Woodbourne Wave 'Culture of Volunteering'
The Woodbourne Wave 'Culture of Volunteering' refers to the collective investment, values, and attitudes associated with successful community engagement. It is the foundation for what makes the swim season work and sets us apart from many other organized sports teams in the South Jeffco area. For the Wave to thrive season after season, your cooperation, trust, and open contribution is necessary and greatly valued. All swim team communities achieve success largely on the investment of its members volunteering during the season.
This section gives greater context and an overview of the Wave volunteer opportunities and will describe duties associated with each position. Families with only mini-wavers (6 and under) have 4 volunteer duties per family. Families with swimmers ages 7 and up have 6 volunteer duties per family, not including special meets such as the Gator Open, Ken Caryl Invitational and State Swim Meets. While all families have a shared pool of volunteer spots to choose from, families with mini-wavers can access duties that are conducive to young children and family schedules. Families with swimmers age 7 and up can access duties that fit with their swimmer's meet commitments and overall contribution to the team. All families can inquire about being a volunteer area lead or explore leadership opportunities with the Wave steering committee.
The season information session in March will provide greater clarity and a chance to ask questions about volunteer responsibilities.
Overview:
There are a variety of volunteer opportunities available. Many are dedicated spots during home meets (i.e. running concessions, heating/herding, data entry, timing swimmers, etc..), some are governance related (judges, starter, heating management, etc..), others contribute to culture or support overall season success (donut runners, setup/teardown, ribbons, trophies, buddy program, etc..).
The Wave is a community first organization - if you are fulfilling a volunteer role during a race, you are free to attend that race, celebrate with your swimmer(s) then return to complete your volunteer duty. Also, please keep us apprised of your summer travel plans so we can support you in having your best summer ever :)
Concessions:
Concessions are a standard offering at all home meets. Staff are needed to host breakfast for swimmers, operate electric hot plates or something to cook pancakes, sausage or bacon for the entirety of the event, usually a couple hours.
First shift workers start at 7am the day of the home meet: Duties include picking up breakfast burritos and coffee at an assigned location and bringing them to the clubhouse prior to the meet start time. They help set up the concessions stand, prepare food items and sell items to customers until end of first shift at 9:30am.
Second Shift Workers start at 9:30am: They will continue to sell items and make orders. Upon completion of meet, this shift will help clean up and tear down the concession area until the end of the meet (around Noon or before).
Concessions are supervised by a Wave steering committee member or volunteer area lead.
This is great option for all families as the role is stationary and dedicated with individual time slots.
Swimmer Data Entry:
As part of the South Jeffco Swim League, it is our responsibility to capture times for each event and each swimmer in accordance with reporting results to the SJSL for League, KCI and State Meet Qualifications. This team works in the Woodbourne clubhouse during the meet assisting or inputting lap times into a database. This process is supervised by a Wave steering committee member or volunteer area lead.
This is great option for all families as the role is stationary and dedicated with time slots. No computer skills are necessary - you will be trained onsite.
Set Up/Tear Down Crew:
There are 3 total home meets at the Woodbourne pool over the course of the summer. Meets usually begin at 7am on Saturdays, and a crew is required to come to the pool Friday night at 7pm and assist with setting up tents, banners, pennants, chairs, tables, stansions, and other duties as needed. Clean up begins after the final event of the home meet (usually before Noon on Saturdays) to recover the pool before regular hours resume. Setup/teardown shifts usually last about 45 minutes to an hour.
This is a great option for mini-waver families, or families who have conflicts and cannot compete in the home meets.
Heating and Herding:
What is Heating and Herding? During a meet, swimmers are called to a designated holding area to prepare for their event. It is the responsibility of the swimmer to show up for their event with enough time to check in and prepare. There are 3 key volunteer positions that support heating and herding during home meets:
- HH Lead - works inside the designated area to place the swimmers by event and heat into the correct lanes and chairs.
- HH Runner - runs through the swimmers by name prior to the event and makes sure they are still in the correct lane. This role takes them over to the last open row of chairs behind the diving blocks.
- HH Board Manager – updates the heating/event board and helps move the swimmers up in the rows of chairs behind the blocks.
Detailed instructions and training for the heating and herding roles are provided pre-season and along the way.
This is a great option for parents with swimmers 7 and up that are actively competing in the home meets.
Swim Judge:
Swim judges are needed to provide quality assurance and checks and balances during all swim meets. Anyone can volunteer to be a judge and must attend a training session prior to the season start. During a meet, judges will watch swimmers to ensure the correct stroke/turn is being used, then provide disqualifications to the data team for capture. Judges also may help with starting and heat announcements.
Benefit to judging is you fulfill 2 points per shift instead of 1 :)
This is a good option for parents whose swimmers are in the 7 and up category and working to refine their competitive abilities. You can help them by knowing the dos and donts!
Timers for Home Meets:
To ensure quality of lap times for swimmers, there are two Timers with stop watches stationed at each swim lane. Their job is to time the swimmer in their lane, record the results on a data sheet, and provide those results to the Runner who then delivers times to the data entry area. This is a particularly enjoyable position as you are poolside and in the middle of the action!
As this is the largest volunteer need, this is a great option for parents with swimmers 7 and up that are actively competing in both home and away meets. We occasionally provide timers for away meets as a way to support the larger SJSL community.
Home Meet Timer Runners:
Each meet consists of a number of events (usually up to 85 events on average). During each event, Timers capture individual swimmer times on a piece of paper. the Runner works with data entry team to pick up meet sheets and disqualifications from timers and periodically deliver them to the table inside the clubhouse for entry.
This is a great option for parents with swimmers 7 and up that are actively competing in the home meets.
Swimmer Counter Position for Swim-a-Thon:
The Swim-a-Thon is a special event. This position counts the number of laps a swimmer swims during the swim-a-thon and records that number on a sheet. This role is limited to one spot per family.
Recommended for families who intend to participate in the Swim-a-Thon event.
Other Volunteer Opportunities:
There are additional opportunities to engage with Wave beyond what is listed above. If you are interested in volunteering in one of the following areas, please indicate that during your registration process and we will be in touch!
Social Events Team: Responsible for helping out with social events (swim buddies, ice cream social, opening season kick-off, end of season banquet, and end of swim season celebration). Participation during events and attends planning meetings as needed.
Ribbons/Spy Awards/Speeding Tickets: The Wave distributes ribbons weekly into swimmer buddy boxes following swim meets and distributes other acknowledgements as needed. This role is responsible for distributing ribbons post-meet and works closely with data entry to determine where swimmers place and what ribbons/awards they will receive.
Wave Merchandise and Trophies: Swimmers have the option at the top of the season to purchase Woodbourne Wave gear (swim caps, sweatshirts, etc..), all swimmers also receive an honorary trophy at the conclusion of the season as acknowledgement for their hard work and competitive spirit. This position assists with coordinating, ordering, paying for and picking up gear and the trophies for end of year awards.
Wave Steering Committee: The Wave steering committee manages all aspects of the swim season, from communications and data management, registration and volunteer coordination, finance, logistics for setup and tear down, and concessions, they also plan and execute 'Give Back' programs throughout the year and maintain the viability of Wave as a non-profit organization. This is typically a 3-year commitment and a chance to step into a leadership role with the Wave team and contribute to overall success.
GO WAVE!
