{"id":481795,"date":"2021-07-20T00:02:16","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T07:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=481795"},"modified":"2021-07-20T06:28:22","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T13:28:22","slug":"the-unsung-heroes-of-summer-swim-leagues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/the-unsung-heroes-of-summer-swim-leagues\/","title":{"rendered":"The Unsung Heroes of Summer Swim Leagues"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Unsung Heroes of Summer Swim Leagues<\/strong><\/p>\n

The golden glimmers of sunset dance in reflections across the pool\u2019s rippling surface, as swimmers both new and old gather in their lanes for the start of practice. A symphony of squealing 7-year-olds complaining about the cold water coincides with the repeating echo of \u201cTake your mark, go!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Coaches stand tall and proud in front of their team, ranging from kindergartners to high school seniors, whom they will try to transform into advanced swimmers by the end of the summer. Throughout this process, swimmers grow to admire their summer league coaches, as a clear sense of coaches\u2019 passion and determination for their swimmers to improve illuminates in even the toughest of practices. <\/span><\/p>\n

Often starting out with a group of children who struggle to complete one lap, summer league coaches do their very best to not only have their swimmers excel, but also fall in love with the sport of swimming. However, all of the coaches\u2019 hard work and dedication to their swimmers would mean nothing without the help of the unsung heroes of summer swim leagues.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Working behind the scenes in positions that most swimmers do not even realize exist, volunteers for summer swim leagues bend over backwards each year doing whatever they can to ensure that their team, meets and season run smoothly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat work isn\u2019t involved!\u201d laughed chairman of the Monmouth County Swimming Conference (MCSC)<\/a> Adam Yee. \u201cNormally, this position involves running and organizing the league, creating schedules and discussing potential rule changes. But, I also feel like I\u2019m the one that makes sure every team has and submits what they need.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

From verifying roster submissions to confirming facilities\u2019 insurances, Yee takes part in everything needed to operate a swim league and then some. Putting in roughly five hours of work a day toward the MCSC, while also balancing a full-time job and parenting his three sons, Yee\u2019s schedule is clearly filled. Despite all of this, Yee has continued volunteering in various league positions for the past seven years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While serving as the chairman of a summer swim league is an incredibly significant role, Yee is quick to recognize the equally important roles that all of the other volunteers provide to the upkeep of the league. Timing, officiating and marshaling kids to their lanes are all critical jobs that rely on volunteers stepping forth and sacrificing their time to help out their team. These specific roles allow swimmers to understand the immediate effect and importance of the volunteers that pitch in during meets. Yet, there are additionally far more obscure volunteer responsibilities that some swimmers and even parents are unaware of. Taking place outside of the pool deck\u2019s spotlight, many critical positions are completed without much recognition, and this can especially be seen with much of the computer-based work involved with summer swim leagues.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI created the team member database, managed team roster information and designed lane timer sheets for the season,\u201d Linda Griswold, former Monmouth Heights Stingrays data information coordinator, explained. \u201cAs each season progressed, I recorded swimmers\u2019 times from time trials, dual meets and championship meets, using special computer programs such as Team Manager<\/a> and Meet Manager<\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On meet day, the anticipation to see who is entered in what event distracts swimmers from realizing all the work that volunteers like Griswold do to create the meet sheets they are so anxious to read. Not only that, but the joy on a swimmer\u2019s face when they arrive to practice the next day and are greeted with a best-time ribbon can all be credited to the calculations and programming completed by the teams\u2019 data information coordinators. Despite the fact that swimmers may not recognize all the effort that volunteers put in for just one summer league season, both Yee and Griswold agree that there are more valuable reasons for dedicating their long hours beyond the recognition.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a mother of two swimmers who have been competing for 19 years, Griswold felt rewarded in being able to see the waves of new swimmers come out for their first seasons. \u201cI really enjoyed reminiscing about my kids while watching children come in who, at first, had to work to make it one lap,\u201d Griswold recalled.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Witnessing the start of so many young swimming careers reminded Griswold of why she and so many other volunteers choose to put in all this hard work required to maintain a swim league.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe best reward is seeing young swimmers grow up into head coaches and passing along the same passion and values that I\u2019ve tried to display over the years,\u201d Yee expressed. \u201cIt\u2019s about providing an environment for them to thrive in not only swimming but life in general.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It is this very sentiment of the volunteers that fosters a successful swim league and a place for swimmers to create some of their fondest summer memories.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Unsung Heroes of Summer Swim Leagues The golden glimmers of sunset dance in reflections across the pool\u2019s rippling surface, as swimmers both new and old gather in their lanes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57502,"featured_media":245185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,122607],"tags":[55236,128993,41668,57719,46526],"class_list":["post-481795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-swim-life","tag-coaches","tag-officiating","tag-summer-league","tag-timing","tag-volunteers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nThe Unsung Heroes of the Summer 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