Parent Swim Meet Responsibilities

ANNOUNCER - Announces the events and calls for swimmers to the ready bench.

CLEAN UP CREW - Disassembles all canopies and folds up all tables and chairs. Cleans up in and around the pool area.

CLERK OF THE COURSE - Shall be in charge of the ready bench. All swimmers will report to the clerk of the course when their race is called. Clerk shall notify the referee and scoring desk if a swimmer fails to report to the ready bench.

HEAD SCORER & READER - keeps track of the scores as the meet progresses by inputting scores in the computer. Copies the meet results to a disk and forwards to the league via the mailbox. Produces a hard copy of the meet results to the visiting team.

HEAD TIMER - Assures the assignment of all lane timers. Starts an extra watch in case another watch should fail. Listens for a call from a timer whose watch has failed and brings them a back up watch. Keeps track of all stopwatches.

HOSPITALITY - Prepares and serves drinks to all the volunteer workers. Especially, The volunteers that must stay at their stations at all times.

LANE TIMERS - There are three timers per lane, and one backup timer per team. Timers meet with the starter before the meet begins to check watches and go over the rules. Start the watch when you see the smoke of a start gun, or see the flash of the timing system light. Stop the watch when the swimmer completes their stroke.

LANE WRITERS - Records the time of the swimmer on the lane card or lane sheet, and passes it to the runner.

MEET DIRECTOR - Over sees all meet events, ensures all start times begin as stated. Ensures all pre - event meetings are set, and all assigned posts are ready to begin. Keeps the meet running smoothly.

MEET REFEREE - Official judge for all stroke and turn judges - must have attended a Referee and/or Stroke & Turn clinic. Shall have full authority over all judges and shall assign and instruct them. Decides all challenged DQ's, or questions relating to conduct or rules. Shall signal the starter that all officials are in position, so the race can begin.

RIBBON WRITER - Applies the swimmers race times to label on the ribbons, may need to write times on the label if computer is not printing.

RUNNERS - Move cards or sheets to the appropriate lanes, makes sure that times are recorded on the cards or sheets. Collects all lane cards or lane sheets at the end of each event and delivers them to the Score Keeper or computer desk.

SET UP CREW - Sets up the meets events. Sets up canopies, tables, ropes off designated areas if required. Makes sure all flags and lane ropes are set up accordingly.

STARTER - Meets with the timers before the meet begins to check all stopwatches and goes over the rules of timing. Starts each race by (1) Calling to the swimmers "swimmers step up to the block" (2) ask the timers if they are ready "timers are you ready" (3) starts the race with "take you mark", then shoots the start gun, or pushes the timing system button to sound the start. The starter needs to keep the meet running insuring that he or she is in sync with the announcer on event number and heat.

STROKE & TURN JUDGES - Must have attended a clinic to train in swimming rules and execution of strokes and turns. S & T Judges are the only persons allowed to disqualify a swimmer for improper stroke or turn. They do their best to be fair to all competitors, giving the benefit of the doubt to the swimmer. Judges fill out "DQ" slips and gives completed slips to the runners, to be turned in to the scoring table immediately.

ZOO PARENT - Supervise swimmers in the designated zoo area before they need to go To the ready bench. The zoo parents will have a list of the swimmers and their events. (Events are assigned by the coaches not the zoo parents.) Each boy age group and each girl age group must be lined up in heat and lane order prior to going to the ready bench. Two or three parents for the younger groups is recommended. Consult with the Experienced zoo parents for the "tried and true" organization systems.

See also Swimmer Responsibility