Labour of love? 400 volunteers slated for Champs 100
APPROXIMATELY 400 volunteers are slated to work to ensure that the 100th staging of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships between March 24 and 27 is a resounding success.
The majority of the individuals who will be giving of their time free of cost for the four-day event will be working as part of the technical team, which falls under the stewardship of Anthony Davis.
“We have approximately 270 volunteers in the technical area who will be responsible for managing the entire Championships,” Davis told the Observer.
“The areas cover from the meet managers, jury of appeals, starters, call room staff, track umpires, recorders, electronic judges, technical managers, ceremony department, wind gauge operators, track umpires and hurdles crew among others… those are the sections that fall under my jurisdiction,” he added.
The remaining 130 volunteers include medical personnel, hospitality workers, ushers, ticket takers and runners.
The sports administrator noted that training of the technical officials was very important in the process.
“It is extremely important because Champs is a very emotional activity; they are points involved, there is pride and honour at stake and therefore the competence of the official is critical as to avoid spectators and participants feeling that they are cheated,” Davis explained.
He noted that nobody goes out there with the intention to cheat.
“But we are all human beings and people can make mistakes. Now, if you understand that, the primary focus of an official is not to catch people and to disqualify them, but to prepare an atmosphere where everybody can achieve their best results under the circumstances. All officials who are trained, go out there with that understanding and that is exactly what it is,” Davis added.
“The people who have volunteered in most instances are experienced persons, in most instances they are certified and therefore the competency level is at a standard that we are comfortable with,” he assured.
“What we did was meet with the different heads of section and we looked at the precise operation that each person is required to play because you have to try and keep the numbers down to a minimum,” Davis stated, noting further: “Track and field is a difficult sport to watch and the more officials you have down on the field, the more cluttered and untidy it looks and therefore you want to keep your officiating numbers down to a minimum. So we looked at that and then we agreed on the numbers.”
In the meantime, Davis admitted that the ISSA Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships could not be as successful without the volunteers.
“It’s important, you couldn’t pay people to come… because it’s four days of activity. Secondly, you’re talking about a large cadre of professional people, who you really could not pay,” he explained. “So therefore, in track and field meet management all across the world it’s run by volunteers. It’s not like football or cricket where you have four or six or eight persons, you’re talking about 200 plus, 400 plus, so it is absolutely important that you have volunteers who are dedicated, committed and competent,” Davis reasoned.
Technical officials:
Meet Manager Assistants 3
Competition Director 1
Jury of Appeal 7
Referees (Track & Field) 8
Technical Managers 9
Announcers 5
Hand-time Keepers 14
Track Judges 12
Electronic judges 10
Recorders 12
Ceremony Department 16
Starters 19
Track Umpires 28
Call Room 28
Hurdles Crew 36
Long Jump Crew 15
High jump 17
Throws Crew 12
Wind Gauge 6
Video Recorders 4
Marshals 3
Relay Co-ordinators 2
Competition Registrar 3