Volunteering is very much like that.
These days many organisations and sports clubs are strapped for cash, especially when just starting out, and even when they have been going a while, they may find getting their organisation's name out there to become known and attract members is tricky. No money means they cannot pay for advertising, or support for web-site building. These days Social Media is great, but even so, many clubs need more support than they are able to offer on their own, however well meaning their intentions.
Take my running club as an example, we have a committee that makes the overall decisions for how the club works, every one of the committee members volunteers their time to help do various tasks to ensure the club can keep going. Not one person who helps gets paid. Sometimes it is hard work, but because we all appreciate the value of the club being there we all pitch in as much as we can. The club has recently celebrated 30 years of existence.
So it is with many small clubs and from London 2012, I became involved in what was called the "Legacy Volunteer" programme, run under the name of "Join In", with the aim of linking people who were offering to volunteer their time and skills to help, at local sports clubs and events, that needed support in order to make their club or event a success.
Most sports clubs at grass roots are all powered by their volunteers, any subs paid going towards running costs for the club. The volunteers do it, because the payback they get from seeing people gain from club membership is enormous in terms of pride and satisfaction of a job well done. For many it also gives them a chance to learn new skills which can then carry across into their paid work. Volunteering really does give you a "warm glow" of having done something worthwhile.
As you get to bigger and bigger events, costs increase and sometimes volunteer support is the only way that many can continue to provide a service to their members.
After the great success of London 2012 with the GamesMakers, people realised that volunteers could make a big difference to the service they could provide.
Many Large events saw the success of the GamesMaker programme and wanted to emulate it, so started asking for volunteers to help them out. This for me, gives mixed feelings as while many sports events definitely need volunteer support to create that great buzz, many events that decided to use volunteers do in fact make some quite substantial sums of money from their events, which they could easily plough into hiring staff and paying them to do the job. And while I do have issues with some organisations using free volunteer help when they can afford to pay, I suspect they also get better service and support from the unpaid volunteers who are invested in giving their time to be there, than some paid staff who have to be there (I appreciate that is a sweeping generalisation, but I have met many paid staff at events who can't wait to clock off shifts, against volunteers who will stay on an extra few hours if needed just to make sure the job is done well) Volunteers rock!
Being part of a large event is of course a completely different experience.
Volunteer roles are not all glamorous, and often the shifts are long and maybe at times boring, but we are there, smiling, greeting people, filing papers, driving people around, working tirelessly behind the scenes to provide a great service and put on the greatest show we can to showcase our event and our country. We do it all with pride and for the occasional pin badge and a thank you from the people we helped.
For many of us volunteering costs a great deal of money. Time off work can be hard to get if needing more than 2 weeks, and I have heard of people quitting jobs to take part in the London Olympics. Accommodation costs often increase, sometimes 4 fold, as hotels and B&Bs plus others renting rooms realise that demand far outstrips supply. As a volunteer having to pay for yourself this is not great. I was very lucky that I found a room for London with a friend of a friend who lived near to Stratford.
The same applied heading to Rio for 2016 Olympics and Paralympics. Still a common misconception that we get travel or accommodation costs, when every volunteer there had to fund themselves, and was more than happy to do so, in order to be part of one of the greatest shows on Earth.
For many there was much soul searching before going, the build up and volunteer organisation was not the best when trying to decide when to book flights etc. But those of us that eventually got there had the best time ever. No the roles are not all glamorous (I spent one shift sat by the reporter desks at the swimming pool for 6 hours - Yawn) but they may be essential (Sitting by the desks meant I was a presence to keep non reporters from coming through to that area)
Yes I saw some of the Games, yes I was invited to a dress rehearsal for the opening ceremony, yes I was able to sneak in and watch things I didn't have tickets for, but most of all I gained experience, I gained friends, I gained skills in new areas. I learned more about the Press Ops side of things, I always learn about the behind the scenes things. my confidence in dealing with things grows and I return a better person, ready for the next challenge.
Over the years I have added so many volunteer things into my list. I now have been given a Team Leader role at the Great South, having volunteered there for a few years and having made the right contacts and used my skills in the right areas, I am now also Team Leading at local races being held in Southampton and Winchester, due to having offered my support and experience (and of course doing a good job for them) I coach my beginner runners regularly, and get involved in all sorts of different things. I mostly choose things I find interest me, that are mostly local and that I know will benefit from support.
Not all volunteering roles have glamour, not many give you the opportunity to be in the limelight, but I can assure you that every role I have done, gives me great satisfaction when you have people thanking you for a job well done, and saying how much they have enjoyed the event. Payback for me comes in that satisfaction of a job well done and well appreciated.
Who knows what's next around the corner, but whatever, I'd better start saving. This volunteering lark is not always cheap, but it certainly is always worthwhile.
And if you'd like to get out there and support your local sports club to be the best they can and help future athletes or sports people on their road to success, check out the JoinIn site for tips, or just go through the telephone directory, find a sports club you might have fun helping with, or who might be interested n the skills you have to offer, contact them and ask if they would like some help. Sometimes they don't know what help they need, so it may take a while to convince them, but in the end a little support can help people get a long way.
After all, wouldn't you like to be able to say you had a hand in supporting another athlete to gain a medal at an Olympics or Paralympics?
Volunteering is for everyone and anyone, no task too small, no games too great. (Or should that be no games too small no task too great?)
Go and find out what you can do to help, get stuck in and feel proud that you are supporting others to achieve great things.
There is no greater payback than people at an event saying how great the experience was for them.
Right I'm off now.
Thanks for keeping up with my ramblings.
Volunteering rocks!
#BeInspired go and #JoinInUK
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