Swimming is a labor intensive sport and our team is dependent
on parental support for its continued success. Each family is asked
to sign a Work Hour Obligation Agreement form when they register
their swimmers with the club.
1. How many volunteer hours are expected from each
family?
We
ask families to fulfill a minimum Volunteer Obligation of 30 hours
per year. First year families with swimmers 8 years of age and
under are asked to fulfill a minimum of 20 hours. The swim year
runs from September through August and there are plenty of ways to
earn hours.
2. What can I do to fulfill my
family’s Work Obligation?
There are basically two ways to fulfill your Volunteer commitment.
- Take on a role – such as one of the Board
member positions – that fulfill all of your Volunteer
Obligations for the year. When these become available we will talk
to people on the pool deck and/or post details on the
website. Most of these jobs entail far more
than 30 hours work per year!
- Work shifts of a few hours at various meets and
other events to build up your 30 hours.
There are also roles, such as Parent Co-coordinator for a swim group for which
you will earn 15 hours, earning the other 15 hours by working at
meets etc.
Types of jobs available:
1. Hosted Meets.
PASA - Palo Alto Swim Club hosts 2
major meets a year, typically scheduled in
November and February. Hosting
a swim meet requires the efforts of many volunteers. There are many varied jobs available to earn hours
—from jobs that can be done on your own time
before the meet to day-of-event jobs such Hospitality Server or
Snack Bar Worker. Families can sign-up to work multiple jobs at a
meet as most jobs are scheduled in 3 – 4 hour shifts.
Sign-ups for meet jobs are done online. For more details about working at our
meets see Volunteer Opportunities at
PASA meets.
2.
Timers
In
addition to meets that we host, PASA is almost always assigned a
timing lane at meets that your swimmers attend. You do not usually sign up for these in advance – just
listen for the call about 20 minutes before the meet session begins
and go and sit in a chair. They will announce which lane PASA
is responsible for. Please fill this lane first. No-one will stop
you timing in another lane that is short of timers – they
will be grateful, but
make sure PASA has enough timers first. Calls are also put out for
relief timers as people leave Please help
out if you can by going to the timing area.
All hours spent timing can be counted towards your volunteer
obligation.
3.
Becoming an Official
Swim meets cannot be run without officials who ensure
that everything runs smoothly, within the guidelines of
USA swimming. These are the
people who act as Starters, Stroke and Turn Officials, Referees
etc. Zone 1 North – the area of Pacific
swimming to which PASA belongs – requires teams to provide a
number of officials related to the number of swimmers a team has at
a meet. PASA is a big team with lots of swimmers. If we do not
provide enough officials the referee may require our coaches to
officiate meaning they are unable to coach our swimmers! In recent
years many of our parents have stepped up to be an official. You
learn a lot about swimming; spend your time at meets usefully and
get provided with food and snacks! Of course training is available.
To find out more see: Becoming an
Official.
4.
Chaperoning
If
your swimmer is 13 or over they may have the opportunity to attend
travel meets without their parents traveling too! For these meets
we need parent chaperones to accompany the team – acting as
chauffeurs; ordering and distributing food and generally taking
care of the welfare of our swimmers. Travel
costs are paid and it is hard work! If you chaperone at a travel
meet you will fulfill all your volunteering commitments for the
year.
5. Assisting with
special events
Help
is often required in the form of setting up, cleaning up or
providing food and drink for various event held during the course
of the year. Keep an eye on your email for more information.
6.
Other
Sometimes the club needs help - perhaps to clean out the
storage area or to buy a coffee pot. All these things can
contribute to your volunteer commitment. All information will be
posted on the website and sent out by email.
4. Who can volunteer?
Any
family member 13 years old and over can work to earn volunteer
hours for your family. Family friends can help too – as long
as they do not have swimmers on the team (you cannot
‘borrow’ hours from another family, even if they have
more than 30). We know that younger swimmers like to help out at
meets too. We welcome any responsible
help but they cannot be credited with
volunteer hours for your family.
5. How does my family receive
credit for the hours that we have worked?
We
cannot track every family’s volunteer hours so every family is required to keep
a log of their Volunteer hours. You do not have to fill in a
special form (although one is available here (
Volunteer
Obligation Form). Note in your family’s log the number of hours worked
and what you were doing. When your family has fulfilled its
required hours, send an email to the Volunteer Obligation Hours
Coordinator at hours@paloaltoswimclub.org that includes the following information:
· Your
Name and the names of your swimmers
· Your
email address & phone number
· List
of your volunteer hours, the dates worked and what job you were
doing
Please note that your hours worked at PASA hosted meets will be
checked against volunteer schedules for reasonableness.
6. What if I
don’t fulfill all the hours of my family’s Work
Obligation?
If your family does not fulfill all of
its required Work Obligation hours during the swim year, it will be
charged $15.00 an hour for any outstanding hours.
7. How do I
learn about work opportunities?
Read
your email!
Meet
sign ups are always posted online and you
will be informed by email when these become available.
Any
open opportunities will be posted here ( Open
Opportunities) and sent out via
email.
Please remember, it is your responsibility to
sign-up for jobs and to do the jobs you signed-up for. We’re
counting on you!
Should you have any questions regarding these jobs or how to earn your
hours, please contact the Volunteer Coordinator at volrecruit@paloaltoswimclub.org.
