Welcome to the 2024 Swim Season!

We wanted to introduce ourselves as your 2024 Bullpen (BP) Coordinators. Many things go into making a swim meet successful. One of the most important jobs is having the right swimmers at the right blocks at the right time! Dolphin BP Workers are a critical part of making this happen. In addition, our BP Workers help ensure the safety and well being of our swimmers during a meet.

Our meets would not be possible if it were not for the small army of parents who run them. If you have signed up to work in a BP this season, thank you for doing this very important job.

We have a number of resources to support you in doing the BP role. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the BP processes and tools before your first shift so you are ready to dive in!

1. We will be offering in person training sessions during practice on May 7th at 5:15 p.m. (Director’s room) and May 11th at 9 a.m. (Founder’s Bar). These sessions are a great way to learn more about what you will doing as a worker in the BP and to ask any questions that you may have.
2. We have several brief BP training videos available on our Swimtopia site: https://dhgcdolphins.swimtopia.com/volunteer-education.
3. Finally, we have a handy dandy BP Worker Guide that should be reviewed before your first BP shift- located on the Bullpen Education page as a PDF Download! (https://dhgcdolphins.swimtopia.com/volunteer-education)

We want to emphasize the importance of our BP Workers arriving on time for their shift. It is also critical for BP Workers to stay in/with their BP for the duration of their shift. First and foremost, the BP Workers are key in helping to ensure the safety and well being of our swimmers. Second, we need every assigned worker in place to manage all that occurs in the BP, including marking up our swimmers for races and getting the swimmers to the blocks on time. When parents do not show up for their shift, this can create safety issues and can also result in a swimmer missing a race. The swim committee has put a lot of thought into how many BP workers are needed by age group to provide adequate BP coverage and support. Being down a worker (or more) negatively impacts the swimmers and your fellow parents who are in the BP working.

If you are unable to make your assigned BP shift, you are required to find a replacement per DHGC Dolphin policy. For more details on this and other worker guidelines, please consult the Dolphin “Family Shift FAQ” on our website: https://dhgcdolphins.swimtopia.com/volunteer-information

Finally, as we have done in prior seasons, we will review the Dolphin Pledge with all our swimmers, and ask that they please sign it. The pledge covers our behavioral expectations for our swimmers, including some specifics for when they are in the bullpen. The plan is to do this at both the Time Trials (practice meet) on May 13, and at our first Dual Meet on May 28th (as a make up to any swimmers who missed the practice meet).

Thank you again for all that you do to make the Dolphin Swim Team a success! Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions that you may have!

Warmly,

Luci, Molly and Beth

Luci David - [email protected]

Molly Malone - [email protected]

Beth Krebs - [email protected]