South Family YMCA Thunderbolts
Parents’ Organization and Parent Advisory Committee
By-Laws
From the Parent Organization, a Parent Advisory Council shall be appointed from selected parent volunteers by the Aquatics Director to provide advice and council to the Aquatics Director and Thunderbolts Head Coach throughout the season.
The Parent Advisory Council is an organization of interested parents like you, and we welcome your contributions. If you would like to contribute in any way, please feel free to tell any council member of your interest. Any parent or swimmer is welcome to attend these meetings and participate. If you have a significant concern that you wish to discuss, please inform one of the council members in advance so you can be placed on the agenda.
The Advisory Council shall meet monthly as needed, and the entire Parent Organization will be called to order bi-annually. The Parent Advisory Council’s duties are to advise on issues, concerns, or opportunities associated with the Thunderbolt Swim Team and aid in execution of decisions made by the Aquatics Director.
By-laws
1 The name of this organization shall be “South Family YMCA Thunderbolts Swim Team Parents’ Organization”, henceforth know as Parents’ Advisory Council.a) General membership refers to all Thunderbolts Swim Team Parents, swimmers, and members at large. b) Parent Advisory Council refers to all appointed members of the Thunderbolt Swim Team Parents’ Organization plus the Thunderbolt Swim Team Coach.
2 Membershipa) There shall be three classes of membership in the Club: (1) Regular members and (2) Competitor members and (3) members at large. Regular members shall be defined as the parents or legal guardians of Competitor members. Competitor members shall be those swimmers who are members of the Club/YMCA team from time to time. Members at large shall be individuals who are not parents or guardians of swimmers but want to serve the club to promote competitive swimming.
b) All parents/guardians and members at large of the general membership are eligible members of the Parents’ Organization.
c) Selected appointed volunteers of the Parent Organization, are members of the Parent Advisory Council
3 Appointments to Advisory Councila) Each Advisory Council member will serve 1 year terms, with a 3 year term limit.
b) Advisory council members will serve from May of one calendar year through April of the next.
c) If a council member had reached the term limit and wishes to continue as a council member, they must take a 1 year hiatus from the council and the candidate can then return after one calendar year.
d) Appointments occur from time to time as needed to fill the eight (8) desired active members of the parent advisory group.
e) Applications for the Council positions will be made available to all interested parents of the general membership.
f) Background checks will need to be done on any parent wishing to volunteer for a council position
4 Parent Advisory Council Members and Dutiesa) Executive Leadership/Aquatics Director
i) All duties of the Swim Club are the responsibility of the Aquatics Director except for treasury which is the responsibility of the YMCA of Greater Saint Paul.
ii) The Aquatics Director is also responsible for Safety of the club. He/she will ensure that deck safety rules are followed and that safety marshals are aware of their responsibilities at home meets, including the need to fill out incident reports on all injuries. Maintain up to date first aid kits, and uphold the YMCA of Greater Saint Paul Water Safety and Risk Management standards.
iii) Other duties and responsibilities surrounding the general management of the club can be delegated as deemed appropriate by the Aquatics Director for the betterment of the club.
b) Duties of Parent Advisory Council Members
i) Shall be appointed by the Aquatics Director and hold at minimum a 1-year position within the Advisory Council
ii) Shall give the Aquatics Director written notice should they not be interested in continuing their role on the Advisory Council
iii) Shall attend all meetings of the Parent Advisory Council and the General Membership meetings
iv) Shall work with the Aquatics Director to look for persons of the general membership interested in taking part in the Parent Advisory Council and aid in the nomination process.
v) Shall help in the formulation of special committees deemed necessary by the Aquatics Director for the management of the club.
vi) Be responsible for fostering team spirit
vii) Annually organize an orientation meeting for all general membership new members.
viii) Shall investigate all concerns received from parents in the prescribed manner, (as outlined below) written and signed and relay concerns to Aquatics Director in monthly meeting.
ix) Help Aquatics Director and Club Staff keep the Parents Handbook up to date and provide maps to event locations.
x) Help in coordinating and announcing General membership and Advisory Council meetings.
xi) Keep and record minutes of all meetings
(1) File and maintain all Parent Advisory Council minutes and committee reports
(2) Provide a copy of minutes and reports to Aquatics Director and for posting on the bulletin board and Thunderbolt website
(3) Shall compose and distribute rosters of both team members and team parents at the beginning of each season and update the roster quarterly, or as necessary.
xii) In addition to the Basic Council member roles, other roles are needed to help with team management, Including:
(1) Fundraising Committee Lead: Responsible for coordinating all activities which raise funds for the team. Provide report to Aquatics Director on funds raised. Track status of each Thunderbolt member’s fundraising commitment and communicate status as required.
(2) Meet Coordinator: Provide Meet Manager(s) with support for all home meets. Contact visiting teams to identify their responsibilities at our meets. Order and coordinate delivery of awards. Post worker sign up sheets. Work with meet food coordinator on concession. Work with meet entry coordinator to finalize number of swimmers and timelines. Coordinate with Aquatic Director to release the information on meets. Work with Aquatic Director to insure pool safety.
