THE HERALD OUTLOOK Saturday September 8 Page Sports Outlook ROB RISK Herald Sports Editor Karate Club stresses discipline Gerry Jones a member of the Karate Club In Georgetown demonstrates the use of the Katana a wooden copy of a Samurai sword The club is Introducing the use of some of these weapons in their classes with the more traditional self defense instruction this year Herald photo by Robert Risk Mens Flag Football ready to defend crown By JIM LINDSAY Herald Special PLAYOFF GAMES This Sunday am Longhorns vs Oldtimers Horns by 18 With the scent of fall in the air the Horns will be out to prove that they are still the team to beat come Sept 23 The Oldtimers are seeing postseason play only due to a default and seem to be happy with the gift of an extra game Only galeforce winds and a torrential rain storm will keep this one close am Dawgs vs Plus Welding by The Welders received a gift from Raspers two weeks ago to jump ahead of the Oldtimers Some gift Now instead of the Horns they get the Dawgs With friends like that am Electric vs and by Last time these two teams met M and M won 167 Dont look for lightning to strike twice Mez will have all the guns working and the fact and M won the last en counter will insure the Electri cians wont be looking beyond them Too bad for M and M pm Kaspers vs Glen Glen by Kaspers by virtue of a default have been off for three weeks while the Glen played tough against Elect last week The only thing going against the Glen is that they are 20 vs Kaspers With only one win separating these two teams in regular season standings odds should be with Kaspers This will be the game of the day but will see the Glen go on to play next week TRAM T V A Pll I hems 14 Mraiic Electric r 309 18 Glen II 16 191 233 12 Plus 4 12 83 336 Old Timers 3 1 6 Bowlers welcomed Newcomers dont wait register now for 5pin bowling leagues for choice of leagues and times no experience necessary ladies men mixed adult youth all divisions golden agers from GO years young afternoon eveing and Sunday morning leagues For information phone GeoTjetown Bowl 12 Road South opposite Georgetown Market Plaza Reservations also accepted parties and public The Karate Club located the Cedarvale Recreation Centre is celebrating its ninth an niversary this year and is going strong in Georgetown With the first day of registration barely completed club operatorowner Mark Yates said he expects about people joining up this year Thats an increase of 10 people We had most of the signups today Wednesday but we always get a lot of people coming during the first week Im a little worried that some of our regulars wont be able to get in because most of the classes are close to filled already Gerry Jones one of the clubs assistants said the Yates operates five other KarateJudo classes in the area which includes Shelburne Arthur Erin Hanover and Mount Forest Weve grown a little every year This time around were in troducing some weapon practice such as the Katana wooden samurai sword and the Bo a six- foot long wooden shaft While most of the people who take the classes are children he said quite a few of the students are adults and teenagers One of the things Yates tried to do to increase participation is clear up misunderstandings about learning karate and judo A lot of parents ask me about whether learning these skills will make their kids more aggressive and get themselves or someone else hurt I believe quite the op posite is true he said Yates emphasized that the train ing involves a lot of discipline and practice of its students For the first six weeks the students are drilled in the importance of discipline and are strictly taught how to defend themselves The ones who are likely to cause trouble usually lose interest in the first couple of lessons Also the more you learn about it the less aggressive you become It becomes apparent to them how much more they can still learn as they go along Yates said some of the more ex perienced club members will be competing in a tournament in Whitby on Sept while the newer ones will have one of their own in Georgetown later on We dont want to put them into a situation where they are learning a group of or so and are sud denly competing with about 200 people watchng them Cost of the 10 week is and are one hour in length for the children and oneandahalf hours for adults Anyone interested in signing up for the classes can call Mark Yates at Government Study Volunteers the heart of recreation The Ontario Governments Com munity Recreation Policy State ment directs the Ministry of Tourism and Recreation to pro mote and support volunteerism in sport fitness and recreation across the province In 1988 the Ministry commis sioned a study to investigate the status of volunteerism its purpose was to determine the extent of volunteer activity and recommend strategies to ensure its vitality Five hundred volunteers 38 boards and staff participated representing provincial and local organizations The study team also analyzed Ontario data from the 1987 National Survey of Volunteer Activity conducted by Statistics Canada to produce ac curate estimates on the numbers of recreation volunteers in Ontario their characteristics and their pat terns of volunteering The study determined that volunteers are the heart of recrea tion in Ontario and the of their various organizations There are however several areas of con cern which include greater workloads than volunteers can handle insufficient volunteers for some