VOLUNTEERS

Brompton Swimming Club could not operate, let alone compete, without the support of volunteers. Whether helping out with the day to day running or taking part in galas, parent and family involvement is essential to the survival of the club and the sport of amateur swimming.

We therefore invite all club parents to volunteer with us over the course of their children’s membership. The club offers a wide variety of roles, requiring a range of skills and time commitments. There is something to suit everyone. The more volunteers we have, the richer our community and the lighter the burden on those who already offer their help.

If you are interested in joining the team, it is important to note that all volunteers, regardless of their role, must first register to become members of the club and Swim England.

Please fill out the volunteer application form below to get started.

Once you have submitted the applicaton you will be contacted by the club's Registration Manager to help you complete your club and Swim England volunteer membership registrations.

In the meantime, please read on to learn more about how you can contribute as a Brompton Swimming Club volunteer.

Help at Galas

While racing at licensed galas is clearly the focus for a competitive swimming club, it is very easy to take these meets for granted and assume they will always be on offer. However, many galas, including our own bi-annual Club Champs, can really struggle to take place due to a lack of qualified officials and volunteers.

Qualified Swimming Officials

The correct number of officials with the required level of qualifications are essential for a gala to run and meet licensing requirements. If there is a shortage, meets can:

• Be cancelled and this usually happens at the last minute with no time to find an alternative meet.
• Run with fewer lanes so the session either takes a lot longer or some swimmers get scratched and are unable to compete.
• Have their license downgraded or revoked.

One of our objectives at Brompton Swimming Club is the development and support of qualified and experienced "in-club" officials. Qualified officials are always in high demand and there are many perks that come with the job:

• Most importantly, you are making an invaluable contribution to ensure our swimmers are able to race in licensed competitions so their times will not only be officially recorded but also count towards either County, Regional or National qualification.
• You are able to watch your swimmers from poolside in a non-intrusive way, with the best view in the house and no entry fees!
• You will gain a greater understanding of how competitive swimming and galas work.
• You will help to grow Brompton’s relationships with other clubs and gala organisers, ensuring we have a good choice of events for our swimmers.
• The provision of lunch, refreshments and, in some instances, thank you gifts!

There are two qualification entry levels of Swim England official training courses, Timekeeper and Judge Level 1:

Timekeeper

This is a great introduction to the world of officiating. It is a cost-effective option at just £5 and is a very quick course to take. You will need to complete between 60 to 90 minutes of e-learning in the comfort of your own home, followed by a practical timekeeping session where you will test the accuracy of your times and your basic knowledge of swimming rules alongside a Mentor and under the supervision of a fully qualified Referee. The practical session could take place at either a training session or a gala and should take roughly the same amount of time as the online course, if not less.

However, as a qualified Timekeeper you will only be able to officiate at Level 4 licensed swim meets, which is the lowest level of licensed meet and therefore your usefulness will be limited.

To read more about the course and to sign up, please follow this Timekeeping link.

Judge 1

You can also start your qualification journey as a Judge 1 ("J1"), and even as a J1 in Training you will be able to officiate at Level 3 meets, where swimmers times can enable them to go on to attend County, Regional and Level 1 and 2 meets. You do not need to be a qualified Timekeeper to embark on the J1 course, though being a Timekeeper will reduce the price of the J1 course and give you a head start. As the J1 qualification is significantly more useful and candidates will gain a much greater depth of understanding and experience with the FINA rules relating to swimming, it does therefore demand a greater commitment in time and effort on the part of the candidate.

As with Timekeeping, to qualify as a J1 you will need to complete both an online theory course and practical poolside experience. The Swim England Judge 1 Theory course currently costs £20 and is estimated to take roughly 6 to 8 hrs, but as the course is split into modules it does not need to be completed in one continuous session, and can be taken at the candidates own pace. Trainees will then be required to accumulate a minimum of 15 hours mentored poolside experience across a variety of events and types of galas and they have a strict time limit of 11 months within which to achieve this. Trainees will also need to complete the Contemporary Issues CPD course before they can be fully qualified. For further guidance, please read the attached guidance documents provided by Ralph Shortland, the Swim England London Region Swimming Officials Coordinator, as it is imperative all potential trainees understand what’s involved in the qualification process to ensure they do not waste their time and money.

Candidate Judge 1 Trainee Notes
Poolside Experience

It may feel like a lot to take on but many of our parents have successfully qualified, moreover, as a club we will do all we can to support trainees, including holding training sessions over the year.

Should you have any questions, please contact either our Officials Manager Michela Zana on [email protected] or our club Chair Kate van Vollenhoven on [email protected].

