Kanata Nordic

Volunteering

Club Essentials: Volunteering / Trails / Clothing / Newsletters / Contacts

National Volunteer Week, April 18-24, 2010

Visit the Volunteer Canada web site and view their new video, “Volunteers: All Around You”, honouring National Volunteer Week in Canada.

Volunteer and Have Some Fun!

Kanata Nordic depends on you and I, the members, to maintain and enhance every aspect of the Club and in particular to implement our programs. Volunteering can be very rewarding and often you get back more than you put in. Rewards include new skills, new friends and contacts, personal pride and accomplishment, the opportunity to share knowledge and skills, being part of a community and, of course, just having fun.

Volunteer opportunities are available to suit everyone’s time, schedule and skill set. In many cases volunteering may require just a few hours or be isolated to a single event. If you have a particular skill we are sure to have an outlet for it. If you want to get more experience in a particular area we can try to provide that as well. If you have ideas or are interested in a new initiative we are interested as well. If you want to return the favour to those leading your children’s programs we have ideas. The Club is a community of members and together we can make it fun and rewarding.

Executive

The Executive oversees all Club Operations and business. All of our Executive positions are filled by members who are elected for one-year terms at our annual general meeting, which typically takes place in April. Our current Executive is listed on the Contacts page. The Executive is dynamic and we are always seeking new ideas and members.

Coordinators

Coordinators are responsible for specific areas of the Club such as Trails, Ski Programs, Promotions and the like. In some cases Coordinators are also Directors but do not need to be.

Coaches

Many of our coaches joined the Club when their children began lessons and took advantage of the opportunity to improve their own technique along the way. In other cases coaches are experienced skiers, and coaching is an opportunity to share their knowledge and love of the sport. Many of our coaches start as assistants until they gain the confidence they need. The Club supports its coaches through Cross Country Canada certified leader training as well as other Club training initiatives. This training provides excellent material not only on technique and how to communicate it, but on how to make skiing fun for all ages and abilities. We partner new coaches with more experienced ones out on the trails. There are also opportunities to meet coaches and members from other Clubs through various events.

Non-Skiing Roles

For a club that is focused on skiing we have an impressive selection of non-skiing volunteer roles, everything from directing traffic at our annual Kanata Nordic Sprint Race to maintaining our web site. Some examples:

One-time, short duration roles:

• prepare hot chocolate during lessons on a Saturday afternoon
• write an article for the Kanata Nordic newsletter
• carry gear at the annual Ski Swap and Sale
• design a poster or other promotional material
• help with registration, timing or the refreshments at the Kanata Nordic Sprint Race

Recurring, short duration roles:

• take photos at Kanata Nordic events
• put up our A-frame signs to promote various events
• groom trails (who can resist being the first on fresh snow to use state of the art equipment to create immaculate trails?!)

Ongoing roles:

• run for a position on the Executive
• manage the Club clothing orders
• coach

Or you may have an idea of a role you can fill that we have not thought of before. To find out more or pass on your ideas, please contact volunteer@kanatanordic.ca.