Hamersley Athletics Centre is powered by volunteers, from our committee to our coaches. To ensure every Saturday competition during the Summer Season runs safely and smoothly, every family is required to contribute time. From officiating to raking sand, your support keeps the competition alive—and fun.
The Summer Season runs across 14+ Saturdays, October to March, with a break over Christmas.
Expect to spend 2+ hours every fortnight or 15–20 hours total per season, depending on your roster.
All roles are essential. Some are simple, some need a little training, but all are doable and rewarding.
Volunteering is a registration requirement. No roster, no results.
We use Team App as our primary roster communication tool for parents to communicate and easily arrange roster swaps when needed.
The full season roster is available via Team App. Make sure your notifications are turned on and your contact details are up to date.
Our volunteering opportunities are grouped into three key areas. Together, these roles ensure the smooth delivery of athletics programs and foster a strong, community-focused environment for athletes and families.
Public address announcer. Calls events over the PA system from the balcony, ensures program is running smoothly by calling athletes to next events, manages program changes if required, makes general announcements. Must be signed in and on the balcony by 7:30am to get ready. Commence first calls at 7:40am with competition underway by 7:50am, stay until completion of competition day.
Supports the Announcer on the balcony. Receives two-way communications from track and field and passes information to Announcer, contacts track and field as required, monitor completion of events, help Announcer to keep the program moving and suggest program changes as required, handle queries from parents and athletes as they arise. Must be signed in and on the balcony by 7:30am. Stays until completion of competition day.
Sign in and head to the Canteen for an 8:30am start. Help Canteen Manager to sell drinks and snacks using cash and EFT facilities. No food preparation required. Stays until advised by Canteen Manager.
Using laptops in the office (located on the balcony), enters the results for all field events as recording sheets are handed in. Training and support is available for new families. Sign in at the roster tent and be in the office by 8:30am, stay until the last field event results are uploaded. Teams of two volunteers per day.
Discus, Shotput, Vortex, Turbo Jav, Javelin
Sign in at first call, collect clipboard with recording sheet, fluro vest and radio and head straight to event site. Officiate events while athletes compete – measure out centre record, ensure safe throws and correct processes are followed (ie, athletes must walk out the back of the throwing circle) and that no athletes are using implements before warm up throws/competition has started. Call in to Announcer that event is completed when measuring up, hand recording sheet into the office (on the balcony) at completion. Will require the help of 3-4 parents to supervise, record, retrieve throwing implements, spiking distance and measuring. Notify Arena Manager immediately if a record is equalled or broken. Training and support is available as required.
NOTE: Javelin athletes (U12+) are to be collected from the Southern Marshal tent and safely walked across the track to the middle of the arena. Only parents helping to run the event are allowed in centre arena.
Long Jump, Triple Jump, High Jump
Sign in at first call, collect clipboard with recording sheet, fluro vest and radio and head straight to event site. Officiate events while athletes compete – measure out centre record, ensure safe jumps and correct processes are followed and that no athletes are using implements before warm up jumps/competition has started. Will require the help of 3-4 parents to supervise, record, move jump mats, raise high jump bars, spiking distance and measuring. Call in to the Announcer when event is completed, hand recording sheet into the office (on the balcony). Notify Arena Manager immediately if a record is equalled or broken. Training and support is available as required.
Sign in by 7:30am and collect fluro vest, radio and first aid kit. Must have a current First Aid Certificate (to be emailed to Roster Coordinator prior to first competition) and be on call for first aid requirements, Stay until completion of competition day. For more serious incidents/accidents, must notify and liaise with Arena Manager and fill in an incident report (incident report sheets can be found in the office.)
When called by the Announcer, sign in at the roster tent and collect fluro vest. Assist Equipment Officer in clearing the arena of all equipment including taking down tents, packing up field sites, track and bunting. Equipment is placed on trailers and returned to the shed. Teams of 10 volunteers per day.
NOTE: Finish time may be between 11:30-12:30pm depending on competition day. Pack up volunteers are required to stay until the entire arena is cleared and equipment all packed away, and sign back out on completion.
Must arrive by 7:15am to have roster tent and tables set up and ready for volunteers to sign in at 7:30am. Bring equipment down from the office, place printed recording sheets in clipboards ready for volunteers to collect. Keep track of events as they are called and ensure volunteers are in attendance and signed in on the sign in sheets. Advise Announcer of no shows so they can do a call out firstly for the volunteer and then someone to replace them if needed, call no shows to advise they are required to sign in ASAP for their roster. Hand out clipboards, fluro vests, radios and then pack away as they’re handed back in. Stay until last event is called, return all roster equipment to the office at the end of competition. Teams of two volunteers per day.
