Caughlin highlights volunteerism in sport at Sport Leadership Conference

By Lethbridge Herald on November 6, 2024.

Herald Photo by Justin Seward Herald photo by JUSTIN SEWARD Todd Caughlin talked aboutThe Power of Giving Back: Volunteerism in Sport and Its Lasting Impacts at the Southern Alberta Sport Leadership Conference at the Rocky Mountain Turf Club on Wednesday.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

Todd Caughlin, Lethbridge Polytechnic Kodiaks athletics director, spoke in a room full of high school and post-secondary students about The Power of Giving Back: Volunteerism in Sport and Its Lasting Impacts during Lethbridge Sport Council’s Southern Alberta Sport Leadership Conference at the Rocky Mountain Turf Club on Wednesday.

“With funding in Canada for sports and athletics, it’s not all there all the time, so volunteers are our backbone,” said Caughlin.

“We need it, they are our lifeline, especially if they believe in the culture and the product that you’ve built and are selling.”

Caughlin said it starts at a young age.

“People will buy-in and people will commit and they want that idea not so much of maybe the recognition, but that commitment and belief that what they’re going to commit to is what they believe in and if you build that culture, good things are going to happen,” said Caughlin.

Caughlin spoke about his journey at a young age and how he learned the importance of volunteerism in sport.

“I saw the impact then and it’s just carried over, and I’ve been able to learn, adapt and adjust through all my travels up to this point and basically been trying to implement it with (the) Kodiaks,” said Caughlin.

“I think it’s worked out pretty good because we’ve got a great group of people that always want to be involved with Kodiaks Nation.”

Finding people is the challenging part of volunteerism in sport.

“So trying to find those ones that may not be tired or worn out from volunteering,” said Caughlin.

“So yeah you just got to stay positive and hope that again you get that right kind of people and then they start recruiting for you.”

Niko Saler and Matt Okrainec of The Bridge-Sports and Therapy Training highlighted careers in sport health care and  local official Michael Barwegan discussed his journey to achieve world-class status for officiating.

 Keegan Brantner, former U of L rugby captain, touched on leadership in and out of sport and  U of L’s director of athletics Spencer Pommels talked about certain opportunities that come within sport for leadership.

“Being involved in sport is not just one dimensional,” said Caughlin.

“There is so many moving pieces to it, that being able to touch a little bit on it and again help educate the youth to it, is exactly what we want to do and want to accomplish.”

Winston Churchill student Payden Graham wants to take on more of a leadership role in sport and is why he wanted to come to the conference.

“My coach always talks about how he sees the skills of a leader in me and he nominated me  for this because he wanted to kind of bring them out more,” said Graham.

Graham was asked why he likes being a leader.

“It’s obviously a great skill to have in life, and it helps you in every situation almost, and it’s just really nice to be acknowledged for that and you make the people around you better when you’re a leader,” said Graham.