Admit it, you feel a little guilty.
You love to play cricket and pay your dues on time every year. But you know your club needs help.
It's run by volunteers who make the teas, manage the finances, coach the kids, score the book and a hundred other little jobs.
You think, "I could never do that, I don't have the time" when you see the coach turning up to his 8th day in a row at the club to take yet another group of cheeky Under 10s through getting a long barrier right.
You would love to do more, but pressures of work and family are hard enough, let alone that Netflix queue you have to get through. So you listen quietly when the Chairman complains nobody is helping, and nod sagely when he says everyone needs to do more.
You feel bad that you can't commit more time but what can you do? Life is busy!
Here is the answer to that mental anguish.
5 things that you can do that take very little time and will see you as a more valuable club member, doing your bit above and beyond playing and stop the guilt trip that you get every time you see the secretary with a phone on each ear trying t put out some stumps.
Become a sponsor (or find one)
Are you time poor?
The you are probably also well off.
Great, become a sponsor. Most clubs are desperate for money and offer a range of sponsorships from something simple like a match ball to full kit sponsorship. Even if you don't have a company to promote, you can chuck a few notes in the kitty every time you are asked to help out.
But what if you have neither time or money?
Then find a sponsor.
Local businesses are always on the look out for fresh ways to advertise. Sponsorship is a tax deduction and it's great PR to say you are supporting grass-root sport to keep kids off the streets. Put on your salesman's hat and speak to businesses in the area that are on your radar: hairdresser, sandwich shop, coffee place, anywhere.
Mentor a young player
Running a colts or youth team is a tough job that takes at least 2 days a week commitment. If you can't do that, you can become a mentor instead of a coach.
Mentors are more focused on specific players (usually 1-3) with a view to helping a specific part of their game. If you are a well-established senior spin bowler, you can offer to do a session with the best couple of spinners in your youth setup.
This will only take an hour and you don't have to commit to every week.
But you may find that you gain a bigger interest in the results of your work and start to do more. Especially when you find out your tips helped a kid win a game when you were not around!
The choice is yours, meaning you have flexibility that you would not have if you take on a team for a season.
Score or umpire once
Chance are that if you offer to score or umpire a game at any level of your club, your hand will be ripped off in the speed that the offer is taken.
Scoring and umpiring are tricky things. Some clubs have plenty of options, others have barely a scorebook and 6 coins, let alone someone to do the job. Most coaches will tell you of the time when they where umpiring and scoring a game while also trying to help the captain pick a batting order.
You don't have to do every game, but if you did it just once in the season, the team coach would love you.
And again, if you get a taste for it you can do more without ever fully agreeing to every game.
Manage the twitter feed
Ah, twitter: the epitome of the least you can do.
Most clubs have a twitter now. Make yourself responsible for running it. You can do it from any smart phone or tablet. You literally only have 140 characters to play with, so it won't take long.
You can post:
- club results
- club news
- photos
- links to other relevant tweets and websites
In fact, you can break that simple thing out to a wider idea: Offer something that you have the skills to do.
Maybe you are not a twitter wizard (although I would argue anyone online can do it), but you are good with your hands and can do some running repairs and maintenance around the facilities. An occasional hour or two on an ad hoc basis is crucial. Do something that's easy for you but is a head scratcher for everyone else.
Turn up early to a match
Here's a personal one from me: Every stopped to wonder how long it takes to set up a cricket club on match day?
Some people. like me, will know it's not just 5 minutes because they do it every week. Other people rock up every week once it's all done acting like the schoolboy who never wonders how his clothes go from the washing basket to clean, ironed and in the wardrobe.
If you are more likely to be the latter, do me a personal favour and arrive at the ground an hour earlier to help set up. All the tasks are simple to complete and it will reveal to you how hard the swan paddles.
It shows you are keen and willing and will be a relief to the guy who is balancing drop out calls, boundary markers, tea urns and maybe, just maybe, warming up.
If every player in the club did it once in a season, there would be way more people at the ground early and a lot more time to get ready to play.
The bottom line: there is always something
The point I am trying to make here is that we can change the approach to club cricket.
If everyone realised that chipping a little something in now and again is just as vital as doing a big job like Treasurer or Head Coach then the load would be spread.
So do what you can, when you can.Simply saying "how can I help?" will be much appreciated. You know who to ask.
You will feel better, the club will run smoother and you will hear less complaints.
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