Written by Ever wonder about the work that goes on behind the scenes when you drop off your young athlete at their respective sports clubs. Most likely not because it seems so simple right – and besides who has time to think about these things when your day is already a complex and rammed schedule born out of ferrying the kids to school/clubs; managing a home and a job? So you just register your athlete and pay the club fees. A coach shows up and teaches the athletes the ropes. Now and again you get sent an email with reminders on club protocols; events coming up and how to sign up for the event and all seems a pretty simplistic organisation.
It may be simplistic when compared to a large corporation, but the volume of work is anything but a small feat to manage. Behind the scenes are a team of tireless volunteers often stretched and juggling parenting/ full-time jobs and admin for a sport they do not necessarily quite understand. Guidance on Covid has at least quadrupled the workload and manpower needed to keep everyone safe and it is not unusual to see emails sent between those involved in administration past midnight and during the early hours of the morning. Having recently joined a much smaller swim club than my former, it has very much reminded me of the unobserved work involved, which is all unpaid and quietly carried out in the late hours of the evening or before most have even woken.
Sports clubs and head coaches would be lost without these volunteers. They run busy lives and scuttle around in the background of sports clubs in piles of emails and forever changing legislation from sport governing bodies/ and government guidance relating to Covid. There are never enough of them and head coaches who loathe any extra admin will take on the admin overflow just to help keep the back room machine running because they fully understand the value of a team who are not driven by money, but are willing to help and dedicate themselves to a sports club.
Next time you drop off your athlete at practice – please give a thought to who manages the registers; who oversees welfare and gives their spare time to implement adaptive training; who manages the coaches/ negotiates court/pool hire/ club kit/ manages all the Covid guidance/ organises all the Covid leads necessary to ensure athletes are kept safe at this current time/ who has to react quickly and manage reported Covid cases/ organises tryouts/ registration and chasing of events/ update all the social media content/ carry out risk assessments/ invoicing/ committee mtgs …..think on this and next time you drop off your athlete ask where you can help or just give a bit of moral support to the faces you do not necessarily see.
I am dedicating this article to all the unsung heroes of sports club administration and particularly with a big shout to those at my current club who continue to go the extra mile and have really stepped up in recent weeks to include helping me poolside and for keeping my coaching team fully informed and safe in regards to Covid. I am very blessed as a head coach to have this support, I know many are less fortunate.
Thank you to youth sports mums and dads the world over …. Youth sports could not happen without your immense dedication and endless hours of volunteering.