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Cheyanne Whorton

Volunteer Paper

Demographics

I assisted at the inflatables that were at the Bearcat Zone which was located at College

Park Pavilion on October 15, 2016 from approximately 11:15AM to 2:00 PM. Upon arrival the

volunteers met up with Cory Hintz who was the supervisor for the event and he supplied basic

instructions before leaving for the remainder of the time. The inflatables that were featured at

this event included an inflatable slide and a bungee run. I specifically volunteered to help

supervise the inflatable slide and the participants who used it. The participants were children who

ranged in age from about 3 years old to about 11 years old. To be able to participate the children

using the slide had to be able to move with little to no assistance, stand, sit, and slide.

Furthermore, this meant that the children participating had to have enough fine motor

development to be able to grasp the ladder rungs and climb. The children also had to be receptive

to the directions and rules that were put in place for their own safety.

Program Management

It was interesting to see real life examples of the various areas that are included in a

program and to see how these areas come together to form the program. Some of the things that

had to be done to plan this program included that the equipment for it had to be reserved as far in

advanced as possible. This involved people calling K & M Amusement and giving them specific

dates that the inflatables will be needed. After this has happened the Athletics Department pays

$275 per day for each inflatable used. The equipment that is needed for the event to occur

includes the inflatables, the anchoring equipment, and the air tanks needed to keep the inflatables
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inflated. Along with this a person from the company who is specially trained in the set up and

take down of the inflatables helped with the event. Furthermore, set up for the event occurred in

the morning before the volunteers arrived at 11:15 AM. Once the volunteers arrived, they were

given basic instructions and then began supervising the inflatables. Supervising of the inflatables

occurred until approximately 2:00 PM when the inflatables were taken down and the event

ended.

The program itself appeared to follow the phases of the leisure experience. The

participants were able to experience anticipation due to the advertisements used for the Bearcat

Zone which mentioned childrens activities. They were also able to experience it by listening to

adults and other children talk about it. Travel to was the next stage experienced and it included

basically everything leading up to arriving at the destination. Examples of travel to included

hearing the music playing at the pavilion, seeing the event while driving, and the directions and

signs posted for the event. Participation included everything that occurred after arriving at the

destination. This included parking, walking to the event, seeing the inflatables, and then actually

getting to use them. Reminiscence is the last stage and it included the memories made at the

event and the things that were bought or giving to participants.

Along with the phases of the leisure experience, this specific set of inflatable activities

met a need for this event and some of the community members who attended the Bearcat Zone.

This need included that community members with children needed a child friendly area that

provided activities and entertainment. Along with this it also fulfills a need for physical activity

and social interaction for the children participating. This program also assisted in helping

children have an activity that they could participate in. It accomplished this by providing an

inflatable slide that accommodated younger childrens needs and abilities and by providing a
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bungee run that provided entertainment for older children. Even though it provided a sense of

belonging to some children, it did not offer this to all children. For example, children who could

not climb or move themselves very easily could have felt left out. Many individuals with

younger children asked why a regular bounce house was not included at the event to help

accommodate the needs of their children.

While this activity was occurring one could easily judge its worth to the event as a whole

through the use of formative evaluation. Evaluation via the formative method was simple after

looking at the needs that the activities fulfilled and seeing the number of children who

participated. After observing this it was very easy to come to the conclusion that this was a useful

and much needed part of the Bearcat Zone event. The inflatables activities did not require any

registration for participation and therefore is considered as a drop-in program because people

could come and go as they pleased. Since this activity did not require any fees if it was to be

cancelled there would be no need for refunds. There did not seem to be any cancellation plans

that would involve continuing the activities somewhere else.

Even though the inflatable activities were very fun there were also a lot of risk associated

with them. Some of the risk associated with this kind of activity included participants getting

injured while playing on the inflatables. To help manage this risk instructions were giving to the

volunteers who then instructed the participants. Some of these rules included only allowing one

child down the slide at a time and making sure the bottom of the slide is clear before another

child goes down it. Infrastructure hazards were managed by making sure the equipment was

properly inspected by the company before allowing participants on it. Hazards that were

associated with possible weather conditions were managed by checking the weather conditions

and cancelling if they are dangerous.

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Reflection

Overall, I feel that the experience could have been better and that the program could have

been run more smoothly. The only really big issue I found with this program involved the area of

risk management. The person put in charge of supervising and instructing volunteers could

definitely have done a better job in doing so. One of the major problems associated with this is

that the supervisor just gave basic instructions and then left for the remainder of the time that the

inflatable activities were occurring. This behavior by the main supervisor therefore could

contribute to risk associated with programming hazards, such as not having adequate supervision

of the activity and having volunteers who are not thoroughly trained enough to manage the

activities. All of this could then lead to more hazards such as safety rules not being enforced and

participants becoming injured due to the lack of supervision. This activity could therefore have

had a better risk management plan implemented and enforced to help ensure the safety of the

participants and help protect against liability. Volunteering for this event definitely helped me

understand and grasp the importance of having a well implemented risk management plan in

place for every single program I plan to run in the future.