What is a Volunteer?
A volunteer is someone who donates their time and skills for a cause, event, or organization. Those people are always in high demand! Many communities, including the disc golf community, are always seeking people who are willing to help out and work towards a common goal.The Disc Golf community offers endless opportunities to donate your time. There is not a disc golf club, course, tournament, clinic, or course workday that couldn’t use more volunteers. Whether it is picking up some trash left on your local course or running a large, multiple-day event, disc golf needs you. Volunteering provides the chance for all to give back, improve, and contribute to local courses, clubs, events (big and small), and to the future of our special game and community. But that is just the beginning of the benefits of volunteering.
Some Fun Statistics
A study done by Western Connecticut State University identified multiple benefits to not only society and local communities, but interestingly, to the people who volunteer themselves. These benefits include:
- Volunteering connects you to others
- Volunteering improves your mind and body health
- Volunteering helps you learn new skills, gain experience, and opens new career opportunities
- Volunteering brings fun and fulfillment to your life
Helping others can bring happiness and improve multiple aspects of the volunteers’ lives. A study from the London School of Economics found that the more people volunteered, the happier they were!
Advance Your Career Through Volunteering
Volunteering provides a way to learn about new fields and opportunities. For example, if you were considering a particular career or career change, volunteering in that field gives you a way to see if the new field is a good fit. If you are considering becoming an event planner, helping to run a tournament will give you a free look into the event planning world.Importantly remember that courses, events, and clubs can use volunteers with a wide variety of skills and knowledge. Digging holes, trimming trees, or picking up trash may not be for you. But if you have experience fundraising, creating graphics, or a merchandising background, you may be a huge asset to other disc golfers and event directors. The bottom line is that when you volunteer, the benefits you receive, the friends and contacts you make, and the sometimes very fun activities you get to be a part of almost always greatly outweigh any negatives. You always get more out of your volunteer experiences than you put in! Time to step up, give back, and be a part of the community. Make a difference not only in disc golf but in your mental health too. To get started, check out our events page. Then reach out to tournament directors to see what you can do to help them. Tournament directors need volunteers with all types of skills and abilities. However, what they need most is someone who is willing to help. From photography and graphic design to community outreach, you can gain experience helping some amazing causes. Every Throw Pink tournament and event directly benefits a women’s health-related charity. So not only are you having a great time playing some disc golf, but you’re making a difference in the lives of women around the world.
Bill Newman
Bill Newman volunteers to help maintain FDR State Park's Disc Golf course in Yorktown, NY, gives his time to push forward the PDGA's Throw Green initiative, instigates Throw Pink charity events, and recently was named the PDGA's Volunteer of the Year.
Bill Newman
Bill Newman volunteers to help maintain FDR State Park's Disc Golf course in Yorktown, NY, gives his time to push forward the PDGA's Throw Green initiative, instigates Throw Pink charity events, and recently was named the PDGA's Volunteer of the Year.