Arrive by 6:15am to assist Equipment Officer set up the arena ready for competition start. Includes setting up tents, field sites, high jump mats, track, hurdles. Sign in at the roster tent from 7:30am. Teams of 10 volunteers per day.
One Starter on each track (Short, Long and Long 2 Track) per day. Sign in and be on the track by 7:30am. Starts races – says ‘on your marks’ and ‘set’, and uses electronic gun for Go (presses the timing gates starter button at ‘Go’ to commence timers). Ensures athletes doing block starts are given additional time to adjust blocks at start of race, time to set themselves in to the blocks at ‘on your marks’ and additional time at ‘Set’ to get their hips high in position and bodies still – ‘Go’ isn’t said until all athletes have their hips raised and there is no movement. Ensures hurdles are correct height and distance for age group, liaise with End of Track Teams to ensure races are ready to get started.
Assists at the start of track. Assist marshalling athletes into random lanes to ensure fastest athletes are not always in the same lanes. Stands at start line across from Starter to ensure athletes are behind the line, look for false starts and blow whistle to stop the race once started if required.
Teams of two volunteers per marshalling tent, Northern Marshalls oversee some middle distance and long distance events. Sign in, collect track event sheets and be in the marshalling tent by 7:30am. When track events are called, organise athletes into heats and mark athlete names off on the sheets provided. Where possible, arrange athletes into random lanes (to avoid the fastest runners always being in the same lane), walk athletes to start lines ensuring they remain in their lane order as they approach the track. Liaise with Announcer as required.
NOTE: Track Marshalls will need to return their recording sheets to the office (on the balcony) of completion of last event.
Teams of two volunteers per marshalling tent, Southern Marshalls oversee some middle distance and the sprints events. Sign in, collect track event sheets and be in the marshalling tent by 7:30am. When track events are called, organise athletes into heats and mark athlete names off on the sheets provided. Where possible, arrange athletes into random lanes (to avoid the fastest runners always being in the same lane), walk athletes to start lines ensuring they remain in their lane order as they approach the track. Liaise with Announcer as required.
NOTE: Track Marshalls will need to return their recording sheets to the office (on the balcony) of completion of last event.
Track events are run across three tracks – Short (sprints/sprint hurdles), Long (long hurdles/middle distance) and Long 2 (long distance).
Track Teams are located at the end of track and are made up of the following:
Each Track Team will work alongside the same group each rostered week. Track Teams must be signed in and be on the track by 7:30am, stay until last event of the day is completed and assist in packing up timing gates and equipment. Track Teams must immediately notify Arena Manager when a record is equalled or broken.
Training in end of track and timing gates is offered pre-season and is highly recommended for all Track Teams, plus ongoing support is available as required throughout the season.
Timing Gates Officials: Teams of two volunteers per day. Arrive by 6:15am to set up timing gates, both Officials are required to stay until the end of competition day to help troubleshoot anything that arises. There is opportunity to tag team once timing gets are properly set up – 1 Official to remain at the end of track throughout competition day.
Race Controller: Teams of two volunteers per day. Ensure the Recorder and Starter are both ready for next event to commence, operate the lollypop stand from white (signifies to Starter that next event can commence) to red (signifies to Starter that end of track team is not ready for next event to commence), operate manual stopwatches and record times as required. Work with Timing Gates Officials to ensure timing gates are operating correctly.
Recorder: One Recorder per track each day. Working with Race Controller and Timing Gates Officials to ensure equipment is operating correctly. Advise Race Controller when ready for next event to start. Operate laptop at the end of track, entering athlete bib numbers against results at completion of race.
Finish Line Marshal: Walking athletes off the track and direct them to the Recorder at the end of their race, keep athletes in order. Ensure athletes remove spikes and carry safely.
Role can be shared between families. Chaperones will be given a clipboard of all athletes eligible for medals to help coordinate the winners with event officials. Attend each event site (including track events) and tick of participating athletes. Post event, collect the winners list from the event official and walk athletes straight to the medal tent.
Role can be job-shared. Announce names of winning athletes for Gold, Silver and Bronze medals.
Role can be job-shared. Collect winners list from chaperones and cross off event on the printed program, get athletes in order ready to walk to the podium, hand medals to medal presenters, use a two-way radio to call in to Arena Announcer once athletes are on the podium so age groups can be moved to the next event.
Acts as the primary point of contact for Hamersley at special events and Athletics West competitions. This role involves managing communication and athlete protests. They are crucial for facilitating communication between the centre and event organizers.
TBC
