Cheers Volunteers by Sandra Ginever
Recently there was an ad
campaign on the television saying “Cheers Volunteers.”
Morrinsville Wheelers has a very proud tradition of
volunteering. As athletes we sometimes forget that
volunteers are the people who make the event happen. Often
there are people who take on more than one role at a time.
They give up their free time to contribute to the running of
events. Morrinsville Wheelers is well known for hosting
great events and it is about time that we cyclists offered
our own “Cheers Volunteers” for the tireless work that the
volunteers in our club do.
Volunteers in the club
include:
President, Secretary,
Treasurer, Committee Members, Club Captains, Web Designer,
Lead Car Drivers, STMS, Time Keepers, Judges, Handicapper,
Corner Marshalls, Commissaires, Referees, Wheel Wagons,
Afternoon Tea providers, People who hand out race numbers
etc. etc.
Positives of Volunteering:
Most of the time volunteering
is a great experience. Volunteers usually get involved
because they love cycling. They want to be part of
successful events. They help the event run smoothly. They
want to be part of the atmosphere of the club – feel they
contribute, they enjoy the companionship of other
enthusiasts and often enjoy the catch up at the end of the
day. They are the mums and dads who would otherwise be
bored waiting for riders to finish. Often volunteers are
people who have little involvement in the day to day club
activities (i.e. partners of competitors or past club
members who lend a hand when they can). Some people out
there would almost be called professional volunteers but
that is too much of an oxymoron, but you know what I mean.
There are some people who are so good at volunteering and
they thrive on the experience and they give so much to us,
the athletes.
Negatives of Volunteering:
Sometimes volunteers do not
get much appreciation for doing their jobs. I will list a
few here to illustrate the often thankless job that
volunteers do. Then I will suggest ways we can show
appreciation to those who help us make successful events.
-
CORNER MARSHALLS: Think of
the many times that corner marshals are stuck out in the
rain turning riders in one direction. They wait
tirelessly for the final riders to pass before heading
back to the headquarters.
-
STMS: (The safety people
who put out the signs) are the first out to work in the
morning of open events and they are often the last ones
to come back. Our recent Open event illustrates this
when the STMS started around 7.30am and finished at
close to 5pm. STMS people are qualified to do their
jobs. In Morrinsville we are lucky to have free STMS
people, many centres have to pay private companies to
supply and put out signs for events (costing clubs
thousands of dollars).
-
HANDICAPPERS: The saying
can’t please all of the people all of the time is very
TRUE. They are the ones who put riders on their start
sheets and often have limited details to go by. There
are always riders who grumble about their starting
place, those that want to go out a bunch further (then
burgle the race), those that want to go
back a bunch (and often get dropped from the faster
group). You would think the riders would like to
handicap themselves (imagine the thought!!).
-
LEAD CAR DRIVER: These
people often get to drive around out in front of a race
and do not see much of the action (except through their
rear vision mirror). Often lead car drivers know the
local roads, but sometimes they make mistakes – like
taking people the wrong direction (oops), or driving too
far ahead of the lead bunch or even not driving far
enough in front of the lead bunch. It is quite a
difficult task to measure the distance to go ahead,
especially on hilly and courses with heaps of corners.
-
Sometimes volunteers are
given a rough deal. Swearing, fingers, yelled at, called
really disgusting names and just generally treated with
disrespect. The weather can take its toll (too hot, too
cold, too wet, too windy). Sometimes it can simply be
boring out there waiting for cyclists to pass by and
then whoosh – there they go!
-
I have to state at this
point that Morrinsville Wheelers Cyclists are generally
well behaved showing appreciation to our volunteers.
However, at our recent Open there were a few complaints
brought back to the race manager. Some volunteers had
abusive language hurled at them and other discourteous
symbols of disrespect. It is always good for us to
remind ourselves that Volunteers are doing their best at
a job they are often thrown into when help is required,
and they are giving up their free time.
Ways cyclists can support
volunteers
-
Become a volunteer
yourself – experience what it is like with the boot on
the other foot (that way you can appreciate what
volunteers are doing for you).
-
Be courteous and
respectful at all times. Manners are a great asset to
any person. If you show respect for volunteers they
will more than likely be happy to support you in the
future. Keep your language proper. Okay, volunteers do
occasionally make mistakes – but don’t we all. Nobody
likes to be harassed and especially not when they are
doing their best and contribute so much free time for
your events.
-
Be available to volunteer
when you have finished your races – there are always
jobs in the hall (tidy up, setting out food, collecting
numbers, raffles etc). Every set of hands makes for
light work for everyone. You finish early and so does
everyone else.
-
Be thankful to
volunteers. It really doesn’t take much effort.
-
If you do have complaints
to make – please do not take it out on a particular
volunteer, most events have a manager who is more than
happy to help out with complaints. They are the ones
trained to handle such things and have procedures in
place to handle grievances. Race complaints should go to
the Head Commissaire and all others to the Race Manager.
People are out there so you
and they can all enjoy cycling from every angle.
Go on, say it, “CHEERS
VOLUNTEERS”.
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