About the Family Participation Program (FPP)

[Last updated September, 2024 for 2024/2025 Season.] 

Got Questions about FPP or your Service Hours? Please email [email protected].

What is the Family Participation Program (FPP) and Why is it required?

The Region of Waterloo Swim Club is a not-for-profit organization, and as such it relies heavily on volunteers to run many facets of the club. We need volunteers to tend to club operations (the Board), to coordinate events and fundraising (committee members), and to plan and officiate at swim meets (Meet Management and Officials). By volunteering, you help to minimize costs (which directly impact fees) while being an active participant in your child’s swim career.
 
A primary goal of the club is to offer the best experience possible for your child, and all swimmers who attend our hosted meets. To achieve this goal requires every family in our organization to contribute. To help distribute the responsibilities fairly throughout the membership, we have instituted the Family Participation Program (FPP). This is a comprehensive program, point-based system and has provisions to charge a fee at the end of the season for those families who choose not to volunteer or do not meet the minimum point requirement.
 
There are many ways and resources to help each family achieve their points for the year. After reviewing this presentation, and if you still are unsure of how to get your points, please reach out to the Board of Directors through  [email protected].
 

Points Overview 

  • Each family with a competitive swimmer(s) registered is expected to participate in volunteer activities. A point system is used to track family participation and different jobs have different point values assigned to them.
     
  • Each family is expected to meet their Minimum Points Requirement (see Table 1). A family is defined as anyone assigned to work on behalf of one or more swimmers related to one registration profile. This can include siblings (age 14+), grandparents, and other relatives.
     
  • For families with more than one swimmer, we will discount the points by 50% for the second swimmer in the lower group. There will be no required points for additional siblings. For example, if you have a swimmer in ND and LA, you will require 14 points + 50% of 8 points for a total of 18 points.
     
  • If you have not met the Minimum Points Requirement by season end, you will be charged $75 per point unfulfilled. Registration for the following season will be delayed until this fee is paid.

Exemptions:

First-year families (regardless of group), who have never been a part of a competitive swim team are exempt from the Group points requirement. In lieu of that, they are asked to attend a New Parent Orientation (if an in-person meeting is organized you will be notified) and sign up for the Introduction to Swimming and Strokes and Turns clinics at some point during the season (these are also announced in advance via email). Information regarding these opportunities will be made available throughout the season. Failure by a family to complete the offered training for first-year families will result in a season-end charge of $200/family.

Points Requirement  

Group Minimum
points
Tops 3
RSA Age Group 3
Junior Development 2 4
Junior Development 1 6
Age Group Development 6
RSA Competitive 8
Senior Development 11
Provincial Development 2 10
Provincial Development 1 12
National Development 14

 

Earning Points

Opportunities for earning points will be available throughout the swim season. We strongly encourage everyone to participate in volunteering at ROW hosted meets when available.

  1. ROW Board of Directors (BoD)

    All positions on the Board of Directors are voted by the current standing BoD. These positions will be awarded all points required for the season.

  2. Meet Management Team
    Note: you must be a senior-level Official to apply for these positions
     

    Position Point Value
    Meet Coordinator Points for these positions will be awarded a total of their minimum requirement provided the member holds the position for the entire season and has completed all of their duties assigned.
    Officials Coordinator
    All other team members

  3. Officiating & other hosted meet positions
     

    Position Point Value
    Referee 4 points per session
    Starter, Clerk of Course Marshall, Chief Timekeeper,
    Chief Finish Judge, Chief Electronics, Recorder/Scorer    		 3 points per session
    Strokes and Turn judge 2 points per session
    Time, Safety Marshall, Awards, Setup/Teardown crew,
    other assistants as needed    		 1 point per session
    Away meet Chaperone (when required) 5 points per day

     

  4. ROW Social Committees & Events

     
    Position Point Value
    Award Banquet Lead, End of Year Picnic Lead 3 points
    Group Parent – organize group events and help with fundraising duties as required (minimal) 5 points
    Communication – Bulletin Boards WLU, Bulletin Board Rec Centre, ROW FB Group Lead 2 points per session
    Team Clothing Coordinator 5 points
    Team Clothing Assistants 1 point
    Attending Off The Blocks, AGM, New Parent 
    Orientation meeting    		 1 point each
    Education - attendance of a swim clinic, on-deck evaluation sign-off 1 point each
    Instruction of an Education clinic 3 points

     

  5. ROW Fundraising Support
     
    Position Point Value
    Swim-A-Thon Assistants 1 point
    Bingo - Lead (includes filling spots and working the Bingo if they cannot fill) Full season points
    Bingo Assistants 2 points per session worked
    ROW "Experience Waterloo" Raffle - ticket sales (see slide 12) 1 point per booklet, max 3pts*
    ROW Raffle Assistants 1 point

    * booklets of 10 tickets, can sell more than 3 booklets – but families will only receive up to 3 points. See slide 12 for more details.

    Note: Occasionally and at the discretion of the Fundraising and Volunteering committee, an exceptional club raffle donation may also be awarded FPP points.

 

Swim Meet Remediation Process

  • Attendance and participation at meets will be tracked through our website (facilitated by Team Unify) and verified by Meet Management

  • Participation will be posted within 48 hours of meet completion

  • Should there be any discrepancy between the posted participation, and what the family believes they volunteered, a petition must be submitted within 5 business days via email to [email protected]

  • In the exceptional event resolution between Meet Management and the family cannot be achieved, it will be escalated to a Board of Directors (BoD) committee

 

Non-Swim Meet Remediation Process

  • All volunteer programs (swim-a-thon, fundraising.,.) will have an associated BoD member designated as the primary Liaison
     
  • Upon completion of the volunteer activity, the family is asked to send an email to the designated BoD member indicating completion of the activity
     
  • Following confirmation, the BoD member will submit list and points will be updated on the website
     
  • Should there be any discrepancy between the posted participation, and what the family believes, it must be submitted within 5 business days via email to [email protected]
     
  • In the exceptional event resolution between the designated BoD member and the family cannot be achieved, it will be escalated to the BoD committee comprising the designated BoD member, BoD President and BoD Treasurer
     
  • NOTE: For questions related to this program, please email the Volunteer Coordinator at [email protected]

 

 

How to check your FPP points

Watch this video for a quick guide to checking your FPP:

How to check your FP points from ROW on Vimeo.

 

A quick summary of the video:

  1. Login to your account
  2. Click on the Hello <your name> field (top right corner of the site) on the main page (rowswimming.ca)
  3. Click My Account
  4. Click My Account section then Invoices and Payments
  5. Click the Service Hours tab at the top