By Danielle Repper, Swimming World College Intern
“Thank you judges, thank you divers, and thank you table help!” The familiar phrase spoken by all announcers at the end of each diving competition. There should be an amendment to the script including a thank you to all parent volunteers.
In order to run a smooth meet, it takes tremendous cooperation from everyone on deck. The unspoken thank you deserves to be brought to light. All of the volunteers, whether they are the parents or simply fans of the sport, deserve a big thank you!
From set-up to tear-down, to organizing the snack bar, hosting meets is not a one-person job. It’s important we don’t take for granted everything that goes on behind the scenes into organizing and successfully pulling off a well-run meet. From filling buckets of water to tie down a tent so they don’t fly in the pool on a windy day, to covering the pool deck in so many tents for shade (one may believe they are at a flea market), it’s all done to help the judges/coaches, divers, and table help.
While we’re sleeping in on a meet day, guess who’s not? The first people to set foot on the pool deck are your parents and other volunteers. They are up bright and early setting up tables and tents, getting breakfast, lunch and snacks for the divers and coaches, and setting up the computers and score panels.
With the generous help from all the volunteers, coaches are able to hone their focus on their divers corrections and in turn, divers are able to focus on competing to the very best of their ability.
Photo Courtesy: Bianca Reidl
I would like to acknowledge one very special member to the diving community. Kelly Jackman was the founding member of DiveMeets. DiveMeets.com is where divers, coaches, and parents are able to access essentially anything they need in regards to diving. We are able to sign up for meets, access past, current, and upcoming meets, past results, live results, photos, coach and diver profiles, and statistics.
“Items that we now take for granted such as live results, diver and coach profiles, and online signup with DiveSheet validation exist because of Kelly. He has had a huge impact on the sport for divers, coaches, parents, and spectators,” says one testimonial on the DiveMeets website.
Jackman had a huge impact on the diving community and DiveMeets would not be what it is today if it wasn’t for all of his dedication and hard work to the sport of diving.
Before DiveMeets, running meets could be compared to chickens running with their heads cut off! As the host of a meet, it was stressful and unsettling not knowing what to expect. Divers used to have to sign in on paper and scores used to be calculated with a paper and pencil. It was not uncommon to see seven people working together at a score table, passing sheets back and forth, and calculating scores every 30 seconds for events that may take hours to complete.
Even though DiveMeets handles this grunt work now, parents and volunteers continue to roll up their sleeves for countless other duties and responsibilities to help a dive meet run glitch free.
To all of the volunteers out there, thank you for all of your selfless help on and off of the pool deck. The show would not go on without all of you!
Next time you’re at a meet, take a moment to thank someone who’s helping out on deck!
USA Swimming has launched a campaign to recognize volunteers all month long! Honor all of the volunteers in your life this March by snapping their photo and posting with #1VolunTeam on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Tag @usaswimming and @swimmingworldmag too.