PLEASE HELP OUR SWIMMERS; WE NEED YOUR HELP THROUGH POINTS NOT YOUR DOLLARS
The BAC programs cannot run without parental support and all families with children participating in the BAC programs are required to assist in the running of the club. A point system has been developed to encourage volunteers to participate in ways that are manageable within everyone's busy lives. The point system and processes are explained below. Thanks to those who give tirelessly season after season and thanks to those who join us in helping to make our swimmers achieve their potential.
A. The Point System Explained
Jobs and Points
We have a number of jobs that parents can help out with. Points are associated with each job and the goal for parents is at minimum to work sufficient jobs to get the right number of points required. There are essentially 2 types of job groups; A) Jobs at Major Meets which are run by our club for swimmers who have Gold swim times (Burgdorff in January, Short Course Junior Olympics (JO) in March and Memorial Day in May) ; B) Club jobs which are critical to running our club and running smaller meets for our age group swimmers. See section B for more details.
Points required and penalties
The number of points required is determined by what group your swimmer(s) is in (See table below). Regardless of the level your swimmer is at, there is a specific point requirement for Major Meets as we need everyone to volunteer here since the financial well-being of the club is dependent on these meets being well run. Point requirements are per family, not per swimmer. You are required to satisfy the point allocation associated with the highest swim group your family member(s) participate in. (For example, if you have a Senior and a Blues swimmer, your point obligation is that of your Senior swimmer.)
While the majority of our volunteers do the work they commit to, there are those who do not. We therefore have no choice but to assign penalties for jobs committed to but not worked as it difficult to find a replacement at the last minute.
- If a volunteer signs up and does not show up with no advance communication or notification to volunteer coordinators, the penalty will be a $100 fine applied to their next bill.
- If parents do not satisfy their point requirement at the end of the season, and have not tried to reach out to find ways to do so, there will be a $240 payment per point that will be billed at the end of the season. Please remember though we prefer to have your time and not your money!!!
How many points you need is determined by what group your swimmer is in:
Number of Points by: |
Snappers, Blues, Streaks |
Junior, Senior* |
Total # of Points to be earned |
2.5 points
|
5.5 points |
Point Split Required |
0.5 Major Meet (mandatory)
2.0 any jobs - Club or Major Meets |
2.5 Major Meet (mandatory)
3.0 any jobs - Club or Major Meets |
Penalties at end of season: |
$240 per point not worked |
*Note: If you have Junior or a Senior swimmer, your family point requirement is no more than 5.5 points, regardless of the number of children you have in the BAC program.
If you join Berkeley after December 1: Your point requirements will be prorated as shown in the table below. Families joining after May 15 th are exempt from earning points for that year.
|
Junior, Senior |
Join Date (if after 12/1)* |
|
|
12/1-1/14 |
1/15-3/14 |
3/15-5/14 |
Total # of Points to be earned |
5.5 points |
4.5 |
3.0 |
1.5 |
Required Point Split |
2.5 Major Meet (mandatory)
3.0 any jobs - Club or Major Meets |
2.5
2.0 |
1.5
1.5 |
0.5
1.0 |
Penalty at end of season: |
$240 per point not worked |
|
Streaks, Snappers, Blues |
Join Date (if after 12/1)* |
|
|
12/1-1/14 |
1/15-3/14 |
3/15-5/14 |
Total # of Points to be earned |
2.5 points
|
2.0 |
1.5 |
1.0 |
Required Point Split |
0.5 Major Meet (mandatory)
2.0 any jobs - Club or Major Meets |
0.5
1.5 |
0.25
1.25 |
0
1.0 |
Penalty at end of season: |
$240 per point not worked |
If your child changes groups after October 1 : You are still responsible for all points obligations of the original group. If your child is promoted to a higher level program, you will be responsible for any increases in points, pro-rated by month.
If your child leaves the club: You will be responsible for earning all points of the original group. If you plan to work to fulfill your point obligation, developing a signed points earning plan with the points recorder will be sufficient to affect your release.
B. Type of Help Needed
Club Positions
1. Facilities maintenance - we are fortunate at BAC to have our own facility, but with the benefits comes the responsibility of maintaining it.
2. Organizational activities -these activities help to assist:
- Newcomers or swimmers changing groups - Try-Outs and orientations
- All families through communications- website, e-mails, and educational sessions
- With fundraising activities - Food Coupons, Swimalong, Wrapping Paper, etc.