(3) In addition to the meet coordinator, additional meet duties need to be accounted for including:
a. Computer Chair: Responsible for all computer needs for meets including processing of team entries and statistics. Train and schedule review sessions for computer assistants in all aspects of providing computer support for swim meets, including scratches, printing heat lane assignments and pulling. The Computer Chair, or designate, will attend home meets and supervise the correct functioning of the computer. Also, generally responsible for the proper use of the computer, its maintenance and any recommended purchases/upgrades.
b. Computer Committee: Assist Computer Chair
c. Concession Food Coordinator: Establish system for purchase/donation of food items and volunteer scheduling for home meets. Coordinate and/or assign responsibilities to committee members as required. Report revenue earned from concessions and expenses to Aquatic Director and remit funds.
d. Dual Meet Manager: Identify and coordinate meet workers for home dual meets.
e. Hospitality: Provide meals at home meets for the coaches and officials.
f. Meet Awards: Responsible for obtaining awards from Aquatics Department and coordinating volunteers to label awards and distribute to teams.
g. Officials Chair: Develop and train team officials (referees, starter/recall, stroke & turn) by offering classes for USA Swimming and YMCA official certification and registration. Identify and coordinate referees, starters and stroke & turn officials for all home and championship meets.
(4) Volunteer Coordinator: Recruit and coordinate volunteers, help in tracking of association volunteer hours. Help solicit parent volunteers by using web notices, sign up sheets or telephone calls.
(5) Communications Coordinator: Work with squad coaches and parents to build communication, establish a squad phone tree, organize squad social/team events and coordinate Awards Banquet & gifts for coaches.
a. Fall Event & Annual Banquet: Arrange beginning-of-year fall event to promote team unity, spirit and fun for all squads. Set date and time for Recognition Day in May and coordinate food, trophies and any special awards.
b. Annual Team Awards: Responsible for researching team trophies for all swimmers for Annual Banquet. Coordinate with Aquatics Director and head Coach to ensure trophy accuracy and to properly sort all trophies by squad.
c. Team Pictures: Photograph team members, coaches and parents throughout the year for use in publicity and for Annual Banquet. Organize annual team photograph day.
d. Publicity: Publicize Thunderbolts accomplishments (individual and team) in the local media. Work closely with coaches to collect accurate information for every meet. Coordinate with Team Picture Chair to include photographs in publicity.
(6) Team Registrar Coordinator
a. Work with the Aquatics Director to post information for upcoming meets and coordinate swimmers signing up to attend each meet.
b. Work with the Aquatics Director to submit entries for each YMCA and
c. Coordinate with the LCC and Aquatics Director to ensure proper registration of all
d. Oversee the input of the meet results and update swimmers’ times in the team computer system.
e. Provide top time results to the Head Coach and for posting on the website as required.
f. Compose and distribute rosters.
(7) Meet Job Descriptions The following outlines the jobs that are required to run a meet, including a brief description of what the job entails and the time frame required. A “session” starts at the time of warm-up and ends after the last event. Please note that some jobs require that you be available to work before a session begins or after it ends.
a. Meet Manager: Organize the meet, identify and coordinate meet workers and assist the Meet Referee the day of the meet to ensure that everything runs smoothly and efficiently. Must be
b. Assistant Meet Manager: Assist Meet Manager. Often, this person is training to become a Meet Manager. Time estimate: Same as Meet Manager.
c. Officials:
i. Referee: Responsible for running the meet once the warm-up session has started. Gives instructions to other officials working the meet. Must be USA Swimming registered for USA meets, YMCA certified for YMCA run meets. Training for position set by Minnesota Swimming. Time estimate: Meet session.
ii. Starter/Recall: Reports to Referee. Responsible for starting the swimmers from the blocks. Must be
iii. Stroke & Turn: Reports to Referee. Insures that strokes and turns are done legally. Illegal strokes/turns are reported to the Referee and the swimmer is disqualified (DQ’d). Responsible for speaking with swimmer to identify what was done incorrectly. Must be
iv. Computer: Responsible for running the swim meet computer program. Includes, scratches, heat lane assignments and retrieving results from the cards and printing event results. Training on the computer is required; length of training is based on an individual’s understanding of the program and comfort level in operating the computer at a meet. Time estimate: Meet session plus pre-session preparation time and post-session completion of results.
v. Computer Assistant: Assist Computer person as required including sorting papers, checking results, etc. Should be in training, or already comfortable with computer system. Time estimate: Meet session plus pre-session preparation time and post-session completion of results.
vi. Head Timer: Responsible for stopwatch and lane assignments. Also serves as “Back-up” timer and assists Runner as required. Time estimate: Meet session.
vii. Timer: Responsible for operating the stopwatch to record a swimmer’s time on the timer sheet. These times are used for official time. There are 2 timers per lane. In addition to operating the stopwatch, one timer records the stopwatch times on the timer. Time estimate: Meet session.
viii. Runner: Responsible for distributing and retrieving timer sheets during the meet. Time estimate: Meet session.
ix. Poster: Responsible for posting heat/lane assignments and results. Time estimate: Meet session.
x. Announcer: Responsible for warm-up session music and announcements. Announces results of events and, in the case of trials and finals, takes scratches for finals. Time estimate: Meet session.
xi. Marshals: “The person wearing the orange vest.” One male and one female required at each session. Responsible for monitoring access to pool deck to ensure that no unauthorized person(s) gain access, checking the locker rooms, and making sure swimmers are demonstrating safe behavior (no running, no playing in locker rooms or in doorways, etc.). Marshals also look out for unsafe conditions, such as water on floors in hallways and people standing in front of doorways.
