Volunteering on Poolside can be done by those qualified and unqualified
Our volunteers are the life-blood of the Club and our Club is run by and relies on our collective volunteering efforts.
Ideally every family in Dolphins would help by offering even just a few hours a year.
This documents sets out the volunteering on poolside at meets –
When you can volunteer at the different types of swim meets
What the qualifications you can gain are and how to get them
What happens at Surrey County/London Region Champs
When can you volunteer?
1. Internal Club Champs – for all swimmers in Dolphins and upwards.
Run Winter and Autumn.
Anyone can help out at these. They don’t have licensing at these meets. You just need an ASA number (provided by Club Sec).
2. Licensed Club Champs – for all swimmers in Silver and above.
Run Autumn and Winter, but there are 2-3 days in each round. So about 6 galas a year.
We need volunteers who are qualified (Technical Officials licensed by Swim England) and non-technical officials (not licensed, but have ASA membership via the Club so anyone can do this). If your swimmer is racing, you can help.
3. Licensed External Meets – these are competitions where our swimmers go and race at another Club. They require Technical Officials qualified to Time-keeper and above, as well as non-technical volunteers. If your swimmer is racing, you can help.
4. Surrey County Champs and London Regional Champs
These are higher level meets where licensed officials Judge Level 1 (J1) and above are needed (see below for explanation).
They require Technical Officials – J1 and above. Anyone can volunteer still as a non-technical official (ie a marshall) with no qualifications.
Background Explanation on What the Swim England Technical Official Qualifications are and how to Obtain Them
- Time-keepers – take times at meets – around 3 hours to qualify with a simple online course from Swim England's Institute of swimming and a brief practical
- Judge Level 1s (J1s) – time-keep, chief time keeper, turns judges and some stroke judging – 3 more hours to qualify. Need to gain experience during training (including at Surreys or Regionals at Level 1 meets – see below). Can do the theory element on line now see Swim England website.
- Judge Level 2 (J2) – stroke judges
- J2S – starter
- Referee – refs the whole meet
If your swimmer is racing at the Surrey County Champs (January of each year)
1. Officials (need to be qualified)
J1 Trainees – can request mentoring at the Surreys via the Surrey website (surreyswimming.org) and in fact, trainees are meant to do a couple of sessions at L1/2 meets. These are higher level meets – the Surreys are L1. So whilst you cannot officiate, you can get vital mentoring and be part of what’s going on. This is the same for the London Regional Competition in the Spring.
J1s and above – can officiate at the Surreys and Dolphins are required to send officials as we are a very big club now. So please sign up to volunteer – link is at surreyswimming.org You will also be able to officiate at the London Regional Competition in the Spring.
2. Non-technical (do not need qualifications only to be registered by the Club)
Non-technical officials. ANY PARENT can volunteer for this. You do NOT need experience. It’s doing programmes, taking refreshments round, marshalling all vital jobs. Please step up and volunteer for at least one session – link is at surreyswimming.org Jules Burvill of Woking SC is the parent in charge of non-tech and you could not find a more welcoming and efficient individual to work with. You can also volunteer for non-tech for the London Regional Competition in the Spring.
Training dates for Technical Officials 2
J1 training – Stage 1 of J1 – timekeepers course. Express your interest to me at [email protected] and I will help you. It takes 3 hours to do then a quick poolside assessment which we can do at the Dolphin’s meets. £20 club happy to pay. Club need to ensure that you have ASA membership (takes 5 minutes to do).
Stage 2 of J1 training – 3 hour online workshop. See Swim England website.
J2 training - For those who have completed J1 and with over 15 hours of recorded post qualification poolside experience. Free. Please email our Surrey Lead, Di Gamble on [email protected]
Any problems/issues or to discuss further – [email protected]
