Enhancing Club Development Through Volunteer-Hosted Meets

1. Rice Aquatics Volunteer/Meet hosting meeting

2. Why host meets? • Club Development! Fantastic way to build team environment – Give parents ways to work together and support each athlete. • Provide more competitive opportunities for our members utilizing our current resources. • Know where we are competing! Keep athletes closer to home! • Offset club financial costs (want to avoid/reduce parents “just writing a check”) • Registration for non-athletes (can be used in more instances than meet management) • Pool rental (we are guests at Rice Rec Center) • Growing coaching staff • Training/dryland equipment for athletes

3. Current resources • 280 athlete members (Minimum 400 parents) • 1x50m facility – not competing for water time with any other USAS club team. • Athletes qualified for: • Junior Nationals, Futures, NCSA, Sectionals, UIL State • TAGS, AG Champs, Summer Champs • Developmental/regional Non-Qualifying Gulf Meets • Non-Competitive athletes (soon to be competing)

4. Outlook on hosting meets • Goal over calendar year: • 1-2 meets during short course season • 1 meet/weekend during long course season • 2 Open Water meets each year • Meets are designed to be shorter sessions with controlled numbers • RICE facility is not set up to host Gulf Open Meets (don’t worry) • Can only run meets from 1-end; no lighting for night meets; size limitations at Rec Center • No Warm-up/warm-down, must leave rec lanes open, some wiggle room on weekend mornings

5. Upcoming Meets – Serving all abilities(not necessarily at every meet) • April 29 – Gulf Open Water Carnival • June 8 – RICE Owl Summer Long Invitational (1-day) • June 9 – Gulf June Sprint Series • Sept/Oct TBD – Annual Navy/White meet (Unsanctioned last year) • October 5 – Gulf Open Water Champs

6. What’s the next step? What levels are there to volunteering? • Meet officials • Meet Director/Safety Marshals • Lead Auxiliary positions – overseeing 1 area of meet management • Concessions, spirit wear, facility set up/tear down, hospitality, computer/timing • Worker positions – supporting lead roles • Donations/Timing - Still necessary for running good meets Goal is to find a position where parent/volunteer feels comfortable and confident they can serve the position well!

7. Officials – As important as having access to a facility • Meet Referees – Enforce rules and sanction guidelines, lead official on-deck • Donna Lai-Dormiani – No athletes swimming for RICE • Louis Davis – No Athletes swimming for RICE • Admin Officials – Computer operator, entries & seeding, verifies times & results • Gerald Lewis (Megan, Senior)

8. Officials (Continued) • Deck Officials – Starters, Stroke & Turn, Apprentices • Carol Nielsen (Joe & Anna, Navy & Silver) – Team Representative for officials • Gerald Lewis (Megan, Seniors) • Armando Armelini (Meiko & Emiko, Groups 3&2) • Brad Ohnstad (Masters Swimmer - No athletes swimming for RICE) • Al Thomas (Masters swimmer – No athletes swimming for RICE) • Jesse Rodriguez (Coach Jessica’s dad – 1 coach coaching at RICE)

9. Officials (Continued) • Interested in becoming an official? • Carol Nielsen – Team Officials representative Carol@nielseniplaw.com • Responsibilities • Must be USAS Registered non-athlete – pass BGC, APT • Must go through officials training, online test, and 6 sessions of “apprenticing”

10. Meet Director(s) – Person(s) in Charge • Current Certified Meet Directors – (Must be certified through Gulf TPC) • Coach Beau, Coach Amanda, Kelly Malone • Responsibilities (in a nutshell) • Must be USAS Registered non-athlete, pass BGC, APT • Coordinator for lead positions at meets: • Meet Referee, Admin Official, Volunteer Coordinator, Facility director, Lead Coaches for each team • Admin Responsibilities: Writing sanction, writing announcement, document safety incidents, filing results, post meet report, financial reports, athlete recon, paying splash fees to LSC, among a few others.

11. Safety Marshals • Requirements • Must be 21 years old, registered non-athlete • Must pass successful Background check, & athlete protection training • Responsibilities: • Crowd Control – keeping parents “off-deck”, ensuring only registered athletes and non-athletes are “on-deck”. • Supervising warm-up/warm-down lanes • Reporting safety issues to MD and Facility director

12. Volunteer Coordinator • Finds volunteers to fill roles under lead roles; ensures volunteers are reporting on time; reports issues to MD • Must be able to recruit volunteers, get people to fill jobs and positions • Admin responsibilities • Recording and allocating volunteer hours for appropriate accounts • Helpful if USAS registered non-athlete

13. Auxiliary leads – Extra stuff that makes for a great meet! • Concessions – Collecting items in advance, managing sales, handling cash boxes • Hospitality – Similar to concessions but less maintenance and no sales (for coaches & volunteers) • Spirit Wear – Similar to concessions but for clothing. This position is not always filled, and can sometimes be contracted out to an outside vendor. • Facility – Pre-meet Setup & Tear down – Less thinking, more work independently, some heavy lifting involved • Runners – Get some steps in and assist the MD – Collect timer sheets, post results, etc • Computer/Timing Operator – No certification necessary, assist the Admin Official

14. How many lead roles are we looking for? • Officials – Any number – Contact Carol Nielsen if interested • Meet Director – 2-3 • Safety Marshal – 3-4 • Volunteer Coordinators – 2-3 • Concessions/Hospitality – 2-3 • Spirit Wear – 1-2 • Setup/Tear down – 2-3 • Computer/Timing operator – 2-3

15. Thank you for attending! • Please commit to signing up for 1 or 2 positions you are interested in! • Coach Beau will put together “teams” of volunteers to take on different projects, getting certified, and educating on how to do each position well.