Responsible for incident reports on all reported injuries. Time estimate: Meet session.
xii. Awards: Responsible for getting the award labels from the computer person, placing them on the awards and filing awards in appropriate team bags. Time estimate: Meet session until all awards are filed.
xiii. Hospitality: Work in the hospitality area to provide meals for coaches and officials between meet sessions. Time estimate: Varies with meet timing, but requires attendance between sessions of a meet.
xiv. Concession: Work in Concession area preparing, stocking and selling food, and meet items such as programs. Time estimate: Meet session. Individuals working the last session of the day should be prepared to assist with clean up.
xiii) Nomination of Parent Advisory Council
(1) Nominating Committee/Three (3) Councilors Annually
(a) To meet with the Aquatics Director in the spring to research and develop a slate of candidates for appointed open positions.
(b) Select candidates with the ability and willingness to serve.
(c) Present the nominations to the general membership of the Parents Organization in March and accept additional nominations from the floor during the General Meeting prior to the Annual Short Course Awards Dinner.
(d) All appointments to the Parent Advisory Council are delegated by the Aquatics Director
5 Amending the by-laws:i) Amendments of the by-laws must go through Executive Leadership of the YMCA of Greater Saint Paul
6 Parental Concerns:a) Any parent who has a concern should submit that concern, in writing, to the Parent Advisory Council, asking for a conference. The letter should detail the concern, suggest a remedy, and must be signed. Confidentiality will be maintained. The members of the council are responsible for this process.
7 Committees:a) Are delineated in the Parent Handbook and it is expected that parents/member give their fair share of time as necessary.
a) General membership refers to all Thunderbolts Swim Team Parents, swimmers, and members at large. b) Parent Advisory Council refers to all appointed members of the Thunderbolt Swim Team Parents’ Organization plus the Thunderbolt Swim Team Coach.
2 Membershipa) There shall be three classes of membership in the Club: (1) Regular members and (2) Competitor members and (3) members at large. Regular members shall be defined as the parents or legal guardians of Competitor members. Competitor members shall be those swimmers who are members of the Club/YMCA team from time to time. Members at large shall be individuals who are not parents or guardians of swimmers but want to serve the club to promote competitive swimming.
b) All parents/guardians and members at large of the general membership are eligible members of the Parents’ Organization.
c) Selected appointed volunteers of the Parent Organization, are members of the Parent Advisory Council
3 Appointments to Advisory Councila) Each Advisory Council member will serve 1 year terms, with a 3 year term limit.
b) Advisory council members will serve from May of one calendar year through April of the next.
c) If a council member had reached the term limit and wishes to continue as a council member, they must take a 1 year hiatus from the council and the candidate can then return after one calendar year.
d) Appointments occur from time to time as needed to fill the eight (8) desired active members of the parent advisory group.
e) Applications for the Council positions will be made available to all interested parents of the general membership.
f) Background checks will need to be done on any parent wishing to volunteer for a council position
4 Parent Advisory Council Members and Dutiesa) Executive Leadership/Aquatics Director
i) All duties of the Swim Club are the responsibility of the Aquatics Director except for treasury which is the responsibility of the YMCA of Greater Saint Paul.
ii) The Aquatics Director is also responsible for Safety of the club. He/she will ensure that deck safety rules are followed and that safety marshals are aware of their responsibilities at home meets, including the need to fill out incident reports on all injuries. Maintain up to date first aid kits, and uphold the YMCA of Greater Saint Paul Water Safety and Risk Management standards.
iii) Other duties and responsibilities surrounding the general management of the club can be delegated as deemed appropriate by the Aquatics Director for the betterment of the club.
b) Duties of Parent Advisory Council Members
i) Shall be appointed by the Aquatics Director and hold at minimum a 1-year position within the Advisory Council
ii) Shall give the Aquatics Director written notice should they not be interested in continuing their role on the Advisory Council
iii) Shall attend all meetings of the Parent Advisory Council and the General Membership meetings
iv) Shall work with the Aquatics Director to look for persons of the general membership interested in taking part in the Parent Advisory Council and aid in the nomination process.
v) Shall help in the formulation of special committees deemed necessary by the Aquatics Director for the management of the club.
vi) Be responsible for fostering team spirit
vii) Annually organize an orientation meeting for all general membership new members.
viii) Shall investigate all concerns received from parents in the prescribed manner, (as outlined below) written and signed and relay concerns to Aquatics Director in monthly meeting.
ix) Help Aquatics Director and Club Staff keep the Parents Handbook up to date and provide maps to event locations.
x) Help in coordinating and announcing General membership and Advisory Council meetings.
xi) Keep and record minutes of all meetings
(1) File and maintain all Parent Advisory Council minutes and committee reports
(2) Provide a copy of minutes and reports to Aquatics Director and for posting on the bulletin board and Thunderbolt website
(3) Shall compose and distribute rosters of both team members and team parents at the beginning of each season and update the roster quarterly, or as necessary.
xii) In addition to the Basic Council member roles, other roles are needed to help with team management, Including:
(1) Fundraising Committee Lead: Responsible for coordinating all activities which raise funds for the team. Provide report to Aquatics Director on funds raised. Track status of each Thunderbolt member’s fundraising commitment and communicate status as required.
(2) Meet Coordinator: Provide Meet Manager(s) with support for all home meets. Contact visiting teams to identify their responsibilities at our meets. Order and coordinate delivery of awards. Post worker sign up sheets. Work with meet food coordinator on concession. Work with meet entry coordinator to finalize number of swimmers and timelines. Coordinate with Aquatic Director to release the information on meets. Work with Aquatic Director to insure pool safety.
