Volunteering Requirement
Park Paseo Northstars is a non-profit organization and run 100% by parent volunteer. Our swim meets and team would not be such a success if it were not for the full participation of our great parents. Therefore, Volunteering is a REQUIREMENT in order to participate in the swim practices, dual meets, social events, Championship meet and the end-of-year party.
To encourage fairness and complete participation, if you miss a volunteer commitment without finding a replacement, you will be charged a "no show" fee of $250.
Current Season Volunteering
For the 2025 season, volunteer sign-ups will begin on May 5th. We are in the process of making adjustments and will email families before sign-ups begin.
Parent volunteering is mandatory for your swimmer to participate in Northstars events. Each family is generally required to complete 6-8 volunteer jobs at the meets during the season, depending on the number of families registered in the team and the number of meets we have. Home meets will have more shifts to cover as we are usually expected to provide snacks for both our team and the visiting team. This amount is decided by the board prior to the season start based on the the number of swimmers registered. In addition, families attending Pentathlon or Champs will be asked to sign-up for additional jobs related to those events.
If you cannot work one (or more) of your job commitments, it is your responsibility to find a replacement worker and notify the Volunteer Coordinator ASAP. A replacement worker may be another family member of legal working age, or a paid teenager per your arrangement. If you miss a volunteer commitment without finding a replacement, you will be charged a "no show" fee of $250 and your swimmer may not be permitted to participate in future events until this amount is settled.
Please contact our Volunteer Coordinator ([email protected]) if you have additional questions.
Volunteer Job Description
Below are descriptions of some of the most common jobs:
SCORERS TABLE – Stats Recorder: These positions work the scorers table as stats recorders. Stats recorders log each child’s time, the place they earned, and the points awarded to the team into the team computer. They also record individual heat feedback from the Officials of the meets.
SCORERS TABLE - Lane Slip Sorters and DQ Writers: Slip sorter sorts lane cards for each heat by time and each event by finish places, notes heat winners, place winners 1st – 6th, participants on each lane card, separate cards by team and deliver for data entry. DQ writers transcribe the DQs from the Officials race cards to the Coaches logbook.
TIMERS: Each lane requires two timers for the home team lane (odd lanes) and one timer for the other team (even lanes). Lane timers use team-provided stopwatches to record swimmers times for each heat. These positions are a great way to get close to the action.
Back-up Timers are also required which provides a back-up watch in case any timers have trouble with their watches. Looks for a hand up or call to step into lane needing assistance. Starts stopwatch with the gun then looks for any timer who might have missed the start or has problems with a watch. If needed, goes to that lane and completes timing of that swimmer. Two back-up timers positions are required for all home meets.
READY BENCH WORKERS: These positions coordinate the Northstars swimmers, get them ready for the races, assign lanes to swimmers, distribute lane cards, remain on the lookout for lost children not ready for their race, and deliver younger swimmers to the proper lanes for the event / heat.
RUNNERS: Responsible for delivering lane cards to timers, and collecting lane cards from timers after every race for delivery to head table. Because younger swimmers only swim 25-yard events, their lane cards must be delivered to the timers at the other end of the pool before the start of each race. Runners pick up the event lane cards from each swimmer and deliver to the proper lane writer at the other end of the pool.
CONCESSIONS: Assist Concessions Manager with setting up the area, assembling food items, cooking, cashier/sales, serving food and snacks, and clean up the area at home meets.
GRILL MASTER: Responsible for cooking all items on the grill, including breakfast and lunch menu items, setting up and cleaning up the area.
ANNOUNCER (Head Table): Provides announcements during meet to inform pool deck of the progress of the meet. Announces ready bench event call, current event in the water, team records, and general announcements.
4TH OF JULY CELEBRATION GENERAL HELPERS: Our swim team is responsible for providing programs for the kids and the community during the 4th of July holiday. Besides the event coordinator, we need 6 general volunteers to assist the coordinator to put together, host and clean up the pool area.
GENERAL: This position is an all-rounder position. They are required to fill in any position that needs help at the meet, from Scorer's Table to Grill Master. It requires flexibility.
Although families are allowed to flexibly choose their preferred jobs, in the rare event that we do not have enough parent volunteers to run the meets, volunteer coordinator reserves the right to move volunteers around from one job to another, depending on their experience and the area needed. Meet jobs are generally broken into to sessions morning and afternoon, each session is approximately 2.5 hours.
