each family needs to bring a pot luck item depending on the letter your last name starts with (more details in RSVP link). A pot luck item DOES NOT count towards a volunteer spot.
2. Sign-up for home swim meet concessions will be coming soon (remember, each family donates items for our home meets). This will be a separate “to do” email. Don’t you love us?! :-)
3. When signing up for volunteer jobs, declaring swimmers, RSVPing, etc. MAKE SURE you are selecting the proper name of who is doing the job or who is attending which event.
4. If you go to sign up for a volunteer job and notice there are other jobs greyed out…that means they are taken and not available. Sorry guys, early bird gets the worm!

Here’s our best advice when choosing volunteer roles. Think about what brings you joy during swim team season (other than watching your swimmer(s)). Take that joy and find your “happy” in a volunteer position. Then, give us your 100%.

Questions? Let’s see if we can’t help you out ahead of your question…

Q: Do I have to declare all meets and RSVP to all events?

A: Technically no, but we are all about efficiency this year and keeping the peace. Do yourself a favor, sit down and do it one swoop.

Q: What if my plans change and my child can or can’t attend a meet?

A: Go back into the system and make the change as soon as you know. Otherwise, we will send out “final meet declaration” reminders as a trigger for you to ensure that what you declared is still on point.

Q: How many spots throughout the season do I have to sign up for?

A: It is mandatory that each family (not each parent) volunteer for four spots. If you can do more, we would be most grateful and we will put your name in for Swim Team Volunteer of the Season (yes, that’s actually a thing!). BTW, grandparents, nannies, friends, aunts, uncles, etc. can help out too and that would count towards one of your spots.

Q: Can I see a description of the volunteer roles and what the requirements are?

A: Absolutely! Please click on this link to see a full list of spots.

Q: Why are some volunteer positions at meets split into two shifts?

A: Typically, there are 80 events per meet therefore first shift volunteers help during events 1-40 (approximately 4:30 pm – 7:00 pm) and second shift volunteers help during events 41-80 (approximately 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm). Shifts are divided evenly based on the number of individual events. Please be aware that while we do our best to run meets efficiently and on schedule, we may have unforeseeable delays in which case the start time for your volunteer shift could be slightly modified.

Q: I signed up for a spot, but I don’t exactly know what I should be doing. Help!

A: Chill. All is good. We got this. And guess what, we’ve got a Volunteer Chair, Asst. Volunteer Chair, two Team Reps, and a myriad of seasoned parents that can help you and provide more details. Come and talk to any of us prior to the first meet and we can chat. Namaste.

Q: I know I need to volunteer however my child won’t be swimming the entire season. What should I do?

A: Don’t worry. You’ll still be able to fill all four spots. We are counting on you. :-) Keep in mind, we have volunteer spots for activities before meets, during meets and in-between meets.

Q: What if I sign up for something and then find out I can’t help?

A: Please do your best to reference your calendar when signing up. But we get it, life happens, and things change. As soon as you know about a change, immediately update your volunteer sign-up on the website. This is the easiest way for the Volunteer Chair and Team Reps to track our volunteers and identify holes.

Questions? Email [email protected]. Have you checked out our website? You should: https://mountairebarracudas.swimtopia.com/

We love swimming with you!