(3) In addition to the meet coordinator, additional meet duties need to be accounted for including:
a. Computer Chair: Responsible for all computer needs for meets including processing of team entries and statistics. Train and schedule review sessions for computer assistants in all aspects of providing computer support for swim meets, including scratches, printing heat lane assignments and pulling. The Computer Chair, or designate, will attend home meets and supervise the correct functioning of the computer. Also, generally responsible for the proper use of the computer, its maintenance and any recommended purchases/upgrades.
b. Computer Committee: Assist Computer Chair
c. Concession Food Coordinator: Establish system for purchase/donation of food items and volunteer scheduling for home meets. Coordinate and/or assign responsibilities to committee members as required. Report revenue earned from concessions and expenses to Aquatic Director and remit funds.
d. Dual Meet Manager: Identify and coordinate meet workers for home dual meets.
e. Hospitality: Provide meals at home meets for the coaches and officials.
f. Meet Awards: Responsible for obtaining awards from Aquatics Department and coordinating volunteers to label awards and distribute to teams.
g. Officials Chair: Develop and train team officials (referees, starter/recall, stroke & turn) by offering classes for USA Swimming and YMCA official certification and registration. Identify and coordinate referees, starters and stroke & turn officials for all home and championship meets.
(4) Volunteer Coordinator: Recruit and coordinate volunteers, help in tracking of association volunteer hours. Help solicit parent volunteers by using web notices, sign up sheets or telephone calls.
(5) Communications Coordinator: Work with squad coaches and parents to build communication, establish a squad phone tree, organize squad social/team events and coordinate Awards Banquet & gifts for coaches.
a. Fall Event & Annual Banquet: Arrange beginning-of-year fall event to promote team unity, spirit and fun for all squads. Set date and time for Recognition Day in May and coordinate food, trophies and any special awards.
b. Annual Team Awards: Responsible for researching team trophies for all swimmers for Annual Banquet. Coordinate with Aquatics Director and head Coach to ensure trophy accuracy and to properly sort all trophies by squad.
c. Team Pictures: Photograph team members, coaches and parents throughout the year for use in publicity and for Annual Banquet. Organize annual team photograph day.
d. Publicity: Publicize Thunderbolts accomplishments (individual and team) in the local media. Work closely with coaches to collect accurate information for every meet. Coordinate with Team Picture Chair to include photographs in publicity.
(6) Team Registrar Coordinator
a. Work with the Aquatics Director to post information for upcoming meets and coordinate swimmers signing up to attend each meet.
b. Work with the Aquatics Director to submit entries for each YMCA and
c. Coordinate with the LCC and Aquatics Director to ensure proper registration of all
d. Oversee the input of the meet results and update swimmers’ times in the team computer system.
e. Provide top time results to the Head Coach and for posting on the website as required.
f. Compose and distribute rosters.
(7) Meet Job Descriptions The following outlines the jobs that are required to run a meet, including a brief description of what the job entails and the time frame required. A “session” starts at the time of warm-up and ends after the last event. Please note that some jobs require that you be available to work before a session begins or after it ends.
a. Meet Manager: Organize the meet, identify and coordinate meet workers and assist the Meet Referee the day of the meet to ensure that everything runs smoothly and efficiently. Must be
b. Assistant Meet Manager: Assist Meet Manager. Often, this person is training to become a Meet Manager. Time estimate: Same as Meet Manager.
c. Officials:
i. Referee: Responsible for running the meet once the warm-up session has started. Gives instructions to other officials working the meet. Must be USA Swimming registered for USA meets, YMCA certified for YMCA run meets. Training for position set by Minnesota Swimming. Time estimate: Meet session.
ii. Starter/Recall: Reports to Referee. Responsible for starting the swimmers from the blocks. Must be
iii. Stroke & Turn: Reports to Referee. Insures that strokes and turns are done legally. Illegal strokes/turns are reported to the Referee and the swimmer is disqualified (DQ’d). Responsible for speaking with swimmer to identify what was done incorrectly. Must be
iv. Computer: Responsible for running the swim meet computer program. Includes, scratches, heat lane assignments and retrieving results from the cards and printing event results. Training on the computer is required; length of training is based on an individual’s understanding of the program and comfort level in operating the computer at a meet. Time estimate: Meet session plus pre-session preparation time and post-session completion of results.
v. Computer Assistant: Assist Computer person as required including sorting papers, checking results, etc. Should be in training, or already comfortable with computer system. Time estimate: Meet session plus pre-session preparation time and post-session completion of results.
vi. Head Timer: Responsible for stopwatch and lane assignments. Also serves as “Back-up” timer and assists Runner as required. Time estimate: Meet session.
vii. Timer: Responsible for operating the stopwatch to record a swimmer’s time on the timer sheet. These times are used for official time. There are 2 timers per lane. In addition to operating the stopwatch, one timer records the stopwatch times on the timer. Time estimate: Meet session.
viii. Runner: Responsible for distributing and retrieving timer sheets during the meet. Time estimate: Meet session.
ix. Poster: Responsible for posting heat/lane assignments and results. Time estimate: Meet session.
x. Announcer: Responsible for warm-up session music and announcements. Announces results of events and, in the case of trials and finals, takes scratches for finals. Time estimate: Meet session.
xi. Marshals: “The person wearing the orange vest.” One male and one female required at each session. Responsible for monitoring access to pool deck to ensure that no unauthorized person(s) gain access, checking the locker rooms, and making sure swimmers are demonstrating safe behavior (no running, no playing in locker rooms or in doorways, etc.). Marshals also look out for unsafe conditions, such as water on floors in hallways and people standing in front of doorways.
