2022-2023 Fall/Winter Madison Mariners Family Job Requirements
Parent involvement is critical to success in swimming. When your swimmer joined the Mariners, the whole family joined the Mariners. Since many people are needed to run smooth swim meets and team social functions, as well as help the team in general, all Mariner families are required to participate. To ensure fairness, we have established requirements as set forth below.
There are many ways to become involved with the team and many jobs to be filled. Generally, the various jobs available are as follows:
1. MPO Positions. These are administrative positions on the MPO Executive Board, Committee Chairs, or Committee Members. These jobs can range from small to significant commitments, and information about openings will be shared during the parent meeting. The committees include the Meet Operations and Job Committee, Communications Committee, Apparel Committee, and Social Committee.
2. Swim Meet Jobs. Many people are needed to run a smooth swim meet. The jobs available are: Officials, Timers, Announcer, Building Marshal, Colorado Timing System operator, Concession Stand, Hospitality Coordinator, Livestream Coordinator, Meet Manager, Meet Marshal, Meet Volunteer Coordinator, Pool Marshal, Runner, Scoreboard Operator, and Snack Distribution. To become an Official, you must take a certification class and pass a test. Because Officials are trained positions, and required to run a meet, the team requests that Officials work all Dual Meets and Tri-Meets that they have a swimmer attending. In addition, Officials are encouraged to volunteer for any Invitational meets where they have a swimmer entered. For all other jobs, no formal certification is necessary.
The Mariners attend many meets throughout the year, including Dual Meets, Tri-Meets, Invitational Meets, State Championship Meets and the Sunkissed Invitational. For all Dual and Tri-Meets, the Mariners have to provide many timers, Officials and timing system operators, as well as fulfill other job positions listed above if we are hosting the meet at our pool. For Invitational Meets, the host team assigns jobs to participating teams for each session of the meet based upon the number of swimmers that the team has entered, regardless of any scratches that the team may have. Thus, if the Mariners have entered 15 swimmers in a session, we will likely receive 2 timing assignments in that session, even if some swimmers scratch. If only 10 Mariners show up for that session, we will still have to provide as many timers as required for having entered 15 swimmers. Since swimming is such a popular sport in New Jersey, it can be difficult to get into Invitational Meets. Our ability to provide timers and Officials for these meets increases our chances of being asked back to the meet by the host team and helps boost the Mariners' reputation as a great and helpful team. Your participation also adds to the overall camaraderie of our team.
The additional perk for all job volunteers is that you will be able to see your swimmer(s) up close since you will be on the pool deck.
For any Invitational meet hosted by the Mariners, all families are required to assist and sign up for jobs.
Not all meets will require all the jobs listed below. Depending on what type of meet we are participating in or hosting, the jobs requiring fulfillment will vary.
3. Swim Team Functions. We usually have swim team socials and parties throughout the year, including the end of the year banquet, and assistance is always needed to chaperone the events.
Family Job Requirements
Each family is required to earn a certain number of job points based on the requirements for the swim group of their most advanced swimmer and each job is assigned a certain number of points as listed below. For instance, if you have a swimmer in Red and a swimmer in Gold/Platinum, your family will need to fulfill 16 points by the end of the season for the swimmer in Gold.
2022-2023 Fall and Winter Season Family Job Requirements by Group
| Group Name |
Family Job Points to be earned by end of season (March) |
| RED |
4.0 |
| WHITE |
8.0 |
| GRAY |
12.0 |
| SILVER, GOLD, PLATINUM |
16.0 |
| JOBS |
Points applied for completing job |
| Announcer: Responsible for using the PA system to make announcements during the meet |
1.0 |
| 11/under Marshal: Responsible for escorting the 11/under swimmers from all teams down to pool deck from the building entrance to where each team is seated on the bleachers. Also responsible for escorting them to bathrooms and for escorting them to pool exit or building exit after they are finished with their events to be picked up by the parent or guardian. |
1.0 |
| Balcony Marshal: Responsible for ensuring safety of those on the balony; during invitational meets, also responsible for making sure spectators on the balcony rotate out to the livestream viewing area when their swimmers are finished swimming |
1.0 |
| Building Marshal: Responsible for directing swimmers to the pool after drop-off, for making sure swimmers are not in other parts of the facility One or two marshals need to be by the hallway leading to the locker rooms to ensure that no one under the age of 16 uses men or women's locker rooms |
1.0 |
| Colorado Timing System Operator: Responsible for operating the timing system during meet; no experience necessary and training can/will be provided |
1.0 |
| Concession: Responsible for setting up the concession stand prior to meet, running the concession stand during meet, and storing remaining items after meet |
1.0 |
| Hospitality Coordinator: Responsible for setting up, maintaining, and cleaning up the hospitality room for officials and coaches during invitational meets hosted by our team |
1.0 |
| Livestream Coordinator: Responsible for setting up and maintaining livestream throughout the meet |
1.0 |
| Meet Manager: Responsible for running the computer program Meet Manager during the meet; no experience necessary and training can/will be provided |
1.0 |