Also, please find a few helpful tips on starting your journey with J1 training:

• If you plan on attending galas before you receive your Log Book or if you run out of pages once you’ve started gathering your poolside experience, please download an empty Log Book page here.
• Make sure you print a copy of your online Theory certificate (and upload it to Swim England Member Options ) and keep it in your Log Book once you have it.
• You must always take your Log Book with you to galas and know your Swim England Membership Number.
• You will need to gain your poolside experience at a variety of galas and meets and should start trying to attend as many events as possible once your 11 months start. All gala organisers are happy to have extra officials and you can find a list of meets in the Swim England Licensed Meet Calendar. Filter the results by selecting London Region and click on any event you are interested in attending to find a contact name and email of who to write in order to volunteer.
• You will also be notified of meets if you create a profile on the Middlesex County Amateur Swimming Association ("MCASA") website. From their home page, scroll down and click ‘Consent’, which will take you to an online form . This way you will be able to sign up for jobs directly through Job Manager and receive updates from MCASA directly by email.
• It is really important that you seek out and make sure you are assigned a Mentor for any poolside experience at meets, though this may not always be possible depending on how many officials are in attendance. Once you know who your Mentor is, let them know your training needs, ask them to write any comments in your Log Book and request they come with you to the Referee at the end of the session so you can have your attendance and possibly an experience milestone (called a Competency) signed off.
• Only a fully qualified Referee can sign off a Competency and they will only do this if you have approval from your Mentor. Please be aware there is no guarantee you will achieve a Competency sign off at a gala. You will also need to get your attendance signed off so you have a record of the number of hours you have worked.
• The 11 month time limit is strictly adhered to and it is a good idea to think about how your 11 months of poolside experience can coincide with the swimming year, so best not to start the 11 months in July!
• Allow yourself extra time at the end of a gala session for the sign off process and be aware your fellow officials, including the Referee, will be tired from the session, but also that their written records are essential to your training process.

Once you are a fully qualified J1 and have a minimum of 20 hours in the role, you will be able to progress on to Judge Level 2 and hopefully beyond.

Volunteers for Non-Official Roles

In addition to officials, galas also need volunteers for many other roles, from manning the medals table or ticket desk to marshalling the kids to their races or running the results between the Referee and Hytek desk and lots of other errands in between. If you are interested in volunteering, please be certain you have completed the volunteer applicaton at the top of this page before you contact our Competition Officer Anna Gort-Barten on [email protected].

With recent changes to Swim England guidance, it has become essential that all poolside volunteers are DBS checked and have completed the Swim England Child Safeguarding Course, which can be completed online over a 3 hour webinar.

If you find the officials training daunting but want to help the club in a significant way, this is a great place to start and our Welfare Officer, Julie Cazzol on [email protected] will be able to undertake your DBS check and give you further information on the Safeguarding Course. Please see the listings for the up and coming Swim England courses here and do consider signing up and completing a course.

Volunteers for Club Leadership (Committee and Manager) Roles

Once agin, Brompton Swimming Club is lead and run by a group of volunteers drawn almost exclusively from parents of club swimmers. For a full listing of leadership roles available please refer to the club website Contacts page. These roles generally require one year minimum service, however, for the sake of continuity, the club does encourage a committment of 2 years or even longer. Role availablity can change as club leaders step down and new candidates are voted in at the Annual General Meeting every November. If you are interested in taking on a club leadership position, please get in touch with our Chair, Kate van Vollenhoven on [email protected].

We currently have the following leadership vacancy:

Team Manager

The Team Manager serves as an aid to coaches when swimmers travel to meets or trianing camps as a team. Travel can be domestic or international. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, arranging transportation and lodging and confirming validity of insurance and international travel permits, as required. The role requires all candidates to have completed the Swim England Team Manager 1 and Team Manager 2 courses. Please click the link for further information.

Some of the Other Ways You Can Help

We have recently introduced a squad repping system, similar to school class reps. Should you wish to volunteer to be the rep for your swimmer’s squad, please get in touch with our Social Officer Alicia Lai on [email protected].

It is a great help to our accounts team if you ensure your Account balance is paid promptly and in full by the 10th of every month, while being certain you are using the correct payment reference when making payment. Chasing up late payments or payments made with the incorrect references cost our volunteers valuable time. Should you have any questions with regard to fees or payments, please refer to the fees and payments guidance on the club website Membership page or, following that, email [email protected].

Take note of upcoming competitions, choose your events carefully, accept or decline invitations within the allocated time frame and check back to view accepted entries.

Regularly check email communications from the club and read the emails in full. They may not all be relevant to you, but most emails are targeted to the correct squad groups. If you feel you are experiencing difficulty receiving club communications to your Account email, please see the Communications section on the Membership page.

Questions?

[email protected]