THOUGHTS ON A DIVING MEET

August 1997 By a Diving Parent The following is a collection of thoughts, suggestions etc. for the operation of a large Regional or Zone Diving Meet. Please note the following are the product of the author who is solely responsible for its contents.

There are three main rules for the running of a large successful meet.

1. The meet should be run on a timely basis according to the number of divers involved.

2. The hospitality area for the coaches/judges needs to be comfortable and well stocked.

3.The main job of the host diving coach job is to coach his/her divers in the meet.

All other aspects of the meet ie, concessions, T-shirts, publicity, programs, goodie bags etc. are all "icing on the cake."

The coaches of the individual teams are the ones making the decision about which regional/zone meet to attend. Coaches are making this decision based upon #s 1 and 2 above.

The following is a suggestions and responsibilities for committee chairpersons for a large meet.

Meet Director

This person must be the Diving Coach. The responsibilities in this area include: scheduling of the facility, preparing judging panels, reviewing diving sheets for accuracy in DD's , and being prepared to answer specific diving questions according to the current USA Diving Manual. His/her most important job, though, is to coach the divers from the club who are participating in the meet. Our job as Booster Club Parents is to handle all extraneous items so that the coach can do his/her job.

Meet Secretary

This person is responsible for creating a data base spreadsheet and collecting all information that will be needed in various other areas of the meet. This information includes diver's name, age group, sex, board, state, coach, club and paid status. If information is collected in this manner, information for other areas can be generated quickly. Items that need to be generated from this master list include: alpha list of all participants with paid status, alpha list by clubs for T-Shirt preparation, diver lists for the program, divers in random order for individual events, final results ranked numerically for posting and submission to USA Diving, and listing of divers by age group, sex, coach and state for preparation of the judging panel list. The Meet Secretary is also responsible for ensuring that the information needed to start each event is ready to go. He/She is also responsible for training the individuals working the scoring tables so that the meet flows smoothly (see Rule 1). An assistant is helpful in this area. This person needs to be familiar with the operation of the spreadsheet program and computer system (if any) used for the meet. At any given time one of these individuals needs to be in the aquatic office preparing information for the next event.

HOSPITALITY CHAIRPERSON

This is probably the most important job. ( See Rule # 2). The majority of coaches/judges are at the pool during a meet from 6:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.. They may have short breaks between events and judging panels but generally do not have enough time to go out and eat. We need to make sure that we have an appealing hospitality room and appropriate staff to man the area. It is very helpful if different families would be responsible for coordinating a "meal" for a specific day. Costs incurred maybe submitted for cash reimbursement. At times we have received donations of food from various individuals and/or restaurants, etc. which truly helps maintain costs. This is one area of the meet in which we do not want to "skimp." Money is available and this is a legitimate cost of running a meet. People are sometimes reluctant to assist in this area because they are afraid they must cook all day or spend lots of money. This is not the case. The hospitality chairperson welcomes any kind of assistance in this area, especially if it means a person will plan out a meal and make sure it is served at the appropriate time. Usually, meals need to be planned for approximately 50 coaches. More specific numbers will not be available until a few days before the meet. It is also nice if the parents who are working the meet for an entire day are able to have something to eat also.

Decorations, privacy, etc. are nice, but the key to keeping the coaches/judges happy is to keep them well fed.(see rule #2)

Volunteer Chairperson

This is a new title. It makes sense when you consider that the meet secretary and the hospitality chairpersons know that they need major assistance at various times. A volunteer chair person helps coordinate volunteers to work where needed. Please remember that due to the nature of a diving competition, exact timing of events is not always possible. Volunteers need to be somewhat flexible in addition to being available. Age Group and College Divers traditionally help run the meet. Hospitality needs no training; we just need your presence and willingness to pitch in where necessary.

Program

The program can be as simple or elaborate as the chairperson wants it to be. It also needs to contain a list of the divers competing. This can be done by event (in which case you would have 18 pages for this alone) or by age group only. Ads for programs can be a great moneymaker, but someone needs to assume responsibility for contacting area businesses and obtaining ads well in advance of the meet. Letters can be sent to potential sponsors, but usually they do not respond initially. It takes a great deal of one on one contact to secure an ad. The program book is photocopied and put together at our diving facility so it will never look slick and professional. If a person is willing to run with this, profits can be realized. Otherwise we need a person who can put together a very basic program. Please remember Rules #1 and 2. No coach ever makes arrangements to attend one meet vs. another due to the content of the program. One thing to remember for parents is a listing in the program of the diving team id, the name of club, city and state. While the diving coaches may know that BCD means Bay City Divers, it is frustrating to wonder if that means Tampa Bay, San Francisco Divers or Bayfield, Wisconsin divers. By including a listing of team ID, team name, city, state and coach this would be useful to the Booster Club's back home trying to publicize the accomplishments of their divers at the meet.

Goodie Bags

This is another area that is "icing on the cake." Goodie bags are not important to coaches; divers, however, look forward to receiving them. If you own a business or have the ability to procure a donation for approximately 200 divers, please do so. The Coach may have a few contacts with Ultra Swim Shampoo, Power Bars, etc. but we don't want him/her spending a lot of time in this area (see Rule # 3). One thing that is very useful is information from the Local Tourist Bureau. I also received many requests about "where is TGI Friday's or the nearest mall." I think it would be beneficial to include a map of area restaurants, malls, etc. Suggestions include TGI Friday's, Local Malls, Olive Garden,etc. Yes, maybe we are doing free advertising but, as the 1997 Meet Secretary, I gave out these directions 20-30 times over the course of the meet. I assume our Coach received the same kind of request. As always, my feeling is, that if in doubt, go back to Rules 1-3 and plan accordingly.

Scoring

Computers are a wonderful invention. They have the ability to print very "slick" looking reports. However, remember at a diving meet computers are subject to heat, humidity, water and people operating them. Always be ready to have a back up plan ready in case there is a "glitch" with the computers. A manual back up system should always be in place also. If using computers at a table, the key is to keep the meet going. If the computer version and the manual version do not "match" keep the meet going. "Flag" the manual sheet and mark the computer printout area. Mistakes can be sorted out later. Usually the manual people at the table are able to identify the problem. The key factor here is to keep the meet going. (See Rule #1).

The announcer has a big role in the timely running of the meet also. Chose your announcer wisely, this needs to be someone who can appropriately pace the meet.

Publicity

Even though these meets are major qualifying events for the National Junior Olympics, diving is not a sport that is typically followed by the media. If someone has a contact in this area and could handle media coverage, great. Of local interest could be the fact that various divers have overcome some kind of adversity to be a successful diver. Sometimes a local twist will make the story more appealing to the media. Again remember rule # 3, the Coach needs to be coaching divers, not calling Channel 4, etc., when the event is ready to start.

Awards

In the past we have tried to gather the top 12 or 5 finishers and have an award ceremony with music etc. The problem with doing the awards this way is that you must "hold" the boards while the awards are taking place. Any time you are holding the boards you are lengthening the time of the meet. When looking at Rule # 1, you can see why we stopped this practice. Most divers at this level are there to qualify for a National Meet and not parade in to receive a medal on the award stand. Perhaps when presenting awards to the younger (13 and under) divers, we may opt to do a ceremony, but again I think you need to look carefully at the number of divers in the next events and weigh the benefits of the award ceremony against the time delay that is being created. Conclusion In conclusion, the best way to solve a problem is to go back to the 3 rules of running a good meet and ask yourself how you can help accomplish these 3 goals. At the Zone Meet I had many compliments on the running of our meet. The emphasis was on the timeliness and also the hospitality.