DCST Volunteer Policy

Volunteer Time Period: The Volunteer “year” runs from April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025.

Volunteer Requirement: Families are required to volunteer 2 times per swimmer throughout the year, at a minimum. There is not an hour requirement. The requirement is to fulfill 2 opportunities per swimmer in the family, minimum. Keep reading for additional information about Championship meets. 

Volunteer Opportunities: Examples of volunteering options include the following:

• Dublin Irish Festival
• Swim Group Liaison
• DCST Board Member or Committee Lead
• Swim Meet options, including, but not limited to, bullpen worker, timer, deck marshal.
• Dan Ave Meet – Short Course only, and the ONLY meet DCST hosts throughout the entire year (many, many volunteers needed)

Explanation of Meets: Due to space limitations at the DCRC, DCST only hosts 1 meet per year, typically with Worthington and Buckeye.  It takes a village to successfully execute this meet, and it’s a great opportunity to volunteer.

Because of our limited meet hosting capabilities, we rely on other swim clubs (Worthington, Greater Columbus, etc.) to host meets that allow our swimmers to earn cuts, better times, and enjoy the thrill of competition. These meets often need DCST help in the form of timers and bullpen workers, etc. When DCST families fulfill these spots and actively help at meets, it encourages the meet director to continue to invite DCST to the meet. No one is required to invite us to swim in their pool.

Championship meets, hosted by Ohio Swimming, have different requirements. Ohio Swimming evaluates the meet attendees, and assigns volunteer positions to participating clubs, based on the number of swimmers each club is sending to the meet. If these volunteer slots are not fulfilled, Ohio Swimming fines the club $200/volunteer slot. The DCST Board does not pay this fine – it is noted in the financial policy signed when you registered your swimmer. Therefore, if your swimmer qualifies for a championship meet (Junior Champs, Senior Champs, etc.) and DCST does NOT fulfill the volunteer spots, the fines will be divided among the swimmers attending the meet whose families did not volunteer at the championship meet in question.

Dublin Irish Festival (DIF): DCST has the responsibility to staff a beverage tent at the DIF every year. This is the main fundraiser for our team and is why our swimmers do not have to sell items such as candles. DCST receives a portion of the beverage tent proceeds, usually between $4,000 - $6,000. This money is used to pay for apparel, relay entry fees and swim team equipment. (Ask your older swimmer about the VASO trainers). If we do not fully staff the beverage tent, the DIF will give our slot to the next group on the waiting list.

DCST Committee Lead Opportunities: Leading a committee fulfills the per swimmer volunteer requirement but does not relieve you of championship meet policies/requirements. There are currently several committee openings. Committees include:

• Dublin Irish Festival -
• Awards – Paru Patel
• Apparel Design/Coordination – Tiffanie Ryan
• Apparel Distribution – Connie Bowman
• Data Management –
• Dan Ave Meet –
• Hotel Blocks –
• Social Events –