Volunteering

Volunteering is a powerful way to give back to your community and make a positive impact on the world around you. Whether you're helping out at a local shelter, tutoring kids, or cleaning up a park, your efforts contribute to making your community a better place.

Volunteering also offers personal benefits. It can provide a sense of fulfillment and purpose, boosting your mental well-being. Engaging in volunteer work allows you to connect with people from a diverse set of backgrounds, fostering empathy and understanding. Plus, it's an excellent opportunity to develop new skills, gain valuable experience, and even enhance your resume. As a person who recruits regularly, this ticks a big box for me, especially as we live in a generation which is completely self absorbed.

I have pretty active kids. They play basketball, cricket, football, netball and swim; and those are just what they do competitively! For each of those sports, my wife and I have made a concerted effort to get involved and help out. From coaching to managing teams or even just volunteering as a referee.

I volunteered as a community cricket coach for several years before taking up a premier league club coaching position. This is a big commitment. It not only requires a lot of time to learn, study and get certified, it also requires effort each week to plan and execute coaching and attend games and it also means you are now responsible for a squad of players and their development. With younger players especially, it can also mean a lot of time forming and managing relationships with parents, which can be complex. You see first hand the impact different parenting has on players and have to deal with the consequences. The more competitive the environment, the more the parent believes they have a right to say how things should be managed.

My wife also volunteers for the same premier league club and sits on the committee. She also deals with the a varied bunch of stakeholders, many of whom have differing motivations.

As I travel between different sports or extra curricular activities, one thing has become apparent. It is the same people stepping up again and again.

I recognise this and want to say thank you. Thank you to the coaches, the referees, the assistant coaches, the team managers, the scorers and the committee members. Especially the ones that actively volunteer and aren’t roped in begrudgingly on a roster.

Unfortunately, there are many parents who are happy to sit on the sidelines, criticise, but never lend a hand. Even so far as to dodge setting up a tent for players to sit under.

The only way you can actively impact something is by getting involved. Otherwise, shut the f%$# up.

You may not understand now, but providing a role model to players, may change a persons life for the better. It also helps our community be a better place. What more impact or legacy could you leave in this world?