New volunteering position, new stuff

Since Ci and I are now settled in Nanaimo you'd think I'd stop taking up volunteer positions. However, after seeing the workload some of my friends we taking up to help out the Nanaimo Ultimate Association, I felt this was something I wanted to take on because a) it's something I'm passionate about, b) I want to help out my friends and c) few others were stepping up.

I'd like to believe I've always had a fair reputation on the field when playing Ultimate. If I make a foul/strip/OB/pick call, it's because I feel this actually happened, not because I want to gain some sort of advantage in the game at hand. Since taking up the mantle of helping out NUA, I've been accused- most times indirectly because the accusation has been leveled at the committee I'm sitting on- of using my position to give preferential treatment to teams and players no less than three times now. In a year. All of them (in my opinion) are unfounded, bordering on ridiculous (if I ever feel like revisiting these, I'll make another post on them).

The most frustrating thing about these accusations is they have always been done using means that are so inappropriate that to defend myself against them would be equally inappropriate. If that doesn't make sense, let me specify: we have an email group used for getting information about what's going on in Ultimate out to the community as a whole. Although anyone can post to this group, it's not meant to be a ranting forum for anyone that has a problem with how NUA is being run. However, it has been used in this way recently and in the past. This isn't the place for it, to post a defense on the same group is equally inappropriate.

Anyway, this (not-so-secret) blog is going to be my ranting ground. A place where I can scream into the void all my frustration and anger over certain people and their behaviour.

Let me start.

I am appalled by the incredible arrogance, by the baffling sense of entitlement and selfishness that certain people in the local Ultimate community have shown. To be clear, I take a very dim view of humanity and I don't expect people to be shining examples of virtue. That's just not going to happen. In fact, I feel it would be wrong of anyone to place these kind of expectations on another person.

What I've realized I do expect, though, is for people to show some form of appreciation, some respect, for the people that are volunteering their time, their energy and their effort, into making Ultimate happen for all the people of Nanaimo.

And I am appalled by what I've read and seen. I've been called a nazi, I've been told my actions are for my own self-gain and are 'bullshit', I've been told I've rigged tournaments so that my friends could win. I'm a volunteer for God's sake, I'm doing this to help out my friends and to make the community better for all.

At times I wrestle with the idea of just throwing in the towel and letting the assholes be assholes, but the truth is these people represent a small fraction of the community as a whole. Let's say 5%. There are a tonne of people who do appreciate the effort we're making and the work we've put into NUA. The problem is that us volunteers end up dealing with these assholes about 80% of the time.