When the West Kootenay zone bid on the BC Seniors Games, it was actually for 2012 — but the provincial society asked if our region would consider 2011 instead and now the planning for a 27-sport, 3,000-athlete, three-city event has been pressed into a tight schedule to meet the Aug. 16-20 games.
Ann Damude, the sole employee of the regional body West Kootenay 2011 BC Seniors Games (WKSG), said “Normally we would have two years to put all the partnerships in place. People are working really hard right now because we only have a year to do it.”
The WKSG must organize 27 sports in 20 venues. Seven track events will take place at Haley Park in Trail, for example, and each event has three to five age categories.
“That’s a lot of logistics. Even running one of those events would be a major undertaking,” Damude explained, but the incredible task is managed down to the fine details by a complex structure of delegated responsibilities.
“The Senior Games is run a lot like the Olympics,” she explained. “There’s a provincial organization, the B.C. Seniors Games Society (BCSGS), that runs the games year after year, and host communities that change every year.”
That is, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was to VANOC what the BCSGS is to the WKSG.
The BCSGS is composed of 12 zones that take turns hosting the event, and every zone sends a group of athletes to the games. Barb Roberts, for example, is the director for the West Kootenay Zone and co-ordinates the registration of our region’s athletes. Sometimes, if there are more athletes who want to participate than the zone can send, qualifiers are played within the zone to secure spots on the team.
The WKSG is a non-profit society with 27 people on its board representing the three host communities of Castlegar, Nelson, and Trail.
At the top, what Damude called the “triumvirate,” are the president, Pat Metge, the former recreation director at the Castlegar complex, and vice presidents Bill Reid of Nelson and Keith Smyth of Trail.
The 14 WKSG directors and some co-directors are divided into services, or directorates, such as medical, security, and administration. Three to six chairs under each director have more specific areas of responsibility.
“Within the directorates and chairs, there are already some 200 volunteers, and under that there will be all sorts of general volunteers,” Damude said.
“By the time this rolls out, there will be an infrastructure of at least 1,500 volunteers.”
Damude’s own role is to do bookkeeping, troubleshooting, and “really sexy jobs, like making sure there are enough porta potties and that tents are equitably distributed.”
She understates the case, of course. With all sorts of specialized directors and chairs, it’s important to keep an eye on the bigger picture and how the different needs of different events overlap and interact.
It may seem “overly bureaucratic,” she said, “but when you get down to who’s doing what, it’s really nice to know who’s getting the tents to your site. It’s a really good management model and a great way of organizing a massive number of volunteers.”