Responsible for incident reports on all reported injuries. Time estimate: Meet session.
xii. Awards: Responsible for getting the award labels from the computer person, placing them on the awards and filing awards in appropriate team bags. Time estimate: Meet session until all awards are filed.
xiii. Hospitality: Work in the hospitality area to provide meals for coaches and officials between meet sessions. Time estimate: Varies with meet timing, but requires attendance between sessions of a meet.
xiv. Concession: Work in Concession area preparing, stocking and selling food, and meet items such as programs. Time estimate: Meet session. Individuals working the last session of the day should be prepared to assist with clean up.
xiii) Nomination of Parent Advisory Council
(1) Nominating Committee/Three (3) Councilors Annually
(a) To meet with the Aquatics Director in the spring to research and develop a slate of candidates for appointed open positions.
(b) Select candidates with the ability and willingness to serve.
(c) Present the nominations to the general membership of the Parents Organization in March and accept additional nominations from the floor during the General Meeting prior to the Annual Short Course Awards Dinner.
(d) All appointments to the Parent Advisory Council are delegated by the Aquatics Director
5 Amending the by-laws:i) Amendments of the by-laws must go through Executive Leadership of the YMCA of Greater Saint Paul
6 Parental Concerns:a) Any parent who has a concern should submit that concern, in writing, to the Parent Advisory Council, asking for a conference. The letter should detail the concern, suggest a remedy, and must be signed. Confidentiality will be maintained. The members of the council are responsible for this process.
7 Committees:a) Are delineated in the Parent Handbook and it is expected that parents/member give their fair share of time as necessary.
a) There shall be three classes of membership in the Club: (1) Regular members and (2) Competitor members and (3) members at large. Regular members shall be defined as the parents or legal guardians of Competitor members. Competitor members shall be those swimmers who are members of the Club/YMCA team from time to time. Members at large shall be individuals who are not parents or guardians of swimmers but want to serve the club to promote competitive swimming.
b) All parents/guardians and members at large of the general membership are eligible members of the Parents’ Organization.
c) Selected appointed volunteers of the Parent Organization, are members of the Parent Advisory Council
3 Appointments to Advisory Councila) Each Advisory Council member will serve 1 year terms, with a 3 year term limit.
b) Advisory council members will serve from May of one calendar year through April of the next.
c) If a council member had reached the term limit and wishes to continue as a council member, they must take a 1 year hiatus from the council and the candidate can then return after one calendar year.
d) Appointments occur from time to time as needed to fill the eight (8) desired active members of the parent advisory group.
e) Applications for the Council positions will be made available to all interested parents of the general membership.
f) Background checks will need to be done on any parent wishing to volunteer for a council position
4 Parent Advisory Council Members and Dutiesa) Executive Leadership/Aquatics Director
i) All duties of the Swim Club are the responsibility of the Aquatics Director except for treasury which is the responsibility of the YMCA of Greater Saint Paul.
ii) The Aquatics Director is also responsible for Safety of the club. He/she will ensure that deck safety rules are followed and that safety marshals are aware of their responsibilities at home meets, including the need to fill out incident reports on all injuries. Maintain up to date first aid kits, and uphold the YMCA of Greater Saint Paul Water Safety and Risk Management standards.
iii) Other duties and responsibilities surrounding the general management of the club can be delegated as deemed appropriate by the Aquatics Director for the betterment of the club.
b) Duties of Parent Advisory Council Members
i) Shall be appointed by the Aquatics Director and hold at minimum a 1-year position within the Advisory Council
ii) Shall give the Aquatics Director written notice should they not be interested in continuing their role on the Advisory Council
iii) Shall attend all meetings of the Parent Advisory Council and the General Membership meetings
iv) Shall work with the Aquatics Director to look for persons of the general membership interested in taking part in the Parent Advisory Council and aid in the nomination process.
v) Shall help in the formulation of special committees deemed necessary by the Aquatics Director for the management of the club.
vi) Be responsible for fostering team spirit
vii) Annually organize an orientation meeting for all general membership new members.
viii) Shall investigate all concerns received from parents in the prescribed manner, (as outlined below) written and signed and relay concerns to Aquatics Director in monthly meeting.
ix) Help Aquatics Director and Club Staff keep the Parents Handbook up to date and provide maps to event locations.
x) Help in coordinating and announcing General membership and Advisory Council meetings.
xi) Keep and record minutes of all meetings
(1) File and maintain all Parent Advisory Council minutes and committee reports
(2) Provide a copy of minutes and reports to Aquatics Director and for posting on the bulletin board and Thunderbolt website
(3) Shall compose and distribute rosters of both team members and team parents at the beginning of each season and update the roster quarterly, or as necessary.
xii) In addition to the Basic Council member roles, other roles are needed to help with team management, Including:
(1) Fundraising Committee Lead: Responsible for coordinating all activities which raise funds for the team. Provide report to Aquatics Director on funds raised. Track status of each Thunderbolt member’s fundraising commitment and communicate status as required.
(2) Meet Coordinator: Provide Meet Manager(s) with support for all home meets. Contact visiting teams to identify their responsibilities at our meets. Order and coordinate delivery of awards. Post worker sign up sheets. Work with meet food coordinator on concession. Work with meet entry coordinator to finalize number of swimmers and timelines. Coordinate with Aquatic Director to release the information on meets. Work with Aquatic Director to insure pool safety.
