Volunteer Roles

Safety Officer

A great role which allows you to become thoroughly involved in supporting your club at our popular open meet. A key aspect of running a competitive event is to ensure a safe environment. Your role is to help us do this. For your reference, Swim England provides detailed safety guidance for clubs, covering everything from lane management to risk assessments.

The role of the safety officer is to:    

• liaise with the event referee to complete the appropriate checklist with the referee The checklist is produced by the Swim England (note that the safety checklist must be signed by the referee and the safety officer) 
• be available to deal with any issues which may include injury or equipment failure (note that the safety officer is not available to do any other job due to the need to be on call for the whole session)

PA/Announcer

This is a crucial role at a competitive swimming event. We are happy to mentor anyone who fancies having a go at this. 

The announcer reports to the Swim Meet Director at the start of the warm up and needs to be a good sight reader and comfortable tackling unfamiliar names. The announcer’s main tasks include announcing each event and heat number; telling swimmers to report to marshals; announcing results/ finalists or award winners. 

The announcer makes the safety announcement at the start of the event and ensures that all lifeguards are in place before the event starts.   

Check out the Swim England Good Club Guide on how to be a meet announcer.

Poolside Set Up

We require a number of volunteers prior to the start of an event to help set up the pool/pool area/equipment. This involves ensuring the pool and the surrounding pool areas are ready for competition. This role is suitable for those who may not be available for the whole session. It’s a great opportunity to be on poolside and see first-hand what is involved in a swim competition.

Blocks/Timing Pad Officers

Ensure that all blocks and timing pads are put out and secured before the warm up commences and put away securely at the end of the event. It’s one of those skills that you always wanted to learn!  

Door / Entry Table – Ticketing & Programmes

This role is to meet and greet spectators at the entry desk as they arrive. This role includes collecting money from spectators for their daily pass and helping with general enquiries. It’s a great job that sets the tone for the event for all those who visit. You will need to arrive at least 30 minutes prior to advertised warm-up times as you’d be surprised how many people arrive at a meet very early!   

You will suit this role if you love meeting people and are super helpful! 

Your responsibilities will be to:

• collect the float from the club treasurer at the start of the event and return it to the club treasurer at the end of the event 
• collect the entry fee from spectators and issue wristbands 
• sell programmes
• issue spectator refunds – where applicable

Ticket Checker

Your role is to check that those entering into the viewing gallery have tickets. It’s a great opportunity to show visitors and members what a friendly and welcoming club we are.  

Raffle

This is a fun and communicative role. The raffle table is located next to the entry table. Your responsibilities are organising the raffle draw, selling the tickets and of course, smiling a lot! You need to collect the float from the club treasurer at the start of the event and return it to the club treasurer at the end of the event.

Club Meet & Greet

In this friendly and welcoming role you:     

• greet coaches at the main leisure centre entrance  
• hand out coaches’ packs and passes for each club as they arrive 
• direct any queries to the Meet Coordinator   

Officials Coordinator & Host

This role requires you to look after all our lovely officials! 

Your role is to:  

• meet with officials prior to the start of the competition in the designated official’s area
• ensure that officials are looked after during the competition and provided with refreshments (water, sweets, biscuits, fruit) whilst on poolside and for the duration of the event  
• direct officials towards the official’s area at breaks and lunch.

Poolside Refreshments

Your role is to check that all volunteers/officials on poolside have enough water to drink. This person also hands out sweets to help give flagging officials/volunteers a bit of va-va-voom! A great role for someone who wants to be on poolside where all the action is. 

Warm-up Marshalling (must be Level 2 coach qualified)

This role requires you to be right in the thick of it at the beginning of each session. Your role is to work with the announcer during the warm up and to ensure that swimmers and coaches abide by the rules of warm up. It is important to listen out for the announcements made and direct the swimmers accordingly. Detailed warm up instructions will be provided on the day and will be specific to the event being run.

Race/Heat Marshalling – Reporting Area

Your role is on poolside, checking swimmers in for their events and organising them into heats & lane order as they wait in the reporting area. Marshals need to be in position 10 minutes prior to the end of the warm-up and will be instructed on the day as to how the reporting area will be organised. This is a busy, but rewarding job with lots of interaction with swimmers.

Race/Heat Marshalling – Deep/Shallow End

Race marshalls are where all the action is! They work on poolside and are positioned at the deep and shallow ends of the pool. They escort swimmers for each heat from the reporting area along the poolside to the start of their race.   

 Again, this is a busy, but rewarding job with lots of interaction with swimmers and a good way of reaching your 10,000 steps in a day!

Results Recorders & Electronic Timing

The person doing this role has a front row seat! They should be comfortable working with computers (spreadsheets and numbers) – under time pressure. Ideally, they should attend training prior to the event, but this is not essential as they can train for this role by sitting next to a volunteer who has done the job before.  The electronic timing system (i.e. the timing pads at the end of each lane and the electronic results board) is operated from a laptop and records the times for each swimmer in each lane and race. Timing computer operators are responsible for setting up, conducting pre-race testing and running the timing electronics for the meet. A basic level of computer literacy is required for this role.  Results Recorders are also on the frontline! They work at the recording desk, recording and logging results onto a laptop. Their role is to ensure the accuracy of results and to bring questionable results to attention of referee. You also compare electronic results with timekeeper results and alert the referee when there is a discrepancy. 

Posting results and recording speeding tickets 

Your role is important and valued by swimmers and parents, eager to confirm times and places. Results sheets will be available from the recording table once all the heats for each event have been swum and the winners have been determined.  Your role is to collect three copies of the results; one needs to be taken to the awards table, one needs to be posted poolside for swimmers and the other needs to be posted in the gallery for parents.

Medal Table Reps

A positive, fun and rewarding job – after all, who doesn’t love a medal? In this role, you look after the medals table, handing out Gold, Silver & Bronze medals, according to event results sheets. The results sheets arrive at the medals table once all the heats of each event have been swum and once the winners have been determined.  All medals need to be signed for by the individual swimmer or coach. There are no spares, so it is necessary to be diligent with the correct awarding of the medals. All remaining medals (uncollected or spare) should be given back to the Meet Coordinator, along with the signed results sheets, at the end of the event.

Meet Runners/Extra Helpers

Fancy being part of the action and/or to have a great view of your swimmer’s races? Meet runners/extra helpers are an important part of the team and will be needed (and valued)! Your role is to be available to cover any vacant roles or relieve volunteers if needed.