Behind Every Kayaking Event Is Someone Giving Up Their Weekend: The Truth About Volunteering In Paddlesports

Kayaking events, from club nights to national competitions, run on volunteer power. Without volunteers, kayaking as a sport and a community simply wouldn’t exist. This blog explores why people volunteer, what those roles actually involve, and why so many of us who are wearing those ‘volunteering shoes’ are feeling stretched thin.

If you’ve ever paddled at an event, someone gave their weekend to make it happen. Please read this article in appreciation of everyone who has ever given up their time to make our sport a better place.

Why do people volunteer?

Let’s start with the why. Why is it that people choose to give up their time and energy to volunteer?

They love the community. For many paddlers, kayaking is more than time on the water, it’s belonging. Volunteering is a way to help build the community. If you want a ‘village’ as the phrase goes, you have to be willing to be a villager.

They want to give back. Most of us can name a coach, club member, or friend who made a difference early on in our kayaking journeys. Volunteering feels like keeping that cycle of kindness going.

They genuinely enjoy it. Some people love organising, some love safety, some love media, and some, like me, just really love working and connecting with people. I especially enjoy working with young people.

Kids are often funny, unpredictable, and full of joy. They also come out with the most random things. A young child recently told me that they have ‘mind control’ and can make people capsize. A nearby child then did indeed capsize and the original child was very pleased with themselves. I had a good old giggle in that moment. It is these kind of interactions that stay in my memories and are a big motivator for staying involved.

They want to support the next generation. This one goes hand in hand with ‘giving back to the community’. Young paddlers are the future of the sport. Helping them grow is one of the most rewarding parts of volunteering.

It keeps them connected when they’re not paddling. Injury, age, work, family – life happens and this might mean someone has to ‘hang up their paddles’. Volunteering lets people stay part of the community they love, even when they’re off the water.

They want to be part of something bigger. Shared challenges forge friendships and strong connections with others.

Volunteering also teaches leadership, communication, organisation, and resilience. Skills that are can help you in all parts of life. I think that part of the reason I am a good communicator is that I did sports coaching all through my teenage years. It helped me to grow my confidence and know how to communicate effectively.

They achieve a sense of purpose. Your contribution made an impact on other people. That feeling is pretty great.

They were asked to. Proximity matters. Many volunteers are simply people who were nearby when someone said, ‘Could you help?’

Who volunteers?

In short: everyone.

Parents, club members, current paddlers, former paddlers, people who wandered in by accident, and people who got roped in by a friend.

My mum has even volunteered at kayaking events making teas and coffees. She’s not a paddler, she just asked if I needed help and I of course said yes please!

What volunteers actually do?

Volunteering covers a huge range of roles. Here are just a few ‘volunteer roles’ I have been in from the last year.

COaching or leading

Coaching isn’t just the session on the water. It’s helping people to conquer their nerves beforehand, doing kit checks and supporting people in whatever ways they need. It is the emotional support, the strategy, the planning and the constant reading of people. It’s rewarding and I do really enjoy it, but it can have its challenges.

pastoral and welfare support

Some volunteers aren’t coaching, but they’re still supporting paddlers – especially younger ones. I often fall into this role because I’m a teacher and genuinely enjoy helping children navigate the emotional side of kayaking.

Being the designated welfare person means more than holding a qualification. It means being ready for tears, nerves, wobbling confidence, and the occasional meltdown. It means finding the right words at the right moment. It’s not always easy, but it’s deeply rewarding. You become the person who helps a child (or adult) turn a bad moment into a good memory.

You do need to be prepared to deal with difficult situations and have difficult conversations. I find I go into ‘work mode’ in these moments and that helps me to stay calm.

Practical event support

Events don’t magically appear. Someone has to put up gazebos, carry kit, run shuttles, manage registration, set up brand stalls, hang banners, and pack everything away again.

Events might need judges or people to run them. For example, in freestyle kayaking, you rely heavily on qualified judges, but there aren’t many of them. This means that the same people get asked again and again.

Safety teams and first aiders are essential, yet often overlooked.

Without all of these people to provide that practical support, events simply cannot run.

media work

This is the role I find myself doing most often now. Photos, social media, blogs, evening talks… I love it, and without sounding too immodest, I’m good at it. But this role comes with pressure.

It means staying up late after a long day to get Instagram stories posted. It means waking up early before work to finish a blog. It means hours of photo editing and careful writing. It’s rewarding, but it’s work, real work, and often done for free.

organising an event

This is the big one. Organising an event is one of the most stressful volunteering roles you can take on.

My husband Tom and I took over organising Euro Open under River Legacy a few years ago. It’s a freestyle event with 100+ entries. We stepped in because the previous organiser stepped back, and we didn’t want the event to disappear.

Tom handled months of logistics before the weekend: venues, risk assessments, finances, insurance, tickets, volunteers, tech setup, sponsors, prizes, publicity, safety planning, and more. I supported him with this but most of it was handled by Tom.

Then came the event weekend itself. The first year was the most stressful experience of my life. Weather problems, tech failures, people issues. It felt like everything that could go wrong, did. Afterwards people said well done but all I could see was the mistakes. I had to remind myself that if we hadn’t stepped it – the event wouldn’t have happened.

The second year was better. Still stressful, but better.

This year, we handed the event back to GB Freestyle to organise. We’re still involved behind the scenes, but no longer the ‘face of the event’ and honestly, that’s a relief.