(3) In addition to the meet coordinator, additional meet duties need to be accounted for including:
a. Computer Chair: Responsible for all computer needs for meets including processing of team entries and statistics. Train and schedule review sessions for computer assistants in all aspects of providing computer support for swim meets, including scratches, printing heat lane assignments and pulling. The Computer Chair, or designate, will attend home meets and supervise the correct functioning of the computer. Also, generally responsible for the proper use of the computer, its maintenance and any recommended purchases/upgrades.
b. Computer Committee: Assist Computer Chair
c. Concession Food Coordinator: Establish system for purchase/donation of food items and volunteer scheduling for home meets. Coordinate and/or assign responsibilities to committee members as required. Report revenue earned from concessions and expenses to Aquatic Director and remit funds.
d. Dual Meet Manager: Identify and coordinate meet workers for home dual meets.
e. Hospitality: Provide meals at home meets for the coaches and officials.
f. Meet Awards: Responsible for obtaining awards from Aquatics Department and coordinating volunteers to label awards and distribute to teams.
g. Officials Chair: Develop and train team officials (referees, starter/recall, stroke & turn) by offering classes for USA Swimming and YMCA official certification and registration. Identify and coordinate referees, starters and stroke & turn officials for all home and championship meets.
(4) Volunteer Coordinator: Recruit and coordinate volunteers, help in tracking of association volunteer hours. Help solicit parent volunteers by using web notices, sign up sheets or telephone calls.
(5) Communications Coordinator: Work with squad coaches and parents to build communication, establish a squad phone tree, organize squad social/team events and coordinate Awards Banquet & gifts for coaches.
a. Fall Event & Annual Banquet: Arrange beginning-of-year fall event to promote team unity, spirit and fun for all squads. Set date and time for Recognition Day in May and coordinate food, trophies and any special awards.
b. Annual Team Awards: Responsible for researching team trophies for all swimmers for Annual Banquet. Coordinate with Aquatics Director and head Coach to ensure trophy accuracy and to properly sort all trophies by squad.
c. Team Pictures: Photograph team members, coaches and parents throughout the year for use in publicity and for Annual Banquet. Organize annual team photograph day.
d. Publicity: Publicize Thunderbolts accomplishments (individual and team) in the local media. Work closely with coaches to collect accurate information for every meet. Coordinate with Team Picture Chair to include photographs in publicity.
(6) Team Registrar Coordinator
a. Work with the Aquatics Director to post information for upcoming meets and coordinate swimmers signing up to attend each meet.
b. Work with the Aquatics Director to submit entries for each YMCA and
c. Coordinate with the LCC and Aquatics Director to ensure proper registration of all
d. Oversee the input of the meet results and update swimmers’ times in the team computer system.
e. Provide top time results to the Head Coach and for posting on the website as required.
f. Compose and distribute rosters.
(7) Meet Job Descriptions The following outlines the jobs that are required to run a meet, including a brief description of what the job entails and the time frame required. A “session” starts at the time of warm-up and ends after the last event. Please note that some jobs require that you be available to work before a session begins or after it ends.
a. Meet Manager: Organize the meet, identify and coordinate meet workers and assist the Meet Referee the day of the meet to ensure that everything runs smoothly and efficiently. Must be
b. Assistant Meet Manager: Assist Meet Manager. Often, this person is training to become a Meet Manager. Time estimate: Same as Meet Manager.
c. Officials:
i. Referee: Responsible for running the meet once the warm-up session has started. Gives instructions to other officials working the meet. Must be USA Swimming registered for USA meets, YMCA certified for YMCA run meets. Training for position set by Minnesota Swimming. Time estimate: Meet session.
ii. Starter/Recall: Reports to Referee. Responsible for starting the swimmers from the blocks. Must be
iii. Stroke & Turn: Reports to Referee. Insures that strokes and turns are done legally. Illegal strokes/turns are reported to the Referee and the swimmer is disqualified (DQ’d). Responsible for speaking with swimmer to identify what was done incorrectly. Must be
iv. Computer: Responsible for running the swim meet computer program. Includes, scratches, heat lane assignments and retrieving results from the cards and printing event results. Training on the computer is required; length of training is based on an individual’s understanding of the program and comfort level in operating the computer at a meet. Time estimate: Meet session plus pre-session preparation time and post-session completion of results.
v. Computer Assistant: Assist Computer person as required including sorting papers, checking results, etc. Should be in training, or already comfortable with computer system. Time estimate: Meet session plus pre-session preparation time and post-session completion of results.
vi. Head Timer: Responsible for stopwatch and lane assignments. Also serves as “Back-up” timer and assists Runner as required. Time estimate: Meet session.
vii. Timer: Responsible for operating the stopwatch to record a swimmer’s time on the timer sheet. These times are used for official time. There are 2 timers per lane. In addition to operating the stopwatch, one timer records the stopwatch times on the timer. Time estimate: Meet session.
viii. Runner: Responsible for distributing and retrieving timer sheets during the meet. Time estimate: Meet session.
ix. Poster: Responsible for posting heat/lane assignments and results. Time estimate: Meet session.
x. Announcer: Responsible for warm-up session music and announcements. Announces results of events and, in the case of trials and finals, takes scratches for finals. Time estimate: Meet session.
xi. Marshals: “The person wearing the orange vest.” One male and one female required at each session. Responsible for monitoring access to pool deck to ensure that no unauthorized person(s) gain access, checking the locker rooms, and making sure swimmers are demonstrating safe behavior (no running, no playing in locker rooms or in doorways, etc.). Marshals also look out for unsafe conditions, such as water on floors in hallways and people standing in front of doorways.