| Meet Marshal: Responsible for marshaling and helping swimmers line up for their events Please remember to take a printed heat sheet from the Aquatics Office to help marshal the swimmers. |
1.0 |
| Meet Volunteer Coordinator: Responsible for checking in all the volunteers during warm up and provide job back up or relief as needed; attend timers meeting and distribute stopwatches and clipboards Responsible for checking out all the MAY volunteers, collecting the lanyards and stopwatches and clipboards |
1.0 |
| Merchandise Sales Coordinator: Responsible for setting up the team merchandise table prior to meet, keeping track of sales and items sold, and for putting away the remaining items after meet |
1.0 |
| MPO Committee Chairperson |
4.0 |
| MPO Committee Members* |
3.0 |
| Pool Marshal: Responsible for making sure that only those volunteers who have confirmed jobs are on pool deck; also responsible for enforcing safety rules on pool deck for swimmers and volunteers |
1.0 |
| Runner/Back up Timer: Responsible for collecting timers sheets from the timers and DQ slips from the meet referee and bringing them to the computer table inside the Aquatics Office. Also responsible for being the "extra" back up timer during the meet. Please remember to take a printed heat sheet from the Aquatics Office so you know after which event to collect the timers sheets. |
1.0 |
| Snack Distribution: Distribute snacks to swimmers after the conclusion of the meet |
0.5 |
| Team Function Chaperone: Help chaperone swimmers during team functions, like ice cream socials, pizza nights, Madison Thanksgiving parade, etc |
0.5 |
| Timer: Use stopwatch to time the swimmers and record the times; must be present during timers meeting that usually happens during warm-up Stopwatches will be provided. |
1.0 |
+Other jobs may be identified during the season and appropriate points will be assigned as necessary.
*MPO participation points are earned for participation in that role for the whole season, and will be applied at the end of the season.
#Officials are requested to work all dual/tri meets in which their swimmer attends.
If you are having difficulty fulfilling the requirements or finding a job you are comfortable with, please reach out to speak with any of the MPO Executive Members or the head coach. There are plenty of ways to help the team including MPO Committees and assisting the coaching staff. We understand that we all have other obligations, so we will work with you to identify the right job for you.
PROCESS
Each swim meet or function will have jobs available for sign-up on the website on an "open" or a first-come, first-served basis. While every effort will be made to post job sign-ups as early as possible, Invitational meet jobs will only be tentative until the host team issues job assignments about 3 days before the meet. Once the job sign-up is closed, you will no longer be able to sign-up or change your sign-up. If you can no longer work a job that you have signed up for after sign-up is closed, YOU are required to find a replacement and notify the job coordinator. If a true emergency arises, you must contact the job coordinator.
If there are still open jobs about 24-48 hours before the meet, the job coordinator will assign the open jobs to those families with a swimmer signed-up for the meet or function. When job assignments are still open, they are given to those families who have the fewest past jobs completed and will be emailed prior to the meet or function. If you receive an assignment and cannot fulfill it, you must find a replacement and notify the job coordinator. It is highly recommended that you sign up for jobs that are convenient for you. If you receive an assignment, you must stay to complete it, even if your swimmer's events are finished for the meet.
In order to ensure that the right points are applied for completing a job, please check in with the Meet Volunteer Coordinator for the meet or function. As a volunteer, you will need to stay for the entire dual meet or entire session of the invitational meet. At the conclusion of the meet or session, sign out with the Meet Volunteer Coordinator and return the lanyard so that you can receive proper credit. Not signing out will result in forfeiting the job point. The job coordinator will provide the necessary information to the Meet Operations Chair for applying job points to the account. If you do not receive the proper job credit, please reach out to the Meet Operations Chair.
NO-SHOWS
Not showing up for a job creates many problems for the team, including delaying a meet (impacting hundreds of people), harming the team’s reputation, and placing a bigger burden on those who are at the meet or function. Thus, a penalty must be imposed for no-shows as follows:
In the event that you do not show up and fail to provide a valid excuse or a replacement for either (1) a job you signed up for or (2) a job assignment you received, additional points will be added to your Family Job Requirements for the season. The additional point requirements for a no-show will be double the points for the no-show job. For example, if you received a job assignment of Timer at a dual meet, and you failed to find a replacement or show up, you will have 2 points added to your Family Job Points Requirements for the season. If a family has multiple no shows (without a valid excuse), the Head Coach may discuss with the family whether the swimmer should continue as a member of the Mariners.
FAMILY JOB REQUIREMENTS ASSESSMENTS
At the end of the season, the Head Coach will assess each swimmer’s participation at practice and swim meets and the participation of the family in meeting their Family Job Requirements. If a family has failed to meet the Family Job Requirements, the Head Coach may not grant the swimmer(s) an automatic position on the team moving forward. The swimmer(s) may be required to participate in try-outs for the team, along with new swimmers, to determine whether the swimmer can continue with the Mariners.
