Volunteer Coordinators:

Courtney Green: 713-653-4571
Sally Towe: 281-740-9300

Parent participation is an essential part of our Waves team – many, many volunteers are required to run our team. There are plenty of opportunities to get involved, including at home, at practices, and of course, at home and away meets. It takes over 300 volunteer hours to run each meet. That means at least 75 people must each work a volunteer shift.

Upon registering your swimmers, you are committing to complete six (6) shifts during the regular season.

It is a family's responsibility to complete these shifts regardless of whether your swimmers are participating. If your family misses a meet due to a conflict, that doesn't mean you don't have to do all six shifts. If you signed up for a shift, please be there. It is each member's responsibility to change shifts with someone else when a conflict occurs after initially signing up for a volunteer shift. If all else fails, please reach out to the volunteer coordinators and we will see what we can do to help out.

We also ask that all volunteers please be there on time. 

Shift Sign Up

There will be two shift signups this year with each one covering roughly half the swim season. 

We are asking families to limit their signups to one shift at Wacky Waves Time Trials. All other home/away meets, you are welcome to sign up for 2 shifts per family if needed.

If you get close to the end of the season and still need a shift and nothing is available to fit your schedule, reach out to the volunteer coordinators as there are always ways to make sure to get an extra shift by doing one-off jobs for the team. 

Volunteer Shift Substitutes

There are individuals who are available to serve as substitutes for working volunteer shifts. These persons are usually local teens or college students who are children of other swim families who do not participate on the team. Before individuals serve as substitutes, they must be approved by FMKP. All substitutes must be age 15 or older. No minors can serve as substitutes for the following roles: grill master, setup and teardown.  Please contact Courtney Green if you would like to be in contact with one of our recommended volunteer substitutes.  

For families that have 15 and up swimmers the registration fee drops to $35.00 and the swimmer will get free lunch at home meets. The volunteer shifts are waived if the swimmer is the youngest in the family.

When you register on-line, you will come to a screen that acknowledges that there will be a $500 volunteer assessment fee charged to your credit card on file if you do not complete your family's required six shifts by the end of the season. All volunteer hours are tracked through your account. Don't worry; we will double check all volunteer shifts before we even think of charging your credit card. Parents are also encouraged to consider participation as a board member or official. These opportunities will fulfill your entire regular season volunteer commitment.

Additional volunteer shifts are required if your swimmer(s) attend divisionals or invitational meets and these do not count towards your regular season commitment.

Waves Volunteer Role Descriptions
With the exception of timers, scribes and officials, all meet volunteers can break away to see their child swim an event. The timers, scribes and officials have front row seats for all events! 

All the shifts are roughly equal - some are early and require heavy lifting but are shorter in duration while other shifts are longer in duration but only require clicking a stop watch. We also have volunteer shifts outside of the meets to assist volunteer families who may be short handed during actual meets.

Announcer Assistant No microphone needed!  Help flip the number board to present what event we are on and help out the DJ if he needs anything. 

Concessions Friday Night Prep (Friday night before meet) Cut/slice fruit and veggies to be used at concessions. Meet at pool house to prep food Friday night. 

Concessions Assorted concessions jobs that last half of the meet. The roles vary from cashier, selling candy & drinks, selling cold food or hot food.

Ready Bench Assist at swim meets at the ready bench, organizing children before their events. Shifts last half of the meet.

Equipment Set-up Great for those who like to get up early. Come in early Saturday morning and help set up for the meet. Set up includes tents, tables, starting blocks, and audio equipment.

Equipment Take-down Take it all down and put it away after a great meet. Begins about 30 minutes prior to meet end and takes approximately 2 hours to complete.

Ribbon Writing Sit in an AIR CONDITIONED ROOM and place 1st through 6th place stickers onto the correct ribbons. File them according to age group. Last shift must stay until the end of the meet. You are able to take any breaks you need to see your kids swim.

Meet Scoring (Computers) Also in an AIR CONDITIONED ROOM. Enter data into an easy to use computer program, print reports, check data accuracy and distribute reports.

Timer Work in assigned lane at swim meets. Responsible for starting & stopping stopwatch for each race. The timer informs the scribe of actual time on stopwatch for each event.

Scribe Sit in assigned lane during swim meets and write down times from all three timers in specified lane. Also responsible for writing time on heat ribbons and giving them to 6 & under swimmers.

Tent Parent At swim meets, check in children prior to meet and need to remain in designated tent to round up your age group when event is called to the ready bench, then deliver to ready bench. You are not a babysitter! Must report to ready bench 10 minutes before check-in time.

Other Roles and Coordinators There are other positions available that in some cases have more flexibility than traditional duties at meets and practices (Pep Rally, Breakfast of Champions, Awards Night, EOY Storage cleanup. etc). Please talk to our board members to discuss potential participation in this manner.