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Volunteers: Hard-working men and women that make Jamaica's track & field world go round
DANIA BOGLE, Observer staff reporter
bogled@jamaicaobserver.com
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Meisha Long (left) and mom Carol, a family of volunteers among the over 200 working at the Boys' & Girls' Championships this week. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)
Some of us are lucky enough to get paid for doing what we love, while there are others who do it anyway, whether they are being paid or not.
That is the story of Jamaica's track and field volunteers - the men and women, boys and girls who come out week after week, year after year, at track meet after track meet from the start of the season in early January until it ends in late June.
The media workers, who cover the meets are familiar with them and if as a fan you go to enough meets, soon enough their faces will become familiar as well.
There are over 200 of them working this week at the 2008 ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys' and Girls' Athletic Championships. Track officials, including judges, time-keepers, starters, hurdles crew, announcers, referees, umpires, recorders, runners, and the medical volunteers who work in blazing sun and boiling heat and when the skies open as they did on Thursday afternoon, they don their rain cloaks and just keep on working.
They travel from as far as Hanover and Montego Bay and there are even entire families involved, as is the case with the Longs - father Wayne, wife Carol, their daughter Meisha and niece Danielle.
"It's a labour of love that the officials exhibit," Champs competition director Freddie Green of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) told Sporting World.
High school students, in particular girls, have been working this week and Green added that though they may miss a few days of school, the lesson they learn can sometimes prove just as valuable.
"They miss school, but it's not a major loss. and they also benefit in that they learn to volunteer, to help and it's for a worthy cause," he said.
Meisha Long, who is Assistant Sports Co-ordinator at the University of the West Indies, told Sporting World that she became involved through her parents and has been doing it since primary school when she and her sister did the running (carrying information back and forth).
"I guess I must love it because we're not getting paid or anything. I guess I found a responsibility and somebody has to do it so it might as well be us," she said.
Carol said she was introduced to officiating by Olympian Vilma Charlton over 20 years ago while a student at Excelsior High and has worked in all the areas and gone through IAAF-certified training. Her husband Wayne has also been IAAF trained in electronic timing, participating in IAAF courses in Puerto Rico and Canada.
"I especially enjoy working with the youngsters because I think if you give them a good foundation into the senior level they will carry that foundation with them. you hardly ever hear of Jamaican athletes causing problems abroad," Long said of why she has stuck with it so long.
Chief starter, Ludlow Watts, who has been volunteering since 1985, told Sporting World that he started out as a time keeper and then moved on to starting and decided he liked it and stuck with it.
"It requires the ability to exercise control in difficult situations, leadership, management, and competence because you want the confidence of the people who are watching," he said.
Hats off to the people who make Jamaica's track and field world go round.
DANIA BOGLE, Observer staff reporter
bogled@jamaicaobserver.com
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Meisha Long (left) and mom Carol, a family of volunteers among the over 200 working at the Boys' & Girls' Championships this week. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)
Some of us are lucky enough to get paid for doing what we love, while there are others who do it anyway, whether they are being paid or not.
That is the story of Jamaica's track and field volunteers - the men and women, boys and girls who come out week after week, year after year, at track meet after track meet from the start of the season in early January until it ends in late June.
The media workers, who cover the meets are familiar with them and if as a fan you go to enough meets, soon enough their faces will become familiar as well.
There are over 200 of them working this week at the 2008 ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys' and Girls' Athletic Championships. Track officials, including judges, time-keepers, starters, hurdles crew, announcers, referees, umpires, recorders, runners, and the medical volunteers who work in blazing sun and boiling heat and when the skies open as they did on Thursday afternoon, they don their rain cloaks and just keep on working.
They travel from as far as Hanover and Montego Bay and there are even entire families involved, as is the case with the Longs - father Wayne, wife Carol, their daughter Meisha and niece Danielle.
"It's a labour of love that the officials exhibit," Champs competition director Freddie Green of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) told Sporting World.
High school students, in particular girls, have been working this week and Green added that though they may miss a few days of school, the lesson they learn can sometimes prove just as valuable.
"They miss school, but it's not a major loss. and they also benefit in that they learn to volunteer, to help and it's for a worthy cause," he said.
Meisha Long, who is Assistant Sports Co-ordinator at the University of the West Indies, told Sporting World that she became involved through her parents and has been doing it since primary school when she and her sister did the running (carrying information back and forth).
"I guess I must love it because we're not getting paid or anything. I guess I found a responsibility and somebody has to do it so it might as well be us," she said.
Carol said she was introduced to officiating by Olympian Vilma Charlton over 20 years ago while a student at Excelsior High and has worked in all the areas and gone through IAAF-certified training. Her husband Wayne has also been IAAF trained in electronic timing, participating in IAAF courses in Puerto Rico and Canada.
"I especially enjoy working with the youngsters because I think if you give them a good foundation into the senior level they will carry that foundation with them. you hardly ever hear of Jamaican athletes causing problems abroad," Long said of why she has stuck with it so long.
Chief starter, Ludlow Watts, who has been volunteering since 1985, told Sporting World that he started out as a time keeper and then moved on to starting and decided he liked it and stuck with it.
"It requires the ability to exercise control in difficult situations, leadership, management, and competence because you want the confidence of the people who are watching," he said.
Hats off to the people who make Jamaica's track and field world go round.