programs and services difficulties in retaining ex perienced volunteers and recruiting their successors the need for greater recogni tion of volunteers weaknesses in organizational practices particularly the ability to follow through on plans IMPACT OF RECREATION VOLUNTEERS recreation volunteers in Ontario One out of every four adults in Ontario volunteers for a voluntary organization Twenty per cent of them 372000 adults volunteer in sports fitness and recreation organiza tions in Ontario contribute over half a billion dollars worth of service They volunteer million hours annually This translates into 22500 people working full time in recreation every year Based on an hourly rate of the value of the work con tributed by volunteers in recrea tion in 1987 was million In addition recreation volunteers in Ontario spend million annually in outofpocket expenses More men than women volunteer In recreation per cent of recreation volunteers in Ontario are men per cent are women For all types of voluntary organizations in On tario however 56 per cent of vplunteers are women They are an in their middle years Most volunteers are in their middle years onethird are bet ween the ages of 35 and but they range from 15 the lowest age surveyed to over years of age They fill a wide variety of essential roles The average volunteer per forms five to seven major ac tivities for his or her organization Onethird of recreation volunteers in Ontario mention coaching refereeing judging as their main activity About twenty per cent organize events super vise or coordinate activities Five per cent sit on boards for all kinds of organizations They volunteer at the local regional and provincial levels for a wide variety of organizations rang ing from neighbourhood clubs for older adults to provincial sport organizations Twothird of recreation volunteers in Ontario volunteer for organized sport groups Volunteering runs in the family Almost forty per cent have one or more family members who volunteer for the same organiza tion Sixtysix per cent have family members who volunteer for other organizations Recreation volunteers are commit ted volunteers Almost onethird of recreation volunteers in Ontario have been with their organizations three to five years One in five have been involved even longer More than half also volunteer for other recreation organizations or other nonrecreation voluntary groups who see volunteering as impor tant and satisfying Volunteering is seen as an im portant activity by most recreation volunteers in Ontario Over half see it as very important and an additional forty per cent see it as quite important Over half found their volunteer ing very satisfying and one- third found it somewhat satisfy ing They volunteer because they care and because It Is rewarding and fun Doing something they like to do having a feeling of ac complishment and helping others are most important to recreation volunteers Many are supported by their employers Twothirds of recreation volunteers in Ontario were employed fulltime and about threequarters of their employers supported their volunteer work by allowing them to use company or equipment allowing work of flexible work hours or giving them recogni tion for the volunteering CONCLUSION An overview of the information collected on the status of volunteerism in sport fitness and recreation in Ontario suggests an essentially healthy sector that makes an invaluable contribution to recreation opportunities in the province As for the concerns that were identified the study provides recommendations focussing on three main goals These goals can be accomplished through a variety of strategies that are outlined in detail in the full report They in volve all of the recreation partners in Ontario Expand the pool of volunteers Expanding the pool of volunteers for example involves promotion of the value and benefits of volunteerism as well as the crea tion of support mechanisms to facilitate the involvement of peo ple of diverse backgrounds in volunteer work While some of these strategies may be under taken at the community and organization level there is also a role for the Ministry of Tourism and Recreation in such related areas as volunteer recognition and targeted recruitment programs Enhance organizational effec tiveness Enhancing organizational effec tiveness requires attracting and replenishing volunteers as well as developing adequate problem- solving decisionmaking and planning and implementation methods Strategies such as community and regional workshops on organizational practices provision of consultative services and in creased awareness of existing resources could encourage better planning followthrough as well as more effective use of volunteers Increase the capacity and will ingness of municipalities to sup port volunteers and organiza tions The third goal relates directly to the role municipalities can play in supporting volunteers and their organizations Because suppoit at the local level is so strategies involving the develop ment of regional support networks and consultative services would permit municipalities to ensure more successful delivery of pro grams and service The message then is clear It is vital that all partners in recreation promote volunteering emphasiz ing its value as a community and provincial resource as well as its personal benefits and satisfac tions At the same time effective organizational and support mechanisms will ensure the most efficient use T resource