Why volunteer?

So let's start off by blowing my own trumpet a bit. I got involved with ultimate in 2004 and started playing regularly in 2005. In that time, I served as BUUF's main man (never actually had the term "President" - it's a mildly interesting story of corruption. Ask me some time), VFDA General Representative, AFDA Director of Marketing and currently AFDA National Universities Coordinator. I have run around a dozen tournaments, plus Albert Park League for one season. I have been a driving force in getting several teams to several tournaments - most notably Eureka Goldigaz to World Clubs 2006. I have assisted countless other teams and volunteers in sorting their shit out and providing ideas. I also write some shitty blog on the internet somewhere.

I do all this because I want to. There's nothing out there that forces me to.

I get asked occasionally (mostly by my parents who want me to expend these efforts into a career so I can support them in their retirement) why I do it all for relatively little financial reward. I've never been able to adequately explain why - it usually amounts to "well no one else would". But then I read an article on Cracked.com (usually masquerades as a humour website) that summed it all up for me quite nicely

Source

You want to break out of that black tar pit of self-hatred? Brush the black hair out of your eyes, step away from the computer and buy a nice gift for someone you loathe. Send a card to your worst enemy. Make dinner for your mom and dad. Or just do something simple, with an tangible result. Go clean the leaves out of the gutter. Grow a damn plant.

It ain't rocket science; you are a social animal and thus you are born with little happiness hormones that are released into your bloodstream when you see a physical benefit to your actions. Think about all those teenagers in their dark rooms, glued to their PC's, turning every life problem into ridiculous melodrama. Why do they make those cuts on their arms? It's because making the pain-and subsequent healing-tangible releases endorphins they don't get otherwise. It's pain, but at least it's real.

That form of stress relief via mild discomfort used to be part of our daily lives, via our routine of hunting gazelles and gathering berries and climbing rocks and fighting bears. No more. This is why office jobs make so many of us miserable; we don't get any physical, tangible result from our work. But do construction out in the hot sun for two months, and for the rest of your life you can drive past a certain house and say, "Holy shit, I built that." Maybe that's why mass shootings are more common in offices than construction sites.

It's the kind of physical, dirt-under-your-nails satisfaction that you can only get by turning off the computer, going outdoors and re-connecting with the real world. That feeling, that "I built that" or "I grew that" or "I fed that guy" or "I made these pants" feeling, can't be matched by anything the internet has to offer.

It's very hard to adequately describe the feeling I have when I see teams enjoying themselves at a tournament I'm running, or team mates getting home from a tournament exhaustedly declaring they've had "the BEST weekend ever!" But think the above exerpt sums it up - the satisfaction of knowing that I made it happen.

Try it sometime. You might like it.