The participants registered for the event wake up and start their pre-race routines, each on their own. Their training cycles over the last few months are leading up to this day, which has been specially circled in their diaries. Some are there to perform and test their physical and psychological limits. Others are there because they've promised to be. Family members are supportive, and some will even be on hand to hold up small posters and offer emotional encouragement. These biased extras will rub shoulders with the supporting cast, who wear the same identifying sweater with a certain pride. Many people's timelines will cross and intersect during these shared hours. The presence of volunteers is based on the promise of a good time, and the deep-rooted desire to help others have a good time.
While a good number of volunteers will be stationed along the course, others will be assigned to the warehouse or checkroom during this time. They will have spent most of their day there, without even seeing the event itself. Their contribution will be more behind the scenes, and that's the way it's meant to be. At the end of the day, everyone will have supported and encouraged the effort and determination in their own way. Volunteers have a simple mission: to make sure that everything is ready on time, and that everything runs smoothly and according to plan. Volunteers will also be the last to leave the site once the event is over. They'll see to the packing up and tidying up of the site. In return for a T-shirt, a sandwich, a snack and a heartfelt thank-you, they'll have made a significant contribution to the creation of lasting memories.
The very concept of volunteering refers to the voluntary giving of oneself. It was a certain Jean-François Mouton who made me realize this during a general training meeting organized for the volunteers of the 2015 World Hockey Championships... "The word bénévolat is a derivative of the expression 'de bonne volonté'. It's so obvious that we tend to forget it too often. Thanks again Jean-François for this brilliant reminder.
The very structure of sporting activities in Montreal, Quebec and across Canada relies on a consistently impressive level of volunteer commitment. The recent Finale des Jeux du Québec held in Sherbrooke required the mobilization of several thousand volunteers, the vast majority of them local, not to mention those who agreed to take a few days off work to accompany the athletes. These other volunteers were coaches, missionaries and officials of all kinds. And so it has been for the past fifty years. The just-concluded Montreal Games, the upcoming Défi sportif Altergo and the fifty or so major sporting events that fill Montreal's annual calendar all rest on a fundamental foundation of volunteer commitment. A volunteer commitment that is, in a way, a contract of goodwill based on a promise to do one's best for others. The commitment aspect, we hope, fosters, in return, the satisfaction of duty accomplished, the possibility of having learned, of having forged links with others, of having contributed, in a special way, to the creation of beautiful moments. We must also underline the contribution of those who, without counting the cost, give generously of their time and share their knowledge and skills by agreeing to sit on one or other of the committees set up to administer the several thousand organizations that structure and supervise the practice of sport and recreation. While we are witnessing a certain professionalization in the governance and management of sport, it's important to remember the essential, fundamental presence of all those who willingly share their time, knowledge and skills. Thank you, volunteers! Sport is thanks to you!
