Clean Run - July 2011 - 5

Editorializing…
Help Wanted...
By Monica Percival

I recently returned from England where I was helping run the new World Agility Open (WAO) event. With three rings to manage for three days, this international event required lots of workers. During the year as we planned the WAO, I was very worried about having enough volunteers. From my experiences in the U.S., I know how hard it can be to get people to work classes at an event where they’re competing. For the WAO, we would need people who weren’t competing to give up three days of their time and travel quite a distance to support us; and all we had to offer was coffee, tea, lunch, and a free sweatshirt. To my amazement, over 95 people signed up to help each day. They brought their dogs and their families along for the ride, and they camped on the grounds. Many of them were up at 6 a.m. with us each day and didn’t stop until evening. The group had an amazing camaraderie. They were happy and helpful, and they behaved as if they wanted each competitor to have a special experience. They were also nice to each other. The attitude and energy of these volunteers helped create an incredibly positive and supportive atmosphere that was contagious. When I started agility, everyone pitching in and volunteering at a trial was a common occurrence; it was part of the trialing experience. Although I hear agility is still like that in some parts of the country, it’s not the norm at most events I attend. Even in a class setting, getting people to change jump bars can be a major battle. Why is that? I think that declining volunteerism is directly influenced by the decline of the sense of community that we had when agility was young. People couldn’t afford their own set of equipment, so being a member of a club was often a necessity. Getting together in groups was also the only way many people could learn agility; instructors and classes weren’t always easily accessible. There also weren’t dedicated agility training centers, so setting up and/or taking down equipment was a normal part of attending an agility class. I see fewer people joining clubs; their only connection to the sport is through a training school or private lesJuly 11 | Clean Run

sons. They don’t learn why volunteerism is critical to our sport, and they certainly don’t develop a sense of community. They don’t understand the difficulty and expense of maintaining and transporting agility equipment to trial sites. They don’t understand the labor and expense that goes into planning and running a trial. They don’t understand that while there are some groups that are businesses and run agility trials to make money, this is the exception rather than the rule; most of the people running trials are volunteers. This lack of understanding is embodied by a comment from a recent discussion on the Clean Run Yahoo group: “As long as I have to pay to run my dogs I don’t feel obligated to work a trial any more than I’d do dishes at a restaurant I buy my dinner at.” But at the same time there were posts from novice handlers who said they have stopped volunteering because they were “yelled at” by a judge or another worker for not doing a job correctly. And there were posts from more experienced competitors saying they stopped volunteering when they were told it was tough luck they missed their walk-through because they were working in another ring. I know that many people who volunteer are getting tired and burned out, but if we want people to volunteer, we need to be willing to put time and patience into helping novices learn the jobs. We need to make sure that competitors’ walk-through and run times are sacred, and that volunteering will not impact their ability to participate in the trial. And, finally, any one one of us that does volunteer needs to let go of the hostility toward people who are not helping and we think “should be”; none of us really know other people’s situations. Instead, we should work toward creating an atmosphere that makes people feel welcome and feel that their trialing experience is important. We need to be supportive of other workers. If we can build a better sense of community and camaraderie, I think a lot more people will naturally be inspired to help out.

Monica Percival
5

Clean Run - July 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - July 2011