BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (CMC):
Cricket World Cup (CWC) volunteers for matches at Warner Park Stadium have been labelled 'enthusiastic' as they get ready for the sport's big global event next month.
Over 300 volunteers assembled at the Basseterre High School Auditorium on Saturday for a training workshop to prepare them for their role at CWC 2007.
Volunteer coordinator Jeffrey Hanley said the participants were enthusiastic and suggested he was convinced they knew their functions.
"I am quite satisfied with the volunteers' readiness because one of the advantages that St. Kitts has is that about 100 of the same volunteers had been utilised during the one-day international and Test match played at the same venue last year between the West Indies and the touring Indians, and as such they had an idea of what was expected of them," Hanley said.
The session began at approximately 1:00 p.m. and participants were exposed to topics that dealt with 'What is expected of a volunteer', 'Ambush Marketing', 'Working as a Team', and 'Customer Service', among other things.
Simulation exercises
According to Hanley, the main aim of the workshop was to ensure that the volunteers had a level of readiness for their assignments from March 14-24 when the country hosts Group A matches involving defending champions Australia, South Africa, Scotland and the Netherlands.
There are also plans to hold another workshop at the Warner Park venue within the next week. Here participants would be engaged in some simulation exercises so that they could put what they have learnt into practice.
Volunteers were informed that it was mandatory that they attend both workshops, so that the final product is of the highest standard.
Hanley said training sessions for the volunteers would be ongoing, even after the staging of CWC matches in St. Kitts.
They would be needed for the annual St. Kitts and Nevis Music Festival in mid-June as well as in the Easter of 2008 when St. Kitts will host the regional CARIFTA Games.
"The aim was to keep the cadre of volunteers together and at regular intervals have a number of workshops to keep their performance first class," Hanley said.
The workshop ended at about 5:30 p.m. after closing remarks by Horatio Versailles, CEO of the Local Organising Committee (LOC).
