Stroke & Turn Trainings for 2023:

Want the best seat in the house? Volunteer for stroke and turn! We always need more stroke and turn officials! We're happy to teach you what you need to know, and you'll have the opportunity to shadow a more experienced person.

Non-year-round officials (1st time and returning):

1. Please sign up in advance of the trainings: https://forms.gle/ZoE2XPRyGy13eQXw9

2. Attend one of the following (Please stay for the starter training. Stroke and Turn training is 2 hours; starter training is 30 min):

3. Email [email protected] with your name, which training you attended, and whether you stayed for the starter training

Year-round officials:

Year-round officials do not need to attend one of the above trainings, but they must review a PDF PowerPoint file to make sure they know the differences between FSSL and year-round swimming rules. This will be sent out via email or you can email [email protected] for access. Once you've reviewed the PowerPoint, please email [email protected] so that your name can be added to the list of officials.

IT Trainings for 2023:

There are no more IT trainings scheduled for 2023. 

Family Responsibilities

The Hammerhead Swim Team, with the exception of our paid coaches is completely run by volunteers. In order to make it a fun and successful season, we require that each family volunteer for, at minimum, four meets during the season. If you will not be able to attend 4 meets, we still need the volunteer time filled. That can be done by volunteering a whole meet one or two times to help meet your requirements.  

In addition to volunteering during the meets, we ask that families help with set up the Friday evening before home meets - we do this during the open swim portion of our pep rallies - and tear down Saturday after the meet ends. The more people who help with these important tasks, the more quickly they go.

Meet day volunteer positions and descriptions are listed below. You will be able to sign up electronically on our Team Unify website. 

Volunteer Position Descriptions
(* Home meets only)

Clerk of Course: This is the area where swimmers line up for their events. We need people there to help get them in the correct order for their events. You will be given a program so you have the names to call, and the DJ/MC is available to call for missing swimmers. There are four Clerk of Course positions each half. For a dual meet, there will be volunteers from both teams.. Great job if you like being with the kids, and it's the best way to get to know the team!

Concessions *: Concessions is our only way of fundraising for the team. We need several people to make this work. You will be serving food, and depending on which half you work, you will either help finish setting it up, or help clean it up at the end.

Crossing Guard *: This person monitors and controls the crosswalk across the public road that runs through our team areas. We have to have this monitored at all times, since our visitors - and occasionally Hammerheads team members - are either not aware (or remember) that there will be an occasional car that will drive through.

Documentation Runner *: This person is responsible for taking the heat sheets and disqualification (DQ) slips to the scoring table. Each lane has a clipboard where times are recorded, and when a heat sheet is completed, they collect the heat sheets. DQ slips are collected after each event.

Head Timer *: This is usually someone who has Timed before. The Head Timer has 2 backup stopwatches they start at the beginning of each race and then they watch for a Timer who requests a replacement during the race (e.g., a watch didn't start or a malfunction after the start of the watch). The Head Timer exchanges a functioning watch for the malfunctioning one .

Heat Ribbons *: Heat ribbons are the ribbons the swimmers earn if they come in first in their Heat.  The Heat Ribbon person keeps an eye on the heats and hands one of these ribbons to the swimmer who touches first. You have to keep an eye on the swimmers. This is a good position for responsible siblings/friends who attend the meet.

IT Support: Our scorers table needs one or two people to assist the IT Head by reading the times from the heat sheets and helping with any other tasks as needed to support the IT Head  This position is a good shadowing opportunity for people who have just taken the IT Training.

Parking Attendant *: This person arrives early to string caution tape on both sides of the public road that runs through our team areas to control where swimmers and spectators can cross. They are then available to direct visitors to drop-off points and available parking locations.

Ribbon Writer: The IT team prints stickers to be placed on the back of the ribbons for the 1st - 12th place finishers. At the Hood pool, the Ribbon Writers work in close proximity to the IT team; host teams will let us know ahead of time where the Ribbon Writers will work at our away meets.

Safety Marshal: This person wears a recognizable vest and walks around the team areas and any other area where swimmers and spectators may be (e.g. concessions, outside the bathrooms, play areas etc) to ensure people are acting appropriately, correct behavior as needed, and report repeated issues to the appropriate Team Representative.

Stroke & Turn Judge: These judges are responsible for watching swimmers and deciding if they are swimming a legal event or if they performed incorrect stroke(s), turn(s), or other violations of the USS rules. To volunteer for Stroke & Turn, you must attend one of the pre-season training sessions. This is one of the most vital positions for the team - if we aren't able to provide enough Stroke & Turn judges for a meet, we must forfeit the meet. In addition to Stroke & Turn, attending the final 30 minutes of the training session will certify you to assume the vital Starter role. More information is in the Stroke & Turn Trainings section of this page.

Stroke & Turn Shadowing *: We offer the opportunity for people who have recently completed the Stroke & Turn training to shadow the official judges at a meet. Many newly trained Stroke & Turn judges have found that observing an experienced judge and comparing their practice calls with the official ones has made stepping into the offical role much easier. Remember that Stroke & Turn (and the small step to Starter) is one of the most vital positions for the team. More information is in the Stroke & Turn Trainings section of this page.

Timer: Each team is required to provide enough Timers to have 3 Timers at the top of every lane. In dual meets they will split it up so that both teams have an equal number of Timers for each half and equitably placed in the lanes so no lane has timers from only one team. Every Timer has a stopwatch and one person in each lane has the clipboard of heat sheets in addition. At the end of each race, the person with the clipboard will record all three times on the heat sheet. It's helpful for IT if the person with the most legible handwriting has the clipboard.