Volunteer Opportunities

As an all-volunteer, nonprofit club, CROC relies entirely on the talents and time of its members to put on the meets that we all enjoy.  We can use your help!  Volunteering can benefit you as well, as you meet more experienced members, make new friends, and improve your skills.

Some of you may think that you need to be very skilled at orienteering to volunteer for the club. This is not true! While some jobs such as meet director, mapping or course setter require some experience, many tasks such as assisting with registration or picking up controls after the event are suitable for anyone.  It can be as simple as asking the meet director beforehand how you can help, and planning to come a bit early or later. 

The following tasks are required at most events and can be learned quickly. The plan for volunteers is that they do a limited shift for about an hour, so that they can also run their course of choice. 

Starts and Finishes

These are both cushy “chair” jobs involving a clipboard and a clock. While e-punch results are official, the starter keeps track of everyone who goes out on a course, and approximately when they leave. Doing finishes is similar: as participants come in, their name and e-stick number are recorded on the clipboard form along with the (unofficial) time they returned. (Clear handwriting required.) 

Download Supervisor 

This is a nice low-pressure job directing competitors to download. Monitoring is required to collect rental e-sticks and be sure the equipment keeps working. Training (about 3 minutes) includes how to clear paper jams and how to turn on the equipment. 

Greeter 

Are you the gregarious outgoing type? The greeter is a friendly face to new arrivals, and helps get them started with map pickup and beginner clinics if needed. Answering questions is part of this job. There are a variety of other ways for the greeter to be helpful and organize things depending on what’s needed. 

Registration and map handout

Check that new arrivals are properly pre-registered. Hand out maps and clear sheets for the appropriate course. Enter all participants on the meet sheet with clearly written names and e-stick numbers.

Beginner clinic

Typically we offer a beginner clinic on the half hour mark, say at 11:30 and 12 noon. This usually takes about 10 minutes, where we give a quick overview to new folks as to how orienteering works.