Until you’ve organised an event yourself, you cannot understand the level of stress involved. Being the person everyone goes to for every problem takes its toll.

For me, there is a real distinction in volunteering to help with another person’s event or project and volunteering to organise it.

The good bits

Volunteering is full of joy.

You become part of a community. You make friends. You see people grow. You make memories that last forever.

My colleagues at school often stare at me in disbelief when I tell them what I did over the weekend:

• “You introduced eight women to whitewater kayaking?”
• “You toured the country with team paddlers so people could meet and paddle with you?”
• “You completed a kayaking challenge which raised £6000 for charity?”

One thing is for sure and that is volunteers don’t have boring lives!

The challenges

This section is the reason I wrote this blog.

Volunteers are holding up the paddlesports community, but many of us are burning out. The load is too heavy, and too often, it goes unnoticed.

Volunteer burnout

Balancing volunteering with work, family, finances, and health is hard. Safety requirements are increasing. Facilities are limited. Support is inconsistent.

The time and energy that people need to put into these roles to be successful is huge. It reduces your ability to put that time and energy into other areas of your life and ultimately this can negatively impact relationships and both your physical and mental health.

Many volunteers are giving more than they can sustain. Eventually, people stop putting their hands up.

A personal story

I had a moment last year that really brought home how hard volunteering can be. Last year at Euro Open, I was really ill. I had picked up a virus at school but couldn’t stay home, there was too much to do to make the event happen. I spent the weekend running individual events, paddling, solving problems, and surviving on Lemsip.

After the weekend, I received a long message to a personal account, complaining that there had not been a post about their child winning a medal on social media and that they didn’t think their prize had been big enough.

What upset me about this message wasn’t about the issue itself; it was the tone and the assumption that I and others should have been doing more. I read it just before a long day at work when I was already battling feeling exhausted and still quite ill from the weekend. It knocked me harder than it should have and I just felt deflated.

I ended up in tears on the phone to my mum that night. She reminded me that some people don’t realise how much volunteers give, or how much they’re carrying behind the scenes.

It was a small incident, but it captured something bigger: volunteers are human. We’re trying our best. And we can’t do everything. A lot of the time you will be at complete capacity and still go beyond. Yet some people will still expect more and complain when those expectations aren’t met.

Unrealistic expectations

That was a long story but I wanted to share something personal to get this next point across.

Volunteers are not paid staff. They are not reimbursed for their time. They are not obligated to meet professional level expectations.

And yet, more and more people treat volunteers as if they are.

I’ve seen volunteers spoken to terribly, sworn at or threatened. I’ve seen kind people broken by criticism from those who never lift a finger themselves.

Children are rarely the problem. It’s the adults. I am probably going to get some criticism for this but I am going to say it anyway. If you want to see how poorly some people treat volunteers, attend a slalom competition weekend where there are juniors competing. Watch how some of the parents talk to the volunteers making that competition happen… It is honestly shocking.

LAck of thanks

Following our first Euro Open, Tom and I reflected on the event and how we could improve. The first thing I said was ‘we need to look after our volunteers better’. It wasn’t that we didn’t appreciate them but because we were so overwhelmed by everything.

It was a learning point and the next year I think we did better. But you can always do more.

Organisers are volunteers too. When everyone is at capacity, gratitude can get lost. But when people feel unseen, they lose motivation to stay involved.

The solutions

Show appreciation

Most people who volunteer are naturally quite kind people. They have chosen to give up their time for nothing. As a volunteer, I do not want to be ‘rewarded’ for my efforts, although small tokens such as being fed or fuel covered are appreciated.

What I really want is recognition and genuine appreciation. This might just be me and maybe I don’t speak on behalf of all volunteers… but also maybe I do!

A genuine show of gratitude and appreciation goes a long way. A thank you message after an event can make someone’s week.

I really value the messages I receive after an event. ‘You helped my child get over their fear’, ‘you gave me a hug when I was crying’, ‘I love those photos you took and shared’. These kind of messages often make my day and really do make the long hours and challenges worth it!

If you are in a club, consider volunteer awards, celebration BBQs or even simple thank you shout outs to recognise those who make your club work.

support volunteers

If someone is coaching, can the club help fund their qualifications? If a parent is helping at a competition, can they watch their child race? If someone is volunteering for a one off event, do they have breaks? Do they get to paddle? Do they know what they are doing?

There are lots of practical ways to support volunteers, and if you’re not sure what volunteers need, ask them!

Understand the impact

Every paddler can list people who helped them. Coaches, club members, organisers, safety teams, judges, random kind strangers – all volunteers.

Even national and international competitions rely heavily on volunteer labour. Entry fees cover venues and logistics but usually not people’s time.

Volunteers are the backbone of the sport and without them, there would be no sport.

What you can do

What I really want people to consider after reading this blog are these three questions.

• What would happen to kayaking if volunteers stopped?
• Do you notice and appreciate the volunteers around you?
• Could you show that appreciation more often?

And finally, you can volunteer too! You don’t have to commit to a whole weekend. Even an hour helps. Make teas and coffees. Help with registration. Support safety. Carry kit. Ask organisers what they need.

There is always something.

If you’ve ever enjoyed a kayaking event, someone gave their weekend to make it happen. Maybe next time, that someone could be you.