- Swimmers - team spirit activities and Splash Flash newsletter
- Club management - Board positions, Volunteer Coordinators
- Publicity- external publicity and internal Splash Flash publication
Swim Meet Positions
- Developmental swim meets and mini meets for our Age Group swimmers - Snappers, Blues and Streaks (require up to 20 parents to help for each of these). Example of such positions are Timers, Marshals, Admissions etc.
- Major Meets As mentioned previously, these are the three meets that BAC runs. They require an incredible amount of volunteer effort in order for them to be successful. Volunteer positions include: Timers, Safety Marshals, Admissions, Awards, Concessions, Announcers, Computer Operators etc. There are also Major Meet Core Teams that you can volunteer for - see section E.
- Dual Meets: Over the past couple of years, the age group coaches have added dual meets with outside teams to our in house meet schedule. These are great opportunities for our younger swimmers to learn to race and compete, get times in a variety of events and to swim against different competitors.
- Most swimmers will be assigned by coaches to one of the Dual Meet teams; Red, White or Green, and they are expected to participate in as many of the dual meets for their team as possible.
- Parents of assigned swimmers are expected to work one Dual Meet, either home or away, whether or not their swimmer(s) participate. The Dual meet work can be timing, marshaling, computer work, parking attendant, set up/clean up etc. No points will be awarded for this one session commitment.
- The Dual meet schedule will be posted on-line in late September and all age group parents can sign up to volunteer for one session at any meet. Each individual can only work one job per meet but multiple members of a family can work at the same meet.
- If parents find, at a later time, that they cannot work a session they volunteered for, they must find a substitute. Failure to sign up for a session or failure to work a session for which they previously signed up will result in a $100 fine.
- A parent representative for each team (Red, White and Green) will be able to explain the jobs and assist anyone having difficulty in signing up. The reps will be listed on the Berkeley Website and the list of teams will be posted on the bulletin board at Berkeley Height's facility.
Families working more than one session of dual meets (or more than one job in any one session) will receive 0.25 points for the additional work. Families of non-assigned swimmers can also receive 1/4 point for any dual meet they work.
C. Double Points and When You Can Earn Them
There are 2 instances when you can earn double the points:
- There are 2 instances when you can earn double the points.
- Friday's of Major Meets . Any time worked Friday morning and afternoon counts for double the normal value as families have to usually take a day off or arrange a sitter to work those times. Friday evening is normal points.
- During August turnaround , when our facilities are given a fall-cleaning.
D. Away Meet Timing
- All parents have an obligation to time at away meets, i.e. meets sponsored by other clubs. This is an expectation amongst all swim clubs in New Jersey
- We try to make this easier for our members by awarding ¼ point for each session timed, which counts towards your non-major meet commitment.
- We will ask for timers for away meets to sign up before the meets on line and will track who times throughout the season.
- Families who officiate at away meets are not expected to time at away meets. If no one volunteers for a session, a family with a child swimming that session will be assigned to time.
- Did you know ? We only get information about these away meets 72 hours before the meet, that's why we can't inform you of details until the 2 days before.
E. Major Meet Core Teams (see section B, Major Meet)
There are 6 Major Meet volunteer core teams: Hospitality, Officials, Technical, Admissions, Safety Marshals and Timers . Each team will have a team leader and "core" team members. We hope that by forming these volunteer teams we will have several "seasoned" parents in each area who are enthusiastic and committed to doing the job and to help train and recruit others.
If you choose to volunteer as a Core Team member:
- You will be required to commit to a certain number of Major Meet sessions for the swim season, for the particular core team you are signing up for. A session = a major meet session, so for a meet with finals in the evening, there will be 3 sessions each day. For a meet with no Finals sessions there will be 2 sessions each day.
- Families with Jr/Sr swimmers will be asked to commit to 10 sessions which equates to your Major Meet requirement of 2.5 points.
- Families with Age Group swimmers will be asked to commit to 4 sessions which equates to your Major Meet requirement of 0.5 points and 0.5 toward your club points.
- You will also be asked to help less experienced workers and to attend a brief (e.g. during practice) training session. Depending on the core team more than one training session may be required.
Assigned Team Leaders: Function as the cheerleader for the group, arranging training, boosting team spirit, making it fun, figuring out better ways to get the work done and to organize their team of volunteers.
Sign-up and points
Sign up is at the beginning of the season for the job you want to do all year. An invite e-mail will be sent out for this early sign-up which you can do by contacting the team leader for that particular core team.
Benefits of being a core team member:
- You can plan your schedule/calendar and work the meet sessions you prefer.
