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Volunteer Opportunities

Belong is for parents too! We have lots of opportunities to get involved and meet other parents.
The club is run almost entirely by parent volunteers, and as swimmers age out of the system and parents move on we need a continuous stream of volunteers to keep the club going. Families are busy, and we understand that, and there are various opportunities to help to fit in with your schedule and your skills: officials for galas, team managers, poolside helpers and administrative support for the committee are the main volunteer roles and you can read more about each one below. 
We are also in need of people with IT knowledge to help with the timing equipment and if that might be you please contact Sue at wingalateam@gmail.com
If you want to have an informal chat about any aspect of the club Barry is at Brio during most of the evening training sessions and Jacqui and Barry will be holding some "come and chat" sessions in the cafeteria. See attached photos to help you recognise us!
 
Officials:
Those people in white shirts at galas. We cannot run galas without them and they are nearly all parent volunteers. Advantages of being an official include payment of expenses, free lunch, being closer to the action and getting to know the swimmers and the other volunteers. Officials are essential and they are well looked after.
You do not need previous swimming experience to be an official. There are several levels of qualification and the starting level is known as J1. You do an on-line course in your own time followed by gala experience where you work alongside a qualified official who will mentor you until you have completed all the required training.
If you are not sure, our internal galas can also use timekeepers, which is simply the timing of the swimmer, so you could try this out at Club Champs and see if this could be for you.
Note that we are required to send officials to away galas, and if we don't send enough we risk not being able to send our team. This nearly happened recently!
Team managers:
Team managers coordinate logistics, manage the team poolside, liaise with coaches and parents and look after the swimmers' welfare during competitions, both home and away, and at swim camps. It's a busy but rewarding job; you really get to know the team and be close to the racing.
Training is one instructor-led session on-line via zoom (TM1). You also need to complete the Swim England Safeguarding course which is also one instructor-led session via Zoom and hold a Swim England DBS certificate. Overnight stays require a second course to be completed (TM2), again, one instructor-led session via Zoom.
Gala helpers: 
There are a number of other jobs both poolside and behind the scenes depending on the competition and location eg marshalling, medal table, set-up and take-down, door etc. For some of the poolside roles a DBS certificate may be required which Barry can apply for. 
Sub-committees:
On the more administrative side we have a number of subcommittees which run various parts of the club: eg galas, socials, fundraising, welfare. We very much believe in spreading the load and currently some of these roles are being done by one person. With the exception of Welfare no qualifications are needed!
If you are interested in finding out more about any of these opportunities please talk to or email
Also Stuart for officials at wascofficials@gmail.com
and Barry for DBS at barrygk41@icloud.com
Thank you!
Jacqui
WASC Club Secretary

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