BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - They were highly popular three years ago and, in a few weeks, they will make an encore appearance in ICC World Twenty20 West Indies 2010.
The enthusiastic corps of volunteers who served the Caribbean so admirably in its first hosting of an international cricket tournament will again be working hard throughout the 17 days of the upcoming Twenty20 showdown.
This time though they will be known as WT20 X-tras!
Their name is a nod to the fact that in cricket, particularly the abbreviated Twenty20 format, extras are often a vital component of a team’s scorecard. In the same way, these X-tras will be integral to the success of this tournament, bringing that extra spark to the event.
Across the four host nations, volunteers will be deployed in various functional areas, many assigned to roles in which they have some professional experience or training, including VIP protocol, media management, accreditation, meet-and-greet and ushering. In total, there are 650 X-tras: Barbados (198); Guyana (157); St. Kitts (137) and Saint Lucia (150). There are also a number of contingency volunteers in each country.
Volunteer Coordinator for Saint Lucia, Ms Paula James, noted the camaraderie among volunteers from ICC CWC 2007 has evolved into a National Volunteer Programme in that country.
“We volunteer because of the togetherness and we enjoy what we do. Whenever there’s a major event in Saint Lucia, I get calls ‘Ms James, are we volunteering? We’re ready.’
“We just like the fun of it and serving our country. We’re not asking for anything in return. We just like to be involved,” she said, adding that the Saint Lucia X-tras are looking forward to their part in ICC WT20 WI 2010.
At present, volunteers are going through the final stages of preparation for ICC WT20 WI 2010, with most of them having undergone refresher training last month.
“The WT20 X-tras are primarily volunteers who were involved in ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 so the training was a refresher course as well as special Twenty20 orientation. This training was conducted by persons who were themselves initially trained in 2007 so you can see the continuity in this programme; that the Caribbean now has a cadre of trainers who can pass on relevant knowledge and experience to others,” said ICC WT20 WI 2010 Regional Event Manager, Mrs Cindy McLean.
She revealed members of the public were so eager to volunteer that there were more applications than the complement required.
“We were overwhelmed by the response. However, this is a leaner operation than in 2007 and we were unable to accept all who expressed an interest in volunteering for WT20 2010, but we know we have good additional resources to call on if we need to.”
Once again, volunteers will be easily identifiable on match days, sporting a blue uniform with maroon on the sleeves and down the sides in keeping with the tournament colours. Supervisors will wear the same colours in reverse.
“Volunteers were one of the outstanding legacies from CWC 2007 and we anticipate that they will again give excellent service and do the region proud,” said Mrs McLean.
In St Kitts Volunteer Coordinator Shirley Adams stated that two sessions of training has been conducted and the WT20 X-TRAS are fired up for the first round female matches from May 5-10.
The last session was held on Saturday April 10. Val Henry, Julie Martin, and Eulinis Browne facilitated the main portion of the training which dealt with ticketing, rights and responsibilities, and health. Rushman’s chief executive, Glen Kirton, addressed issues specifically dealing with accreditation.