- At the end of the year, you will receive an extra half a club point for fulfilling your 10 or 4 session commitment to the job.
- Once you satisfy your 10 session (4 session) requirement, you can work any other job if you'd like.
Do you HAVE to be a core team member in order to work a position or earn your Major Meet points?
No. Those who want to participate as core team members and can fulfill that commitment may do so. Those who decide not to become core team members may still sign-up on-line prior to each Major Meet. The on-line sign-up will reflect the number of open volunteer positions that still need to be filled.
F. How You Can Sign Up, Find Out More About Available Jobs And Point Requirements?
- Contact your team reps who will have all necessary information on jobs and points
- Job descriptions for age group and major meets can be found on the website.
- For meets - volunteers are required to sign up at each session. You will be notified through our BAC group e-mail system which will provide a link for on-line sign-ups. You will also be able to access the sign-up webpage by going through the BAC website.
- For club positions - volunteers sign up with any one of the coordinators: Meet Operations (Major Meet, Try-Out jobs), Facilities (Facilities maintenance, cleaning jobs), Communications (Orientation Materials, Team reps, Website, E-mail Splash Flash, Publicity jobs), Fundraising (Food coupon Sales, Wrapping paper sales, Auction help, etc ), Volunteer (other club related positions).
G. Tracking Your Points
What You Need To Do
Sign up with the right people and keep track of points worked as a back-up.
What The Club Will Do
A Points coordinator will collect the volunteer lists and points from the individual coordinators - Meet Operations, Fundraising, Volunteer, Communication and Facilities coordinators.
This person will track points and provide periodic updates to families, the Board and Coordinators.
H. Communication Process
What You Need To Do If You Think You Will Not Be Able to Fulfill The Position You Have Volunteered For:
For all major meets - as much advance notice as possible (preferably 3 weeks, at minimum 2 weeks, last minute notification in unusual situations only) to Points coordinator, Meet Operations Coordinator or Team Leaders to allow sufficient time to identify additional Major Meet related jobs where possible.
For club points - as much advance notice as possible to be given to Volunteer Coordinator and alternative/additional jobs identified where possible.
Hardship situations will be reviewed on an individual basis and approved and documented by the Board
I. What Happens If You Do Not Satisfy Your Point Commitment And Have Not Followed The Communication Process Outlined Above
- At the end of the year, if you have not satisfied your point requirements, and have not contacted the volunteer coordinators to find ways to do so, families will be billed $240 for every point not worked. This will be a last resort, but one that will be enforced. Note for perspective other clubs fine their families $50 - $60 per session for Meets or $200 per half point for club related commitment.
- Failure to show up for a committed position without advance notification will result in a $100 fine.
- Point allocations, changes and exceptions will be recorded and tracked.
J. Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why is BAC so different from other clubs, encouraging parents to volunteer? All competitive clubs find a way to encourage volunteerism. Many clubs in New Jersey and in other states, mandate participation at all meets (not just Major Meets) and fine their parents any where from $200 to $500 for not working at one session. By comparison, we are working hard to strike the right balance between encouraging volunteerism and making it fair to all. At many clubs you are assigned a session and job and have no choice.
2. Are there fewer jobs than points? - There are more jobs than points and this continues to grow. Many people are working duplicate jobs and would be glad to have someone volunteer to do part of what they do.
3. Why do Senior parents never pull their weight? - The Senior team's families led the pack in fulfilling their point requirement: 70% earned max. points or more.
4. Why should we work at major Meets when our child does not swim at these meets? Working at these meets, ensures they are run well, which increases participation and income for the club, which in turn keeps fees at a manageable level. For perspective, running our major meets provides about $300 per family in income for BAC. Because these meets aren't dual meets, like summer swim leagues, for example, your child might not be swimming in the meets that your club is running. That is the nature of NJ swimming. However, we all have to work together to provide a variety of meets so that all swimmers have meets at their levels to attend. So, for example, your swimmer may not attend JO's (which we run) but will attend 9/10 championships (which we don't run.) Swimming is a volunteer intensive sport!
5. I am still confused, whom can I talk to? - your age group rep, any Board member, come to orientation sessions
6. Will verbal job agreements be honored? - No . Please make sure that if you have volunteered for a job (Major Meet or Club specific) that you note it in the space provided on the parent commitment. You will be receiving this commitment with your first bill and will need to read, sign and return it to BAC.
K. Contact Information
Please see contact list.
Thank you for your continued support of our club and for all your volunteer hours that go into making this club successful! |
