Sometimes coaches and team pound on tournament directors to do this, do that, tell me this, tell me that, etc, etc. It kinda comes with the territory running a soccer tournament. And every so often, especially when you come home from your day job after a particularly long day, and you are reading these emails, you are tempted to quip back something like:
“I’m just a volunteer with a day job and I can’t be expected to answer all your emails and phone calls 24/7 at your beck and call.”
And that’s when you should step back, NOT send the email and take a deep breath. It is not a good idea and will backfire because the coach or team rep who is asking you questions is probably also a volunteer and they are spending their lunch hours, evening, weekends and holidays to manage their team as well.
The only difference between your volunteer efforts and theirs is they are PAYING your organization to play in a tournament. They are the customer, regardless of whether you are volunteering your time or not. In this relationship, you don’t have the luxury of ignoring their needs simply because you are volunteering your time, energy and expertise organizing a tournament.
There are limits, like not being expected to take a phone call at 3:00am, but mostly managing a soccer organization is a night, weekend and holiday job. Plan for it.
Our Advice: Set support hours and communication channels and publish them clearly. If you can only be available by phone between 6:00pm-10pm M-F and 9:00am-11:am S/S, say so! Publish the hours on your home page, in your about section and in your FAQs. Make the hours part of your email footer. If you prefer email and can respond faster that way, say so!
Most communication issues can be solved by setting clear expectation from the start and following through with them. There will always be emergencies and these should be responded to appropriately, but make sure they are real emergencies. If they turn out to be routine issues that could have been handled through your published channels, don’t be afraid to remind the coach/team rep about this. Some coaches will always see their issues as emergencies. Be sure to not enable that by being firm.
But never fall back on the “I’m just a volunteer” excuse. It never works.