Iowa Senior Games Commissioners

What is a commissioner?

An Iowa Senior Games sport commissioner is a volunteer who is passionate about their sport and serves as the event or tournament director.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Serve as the event director during the competition to oversee the event and operations
• Have working knowledge and understanding of designated sport rules and format with the ability to communicate and answers questions; as needed
• Assist in recruitment of participant and/or teams
• Recruit a sport committee made up of key volunteers to assist in event day operations
• Assist in recruitment of referees/officialsand volunteers/helpers
• Assign officials and volunteers
• Create sport schedule(s), heat sheets, etc., where desired and/or applicable
• Track and record results
• Organize the awards distribution and presentation
• Assist in distribution of athlete t-shirts; as needed
• Assist in event set-up and tear-down
• Encouraged to attend pre-Iowa Senior Games commissioner meeting
• Respond to emails from Iowa Senior Games team and participant questions
• Complete the sport Master Plan

Commissioners are encouraged to develop a sport committee that will help disperse the responsibilities and lighten the workload. Several sports have co-commissioners that work together to organize and host the event. This also helps if there is an unexpected absenceor turnover of the commissioner.

The Iowa Senior Games will assist in scheduling and preparing venues and acquiring any equipment and supplies. Commissioners will be reimbursed for any expenses they may incur, including mileage.

The Iowa Senior Games team will do most of the marketing efforts in recruiting participants and/or teams, although we can use any resources the commissioner may have to assist in marketing. For the Iowa Senior Games, the team recruits “generic volunteers”. A “generic volunteer” is someone with little to none sport knowledge, but can help with a variety of tasks to assist you in hosting the event. An example may be checking in teams, score keeping or timing.

Want to learn more?

If you are interested in more information and possibly becoming a sport commissioner, please contact us at info@iowaseniorgames.org or 888-777-8881.