Responsible for incident reports on all reported injuries. Time estimate: Meet session.
xii. Awards: Responsible for getting the award labels from the computer person, placing them on the awards and filing awards in appropriate team bags. Time estimate: Meet session until all awards are filed.
xiii. Hospitality: Work in the hospitality area to provide meals for coaches and officials between meet sessions. Time estimate: Varies with meet timing, but requires attendance between sessions of a meet.
xiv. Concession: Work in Concession area preparing, stocking and selling food, and meet items such as programs. Time estimate: Meet session. Individuals working the last session of the day should be prepared to assist with clean up.
xiii) Nomination of Parent Advisory Council
(1) Nominating Committee/Three (3) Councilors Annually
(a) To meet with the Aquatics Director in the spring to research and develop a slate of candidates for appointed open positions.
(b) Select candidates with the ability and willingness to serve.
(c) Present the nominations to the general membership of the Parents Organization in March and accept additional nominations from the floor during the General Meeting prior to the Annual Short Course Awards Dinner.
(d) All appointments to the Parent Advisory Council are delegated by the Aquatics Director
5 Amending the by-laws:i) Amendments of the by-laws must go through Executive Leadership of the YMCA of Greater Saint Paul
6 Parental Concerns:a) Any parent who has a concern should submit that concern, in writing, to the Parent Advisory Council, asking for a conference. The letter should detail the concern, suggest a remedy, and must be signed. Confidentiality will be maintained. The members of the council are responsible for this process.
7 Committees:a) Are delineated in the Parent Handbook and it is expected that parents/member give their fair share of time as necessary.
a) Executive Leadership/Aquatics Director
i) All duties of the Swim Club are the responsibility of the Aquatics Director except for treasury which is the responsibility of the YMCA of Greater Saint Paul.
ii) The Aquatics Director is also responsible for Safety of the club. He/she will ensure that deck safety rules are followed and that safety marshals are aware of their responsibilities at home meets, including the need to fill out incident reports on all injuries. Maintain up to date first aid kits, and uphold the YMCA of Greater Saint Paul Water Safety and Risk Management standards.
iii) Other duties and responsibilities surrounding the general management of the club can be delegated as deemed appropriate by the Aquatics Director for the betterment of the club.
b) Duties of Parent Advisory Council Members
i) Shall be appointed by the Aquatics Director and hold at minimum a 1-year position within the Advisory Council
ii) Shall give the Aquatics Director written notice should they not be interested in continuing their role on the Advisory Council
iii) Shall attend all meetings of the Parent Advisory Council and the General Membership meetings
iv) Shall work with the Aquatics Director to look for persons of the general membership interested in taking part in the Parent Advisory Council and aid in the nomination process.
v) Shall help in the formulation of special committees deemed necessary by the Aquatics Director for the management of the club.
vi) Be responsible for fostering team spirit
vii) Annually organize an orientation meeting for all general membership new members.
viii) Shall investigate all concerns received from parents in the prescribed manner, (as outlined below) written and signed and relay concerns to Aquatics Director in monthly meeting.
ix) Help Aquatics Director and Club Staff keep the Parents Handbook up to date and provide maps to event locations.
x) Help in coordinating and announcing General membership and Advisory Council meetings.
xi) Keep and record minutes of all meetings
(1) File and maintain all Parent Advisory Council minutes and committee reports
(2) Provide a copy of minutes and reports to Aquatics Director and for posting on the bulletin board and Thunderbolt website
(3) Shall compose and distribute rosters of both team members and team parents at the beginning of each season and update the roster quarterly, or as necessary.
xii) In addition to the Basic Council member roles, other roles are needed to help with team management, Including:
(1) Fundraising Committee Lead: Responsible for coordinating all activities which raise funds for the team. Provide report to Aquatics Director on funds raised. Track status of each Thunderbolt member’s fundraising commitment and communicate status as required.
(2) Meet Coordinator: Provide Meet Manager(s) with support for all home meets. Contact visiting teams to identify their responsibilities at our meets. Order and coordinate delivery of awards. Post worker sign up sheets. Work with meet food coordinator on concession. Work with meet entry coordinator to finalize number of swimmers and timelines. Coordinate with Aquatic Director to release the information on meets. Work with Aquatic Director to insure pool safety.
(3) In addition to the meet coordinator, additional meet duties need to be accounted for including:
a. Computer Chair: Responsible for all computer needs for meets including processing of team entries and statistics. Train and schedule review sessions for computer assistants in all aspects of providing computer support for swim meets, including scratches, printing heat lane assignments and pulling. The Computer Chair, or designate, will attend home meets and supervise the correct functioning of the computer. Also, generally responsible for the proper use of the computer, its maintenance and any recommended purchases/upgrades.
b. Computer Committee: Assist Computer Chair
c. Concession Food Coordinator: Establish system for purchase/donation of food items and volunteer scheduling for home meets. Coordinate and/or assign responsibilities to committee members as required. Report revenue earned from concessions and expenses to Aquatic Director and remit funds.
d. Dual Meet Manager: Identify and coordinate meet workers for home dual meets.
e. Hospitality: Provide meals at home meets for the coaches and officials.
f. Meet Awards: Responsible for obtaining awards from Aquatics Department and coordinating volunteers to label awards and distribute to teams.
g. Officials Chair: Develop and train team officials (referees, starter/recall, stroke & turn) by offering classes for USA Swimming and YMCA official certification and registration. Identify and coordinate referees, starters and stroke & turn officials for all home and championship meets.
