Volunteers

Volunteering

The success of Mosman Athletics relies entirely on the involvement of parent and carer volunteers. Without our many volunteers, especially those in our Committee, and our various support teams, we simply would not  be able to operate. As a not-for-profit organisation, Mosman Athletics maintains a lean cost model in order to offer a high-quality athletics program at an affordable price for our families and community members.  We require that parents and carers contribute a minimum number of volunteering tasks during the season.  There are plenty of ways to provide more support and get involved. 

The benefits of volunteering

• Priority viewing on competition nights
  During our competition nights, only coaches, age managers, and volunteers are allowed on the oval within the roped-off competition area. Volunteering is a great way to get close to the action!
• It’s fun and rewarding
  Volunteering is also a great chance to meet other parents, get to know the other children in your child’s age group, and watch your child grow their athletic skills over the course of the season.  

How can I volunteer?

There are plenty of easy and great ways to volunteer for our club, not all of which have to be fulfilled on a Monday afternoon at training. 

Weekly Monday duties include helping with age groups, on the BBQ and canteen or assisting coaches. Or you can take on a role for the season instead of weekly volunteering eg as an Age Manager, Canteen Coordinator, Safety Officer or Comp Night Coach Support.

Alternatively, if you would like to be on our Club Committee, or support our committee by helping with Championships, Sponsorship, Volunteering, and Competition Nights please email mosmanla@gmail.com. These roles are extremely important and without them, our club can’t function effectively.

How many volunteer duties are required?

Age groups up to Under 15 – families with one or two children

Volunteering families with 1 or 2 registered children are required to carry out at least 4 duties for each U6-U15 athlete, unless they have a Tiny Tot.

Age groups up to Under 15 – families with three or more children

Volunteering families with 3 or more registered children are required to carry out a minimum of 10 duties in total, unless they have a Tiny Tot.

Families with Tiny Tots

A parent/carer must be present every week with their Tiny Tot. As a result, tots and their siblings should be volunteer registrations but are not required to carry out any volunteer duties other than supervising their tot at training (for more information see Tiny Tots section below).

Under 16 to Under 20

Families with U16-U20 athletes are not required to carry out duties for these athletes, however they are encouraged to support the club in other ways eg as event officials during Championship events or taking on a Committee role.  All U16-U20 athletes should be registered as volunteering.

Volunteer registration examples: 

# children with Volunteer membership	Tiny Tot U4, U5	Little A’s U6-U9	Juniors U10-U15	Seniors U16-U20	Minimum number of volunteer duties that must be completed in the season
1		U9G			4 duties
1	U4				No duties but parent/carer must attend training with their tot each week
2		U6B	U11G		8 duties
2	U5	U8G			No duties but parent/carer must attend training with their tot each week
2			U12B	U18	4 duties
3		U7B, U9B	U10B		10 duties
3			U10G, U15	U16	8 duties
4		U7G, U9G	U11B, U14		10 duties
4	U4	U6G, U6B	U10B, U11B		No duties but parent/carer must attend training with their tot each week

For members who join at half-season registration from January, the minimum number of duties required is reduced – families with 1 child complete 2 duties, families with 2 children complete 4 duties, families with 3 or more children complete 6 duties.

How do I sign up for volunteer duty?

• It is possible to select a non-volunteer option, though this option attracts an additional $140 per child, per season.
• To access the volunteer signup system and manage your volunteer bookings.  SIGN UP HERE 
• A fee of $35 will be charged for each unfulfilled duty and invoiced to you at the end of the season

When you access your sign ups and to register for the first time you will be required to sign in using your email address for both log in and password. You will then be presented with sign ups for both training and competition nights. Select the dates and sessions that you want to volunteer for and complete the information required to form part of your profile. You must sign up for all your volunteer duties before the season starts.
You will be sent an automated reminder prior to each session you have signed up for. When you arrive for duty, head to the volunteer desk near the clubhouse to sign-in. 

What do volunteer roles involve?

Age Helper
This is the way in which most parents and carers offer their time. Every week, we need volunteers to help the Age Manager in looking after the groups. It’s a very relaxed role, and you don’t need any coaching or athletic experience. You simply need to help direct and manage the children and ensure they’re following the coach’s instructions. We ask that you attend four sessions per season, for each child you are registering. 

Canteen and BBQ helpers
Every week, we need volunteers to prepare, barbeque and sell our sausage sangers to the hungry hordes! There are three shifts on Mondays – 4.00-5.00pm, 5.00-5.50pm and 5.50-7.15pm.

Canteen Coordinators
The Little A’s Canteen Coordinator purchases the stock needed for the canteen and sets up for and instructs the arriving helpers on their tasks for Shift One. The Junior Canteen Coordinator assists the Shift Three helpers with packing away and closing the canteen at the end of the session, as well as doing a quick stocktake.

Volunteer Check-In
This role involves being at training at the start of the Little A’s or Junior session to manage the volunteers signing in. The Volunteer Check-In helpers also carry out checks to ensure volunteers are fulfilling their nominated duties.

Safety Officer
Our Safety Officers carry out a very important role at training each week, as they are there to observe and help the whole team ensure the safety of the children. This role is ideal if you would like to be involved with training sessions most weeks and/or you have a number of kids in the club and this would replace your other Monday volunteering obligations. First Aid is helpful but not essential as our coaches are also first aid trained.

Comp Night Coach Support

3 helpers are needed to support our coaches and the results recording by marshalling runners after they cross the finish line at each of our 3 track finishes (Sprints, Middle Distance and Hurdles).

Age Manager
Every season, we require two age managers for each age group (one for boys and one for girls) from U6 to U15. This role can be shared between two people. Each Age Manager will receive an information pack and support and guidance. Key responsibilities include:

• Being a communication link between the Executive Committee and your age group.
• Printing off the attendance roll, bringing age group folder and wearing Age Manager’s orange vest at training.
• Signing in at the Age Manager’s Check-In table, taking the roll as children arrive and setting up volunteer Age Helpers with necessary instructions and resources.
• Getting to know the children by name and encouraging their progress.
• Getting to know parents and fostering a spirit of participation.
• Escorting children to the pick-up location when the session’s end siren sounds, checking off children from U6 to U11 and returning attendance roll to Session Manager.

 

Tiny Tots Parent/Carer – MANDATORY
Parent/carer attendance is mandatory for all children attending Tiny Tots. If you have multiple children at training, including a Tiny Tot, your required attendance at Tiny Tots means you do not have to fulfil any volunteering duties for other age groups (you can’t be in two places at once!) However, you can still select the volunteering discount.

During Tiny Tots, we ask that you are responsible for:

• Ensuring children remain with the group and are interacting in a safe, friendly and respectful way with their coaches and peers.
• Being actively engaged with tots in the coaches’ exercises and games.

This allows coaches to give children the time and attention that they deserve to help them to develop skills and foster a love of athletics.

Zone/Region/State Championship Additional Duties
If your child competes at Championship events, you will also be required to volunteer for duties at each carnival. This is the same requirement as with other athletics clubs who participate as the carnivals require parent and carer involvement to help stage the events. These duties are mandatory and are in addition to your Monday volunteering duties or your non-volunteer status.  Roles include parent helpers and officiating events (with additional e-learning pre-event) and is from 2 hours to full day.

 

Age Manager, Session Managers and all other volunteer role positions:
Please email mosmanla@gmail.com to learn more.