Also today, Mountain Dog Sports is holding a Course Building Workshop so that they can have plenty of Chief Course Builders to call upon and not burn out the few that she regularly calls on.
Two examples in one day of how volunteering impacts our agility lives!
I am going to speak from personal experience. I volunteer at every trial I go to! Regardless of venue and how many dogs I am running. There are things that make volunteering easier and more fun!
When I am running multiple dogs, it is much easier to volunteer for shorter durations. Maybe that is a partial class, or the smaller classes. I would much rather volunteer three times for 15 minutes each, than one time for 30 minutes. Smaller time frames help me get my dogs walked, myself feed, and enjoy a few conversations with friends.
I love volunteering when there is a spirit of team work! I was at a trial recently where there was not a single call for volunteers. As a matter of fact, the trial chair was getting a massage on the side lines. People just jumped in and kept everything running smoothly. The few "compensated" positions were manned by people who were open, friendly, and eager to teach. That makes a huge different for those who are tentative to volunteer if they are not "experts" in that area.
Small things do matter--chairs and umbrellas in place for jump setters. It makes it comfortable and we can see when that position needs to be filled. Raffles for each time you volunteer. No one polices it, it is on the honor system. Please and thank you go a long way!
Let's not go the way of having to police coupons and actual amount of minutes that you spent volunteering. That belittles the efforts. If everyone does just what they can we will always have more than enough volunteers!
1 comment:
Enjoyed your post and your photos!
Post a Comment