(4) Volunteer Coordinator: Recruit and coordinate volunteers, help in tracking of association volunteer hours. Help solicit parent volunteers by using web notices, sign up sheets or telephone calls.
(5) Communications Coordinator: Work with squad coaches and parents to build communication, establish a squad phone tree, organize squad social/team events and coordinate Awards Banquet & gifts for coaches.
a. Fall Event & Annual Banquet: Arrange beginning-of-year fall event to promote team unity, spirit and fun for all squads. Set date and time for Recognition Day in May and coordinate food, trophies and any special awards.
b. Annual Team Awards: Responsible for researching team trophies for all swimmers for Annual Banquet. Coordinate with Aquatics Director and head Coach to ensure trophy accuracy and to properly sort all trophies by squad.
c. Team Pictures: Photograph team members, coaches and parents throughout the year for use in publicity and for Annual Banquet. Organize annual team photograph day.
d. Publicity: Publicize Thunderbolts accomplishments (individual and team) in the local media. Work closely with coaches to collect accurate information for every meet. Coordinate with Team Picture Chair to include photographs in publicity.
(6) Team Registrar Coordinator
a. Work with the Aquatics Director to post information for upcoming meets and coordinate swimmers signing up to attend each meet.
b. Work with the Aquatics Director to submit entries for each YMCA and
c. Coordinate with the LCC and Aquatics Director to ensure proper registration of all
d. Oversee the input of the meet results and update swimmers’ times in the team computer system.
e. Provide top time results to the Head Coach and for posting on the website as required.
f. Compose and distribute rosters.
(7) Meet Job Descriptions The following outlines the jobs that are required to run a meet, including a brief description of what the job entails and the time frame required. A “session” starts at the time of warm-up and ends after the last event. Please note that some jobs require that you be available to work before a session begins or after it ends.
a. Meet Manager: Organize the meet, identify and coordinate meet workers and assist the Meet Referee the day of the meet to ensure that everything runs smoothly and efficiently. Must be
b. Assistant Meet Manager: Assist Meet Manager. Often, this person is training to become a Meet Manager. Time estimate: Same as Meet Manager.
c. Officials:
i. Referee: Responsible for running the meet once the warm-up session has started. Gives instructions to other officials working the meet. Must be USA Swimming registered for USA meets, YMCA certified for YMCA run meets. Training for position set by Minnesota Swimming. Time estimate: Meet session.
ii. Starter/Recall: Reports to Referee. Responsible for starting the swimmers from the blocks. Must be
iii. Stroke & Turn: Reports to Referee. Insures that strokes and turns are done legally. Illegal strokes/turns are reported to the Referee and the swimmer is disqualified (DQ’d). Responsible for speaking with swimmer to identify what was done incorrectly. Must be
iv. Computer: Responsible for running the swim meet computer program. Includes, scratches, heat lane assignments and retrieving results from the cards and printing event results. Training on the computer is required; length of training is based on an individual’s understanding of the program and comfort level in operating the computer at a meet. Time estimate: Meet session plus pre-session preparation time and post-session completion of results.
v. Computer Assistant: Assist Computer person as required including sorting papers, checking results, etc. Should be in training, or already comfortable with computer system. Time estimate: Meet session plus pre-session preparation time and post-session completion of results.
vi. Head Timer: Responsible for stopwatch and lane assignments. Also serves as “Back-up” timer and assists Runner as required. Time estimate: Meet session.
vii. Timer: Responsible for operating the stopwatch to record a swimmer’s time on the timer sheet. These times are used for official time. There are 2 timers per lane. In addition to operating the stopwatch, one timer records the stopwatch times on the timer. Time estimate: Meet session.
viii. Runner: Responsible for distributing and retrieving timer sheets during the meet. Time estimate: Meet session.
ix. Poster: Responsible for posting heat/lane assignments and results. Time estimate: Meet session.
x. Announcer: Responsible for warm-up session music and announcements. Announces results of events and, in the case of trials and finals, takes scratches for finals. Time estimate: Meet session.
xi. Marshals: “The person wearing the orange vest.” One male and one female required at each session. Responsible for monitoring access to pool deck to ensure that no unauthorized person(s) gain access, checking the locker rooms, and making sure swimmers are demonstrating safe behavior (no running, no playing in locker rooms or in doorways, etc.). Marshals also look out for unsafe conditions, such as water on floors in hallways and people standing in front of doorways.
Responsible for incident reports on all reported injuries. Time estimate: Meet session.
xii. Awards: Responsible for getting the award labels from the computer person, placing them on the awards and filing awards in appropriate team bags. Time estimate: Meet session until all awards are filed.
xiii. Hospitality: Work in the hospitality area to provide meals for coaches and officials between meet sessions. Time estimate: Varies with meet timing, but requires attendance between sessions of a meet.
xiv. Concession: Work in Concession area preparing, stocking and selling food, and meet items such as programs. Time estimate: Meet session. Individuals working the last session of the day should be prepared to assist with clean up.
xiii) Nomination of Parent Advisory Council
(1) Nominating Committee/Three (3) Councilors Annually
(a) To meet with the Aquatics Director in the spring to research and develop a slate of candidates for appointed open positions.
(b) Select candidates with the ability and willingness to serve.
(c) Present the nominations to the general membership of the Parents Organization in March and accept additional nominations from the floor during the General Meeting prior to the Annual Short Course Awards Dinner.
(d) All appointments to the Parent Advisory Council are delegated by the Aquatics Director