Making athletics a positive experience: Inspiring Official winner Carol Wright

Carol Wright is a technical official based in Cambridgeshire - she's qualified in track, field and photofinish but her real passion is as a Starter. She recently won the East Region Inspiring Official Volunteer Award and we caught up with her at the celebration evening.

Carol started her officiating journey in Belgium, where she lived and was already competing. While injured and knowing her club needed more officials, she took the Belgian officiating all-in-one course which includes all disciplines apart from Starter.

She joined Cambridge and Coleridge AC when she moved to England about 10 years ago. She was able to convert her Field qualification and mentioned to the club that she was in fact interested in becoming a Starter. They got her on the next available course, provided a number of contacts to mentor her, and "the rest is history" as she says - now a Level 3 Starter and Starter's Assistant.

A positive experience for both athletes and officials

Carol is a great advocate of making athletics a positive experience and that starts with the youngest runners. She feels that by explaining to them what is about to happen, you can make them less nervous at the start and give them a better understanding on the event and the role of the officials

“The young ones learn really quickly if you explain it. I used to go to Boston and they had very young ones there and I used to go through what they had to do - it was amazing how much better behaved they were than some of the older athletes who've been doing it for years.”

She explained that in her opinion, if athletes haven’t had that initial experience and explanation they just see officials trying to catch them out, and they don't realize that an official’s role is to help the athletes and keep competition fair.

The importance of mentoring

From supporting the athletes on their journey Carol also mentors other officials and supports their progression. We asked her how that came about and what she enjoys about this additional role. She explained that she was lucky to be mentored by great Starter officials such as Mike da Silva and John Freeman at the beginning of her journey.

“I learned a lot [from Mike and John] about how to encourage people and to understand the difference between saying ‘how did you feel about that’ rather than ‘you're doing something wrong.’ So, not criticism, but encouraging them to say how they feel.”

Retirement - a time to do what you love without work getting in the way!

When Carol was an athlete she said she trained when she had time, when she wasn’t working. And people at work - which was nothing to do with sport - used to think she’d never want to retire. But Carol saw retirement as the time to do things more important in her life:

“I can actually spend my time doing the things I really love; which is working with athletes as a coach, official or in other volunteer roles. And you work with athletes of all different abilities just to encourage them, not just as an official or a coach or just because it's helpful - you try to encourage other people to understand how much fun it is."

We asked Carol how she fits everything in even though she is now not working. She's also a committee member at Cambridge and Coleridge AC, County Officials' Secretary (COfSec) for Cambridgeshire, and a course tutor - and that's just for athletics!

“I do other things - they don't take priority but they're blocked in. My family also has to take some priority. Since they live in the Netherlands and have busy lives with sport, school, work it's difficult to find time to all get together.”

Carol reports that her kids say, "Mum, you need a break." She tells them it’s not an addiction, but she enjoys it:

“I just enjoy what I'm doing. And sometimes I think gosh, I'm overdoing it. I'm far too tired. Let's stand back. And then you think, no, I don't want to miss that.”

Athletics can broaden your horizons

Carol also spoke about how athletics is so diverse that it can really broaden your horizons

“You work with all sorts of people from different backgrounds. I mean, I used to live in Belgium -I worked in a multicultural area, so I already understand a little bit about that, but it's also different in the UK.”

What would she say to someone considering becoming an official?

Carol's advice to those wishing to become officials and move up the pathway is to just enjoy the experience. She's found it very useful to have mentors - whether official or unofficial - and says it's important to find someone who matches your style of officiating.

She adds: "Take all the opportunities you want to, but it doesn't have to take over your life!"