Cassel Hills Piranhas

The Piranhas is a part of a 100% parent-run league. This means that nothing happens without the hard work of all of the families that participate. Part of that hard work includes filling various roles needed to ensure our meets go swimmingly. Unlike other organizations that run swim leagues, the Piranhas (as well as the other teams in the Southern Ohio Swim League) do not have employees that we can rely on to run our meets. The only individuals who receive any kind of pay on our team are the coaches--not a single dollar goes to any board members in any way.

It's because of this that we have a volunteer policy. If your swimmers participate in the swim meets, then we need your help to run those swim meets. When everybody pitches in, it makes it easier for everybody else. We only make exceptions to this policy for two groups: Assisted Swim families when they don't have any other swimmers participating in the rest of the meet, because it would be burdensome for those families to stay for 2 hours when their swimmers will be done after 10 minutes; and for those swimmers who join the team for practices, but do not plan to attend any swim meets for any reason.

So, why do we have a volunteer deposit? It's simple: if enough parents don't volunteer for a meet, we have to pay someone else to work the unfilled jobs instead. These fill-ins are usually older siblings of swimmers or other family members who are available to help out. If you've already fulfilled all of your volunteer duties for the season and there are shifts still open, you can sign up for them at the meet as well. We pay $20 per person for these unfilled roles. Thus the fee is not only an incentive to help out so you don't have to pay, but also helps us offer an incentive to others who can fill in when there just aren't enough parent volunteers.

As such, the $160 volunteer deposit (8 shifts x $20 per shift = $160) is required from all families. If your family is unable to work all of the 8 required volunteer shifts, the deposit money will be used to hire someone to work. At the end of the season, each family will receive their deposit back or a pro-rated amount totaling $20 for each half of the meets they have worked.

If you paid via check when you register, we ask that you provide a second check to us for the volunteer fee. If you work all of your shifts, we return that check to you; if you don't, we will cash that check and then issue you a refund for any portion of it that equals how many shifts you actually worked. This is also how it works if you paid for your registration with Venmo.

If you paid via Credit Card when you registered, you were asked to pre-authorize the volunteer fee; at the end of the season, we either release that authorization (and you get charged nothing), or we capture whatever portion of that fee equates to the missed shifts.

If you are unsure of how this policy works, or have further questions that are not answered here, please refer to our Volunteer Policy on the Policies page for more information, or reach out to any board member to discuss further.

Officials (Referee, starter, and stroke & turn judges): Being an Official gives you one of the best seats in the house, but you must be trained and certified. See Laura Schanfish for more information.

Head Scorer/Scorer: Head scorer and assistant scorers tally swimmers' scores and team points.

Ribbon Writers: This job will be done the morning after swim meets at the pool during practice. Take printed labels with the swimmers' times and places, put them on the appropriate ribbons, and file them in the team box.

Timer: Each swim lane has at least one timer (using a stopwatch) from each team. You start timing when you hear the beep and see the flash. As soon as a swimmer touches the wall to complete the race, you stop your timer.

Back up Timer: These individuals start their stopwatches at the beep and/or flash at the beginning of every event. If a timer has an issue with his stopwatch he will call out for you, and you’ll time his swimmer. Back up timers move from lane to lane and help if a timer is in need.

Lane Slip Runner: These individuals collect the lane slips from the timers at the pool and the DQ slips from the officials and take them to the scoring table.

Heat Ribbons: These individuals stand at the end of the pool and give ribbons to the winners of each heat as they come out of the pool

Bull Pen: The Bull Pen is the grassy area near the pool where the swim families sit. Two bull pen volunteers announce upcoming events and take the swimmers to the clerk of course to be organized prior to their events.

Clerk of Course and assistant: Clerk of Course is an organized seating area where the swimmers go prior to their events. Clerk of Course volunteers seat the swimmers on benches according to heat and lane assignments. Then they escort them to the pool for their event.

As part of our efforts to ensure we have a sufficient number of trained officials for each season, the Board has decided to offer a $50 cash refund at the end of the season to each parent volunteer who:

• Participates in officials training and is certified to perform as an official
• Volunteers for official roles for at least 6 of their 8 required volunteer shifts

We are offering this bonus to up to 8 volunteers this season on a first-come, first-served basis. Please reach out to the Volunteer Coordinator for more information.