Spring Break
For the love of the game
Rick Kambic/Editor-In-Chief
Issue date: 5/22/08 Section: News
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"We get Friday afternoons off, so I thought I'd make good use of it by helping out," Waymire said.
The boys and girls track and field meets, which have taken place on Eastern's campus for more than three decades, are dependent on volunteers like Waymire, who lives in Shelbyville and has two sons who run track.
After seeing the event publicized on Eastern's Web site, she decided to relive some of her track-mother experiences by encouraging fair and fun competition as a volunteer.
"I would say there's close to 300 (volunteers) all together, and Eastern provides 30 or 40 of them, but 90 percent of them come from communities and schools from around the state," said David Kidwell, assistant athletic director for sports information and marketing.
Kidwell has been the main liaison from Eastern who helps organize the meet for years.
He's helped organize the girls meet for 36 years and the boys meet for 35 years.
"The girls meet is always a little bit short on help because the boys sectionals are held that Friday, and those schools are having to find people to run their own (meets)," Kidwell said. "That limits the pool for which we can pull people from."
Helping hands are diverse
Members of Eastern's track team stayed in town for the weekend to rake sandpits and towing hurdles during the meet.
"(Volunteering) gives us a chance to take a look at some potential recruits," said Mike Embry, gerontology graduate student and Eastern long jumper. "I'm from Florida, and it's also interesting to compare the competition that I saw back home to the (athletes) here."
Even past Eastern track stars volunteer to help conduct the meet. Johnie Meisner graduated in 1974 and earned his master's degree in 1976, but he has volunteered at track events for several years.
"I set the high jump record as a student here, but it's been broken about 10 times since then," Meisner said. Meisner lives on a farm outside Havana, about 150 miles from Charleston. He said even holding a simple position as curve judge is worth the long drive.
He said he wants the athletes to get the continuous support and level of competition that he said he received as an athlete at Eastern.
Up-and-coming track athletes also participated behind the scenes at the girls meet last weekend.
Erin Brennan, a freshman from Glenbrook South High School, helped with the high jump and simultaneously supported her teammates.
Brennan didn't qualify for the state competition, but she said being there helped her still feel like a part of the meet.
Aside from the nearly 300 volunteers, Kidwell said only 30 personnel at the events are actually paid for duties such as selling tickets and programs.
The IHSA only had four executive representatives on site to operate the meets, and two left on Friday after the event became operational, Kidwell said.
Avoiding liability issues
Although the meets cannot be operated without some quantity of volunteers, there is a risk involved, he said.
Most high schoolers competing in the meets are legally considered minors, raising the risk of issues like sexual assault and abduction.
"There's no doubt (that) in a perfect world, we'd do background checks," Kidwell said. "We put our faith in the hope that these people are coming down for track and not because there's a large amount of young men and woman."
Employees are often required to undergo background checks, but paying all 300 volunteers would be impossible for budgetary reasons, Kidwell said.
The IHSA would need about $21,600 to pay all 300 volunteers $8 per hour each for one nine-hour day. Considering that the meets span two weekends, the money would add up.
"Could something happen? Yes," Kidwell said. "But I think there's enough people around that the opportunities for harm are low. I don't think there's any possible way to do background checks on all these people."
"I've been here 36 years, and we've had just one problem with an individual," Kidwell said. "Once we identified the (problem), we moved quickly, but no, we haven't had a pattern of people not coming here for the sole purpose of track and field."
Background checking
Other Midwestern high school athletic programs are also ensuring that background checks be a requirement for paid employees working at state meets.
The Indiana High School Athletic Association uses between 200 and 300 volunteers for its state finals meets, said Chris Kaufman, the program's communications director.
Performing background checks has been taken into consideration with the IHSAA.
"I think everyone is taking a hard look at it," Kaufman said. "We rely heavily on our member schools to provide assistance (with meets), and most of them do background checks on their people."
Background checks are done on certified officials who are licensed to operate individual events, he said.
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association relies primarily on 130 licensed officials for on-field activities, said assistant commissioner Julian Tackett.
He said they try not to use high school parents as volunteers because of obvious biases.
Representatives from member schools are used for minor tasks in competitions for which schools in opposite classes are contending, but most volunteers are used for non-competition duties outside the stadium.
The 300-some Illinois volunteers will again donate their time to Eastern on Friday and Saturday for the IHSA Boys Track and Field Meet.
Rick Kambic can be reached at 581-7942 or at rwkambic@eiu.edu.
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Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Miley
posted 5/22/08 @ 2:20 AM CST
Interesting story but I had to read until the very last sentence to figure out why it was written... perhaps bumping that up would have made it better. (Continued…)
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