Volunteer Opportunities

Odyssey of the Mind is totally operated by volunteers. As a coach, you will be involved for the entire season (as will the NOVA North Board members). But putting on the Regional Tournament can only be accomplished through the efforts of many more volunteers. We will need a minimum of nine judges for every competition site (and twelve is much better for scoring), plus four or five judges for each Spontaneous site, and people to help with the logistics from 7 AM until about 4 PM, throughout the tournament site — we are talking about easily more than 300 volunteers for that day alone (and perhaps even more if we have a lot of teams).

To insure adequate staffing, each team must provide two volunteers in order to compete. All volunteers must be at least 18 years old. Teams provide:

1. A member of the judging team. This person will be required to attend a training class (probably middle to late February) and must be available to judge the entire day for the tournament. The judge will not be able to watch any performances other than the one he/she is judging (which, for fairness reasons, will not include the team the judge is representing). Most teams do not rely on parents of team members for this role. Many teachers enjoy participating in Odyssey of the Mind; they are able to earn continuing education credit for the training and tournament days. Coaches must find a person who will judge on their behalf before registering for the tournament.  The judge needs to register first and let the coach know the number assigned and how their name was entered so that the coach can identify the judge when they register the team.
2. A two-hour logistics helper. These helpers assist with tasks such as monitoring doors at competition sites so teams are not interrupted, controlling traffic so teams can drop off and load props, checking-in teams and volunteers, selling souvenirs, and supervising the spontaneous waiting areas. Because training is not required for these roles, you do not need to identify your logistics volunteer before you register. When you receive your competition times, you will also receive a two-hour time slot that is your team’s responsibility to fill. We carefully make sure that that this time will not conflict with your team’s performance so parents can both volunteer and watch your team perform.  We do not need the helper’s name — he/she just needs to identify your team at the volunteer check-in table on the day of the tournament. It is essential that volunteers do not have children with them for the two hours that they are working.