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Comportment of Volunteers and Session Leaders People come to the track to have fun. Our job is to make sure that happens. Be friendly and be upbeat about what you are doing. If people are making mistakes or riding dangerously, try to avoid criticizing them in front of everybody else. Do not criticize the group as a whole for something just a few are doing. In many cases, it is sufficient to simply ask someone to do something that will resolve the problem (e.g., “go a bit faster,” “come down to the red,” “slow down a bit”). If you want to tell someone not to do something, ask them to come off the track for a minute and speak to them quietly and out of earshot of others. Explain why it is important that they make the correction. Be sensitive to the fact that they may not be able to make the correction (e.g., some people just can’t go any faster) and think of ways to accommodate their limits (e.g., get them riding on the coté at points when others aren’t making heavy use of the track). Try to prevent problems before they happen. If you have a crowded session with a lot of new people out, call everyone together before the session starts and remind them of the rules. It is counter-productive to say you are doing this because there are a lot of new people out, because there have been some recent problems, because some people don’t get it, etc. Just do it. Do it in a friendly way, as if it were a matter of course. If something does go wrong, do not worry about laying blame. Focus on helping anyone who might be injured and try to get everyone else back up and riding as soon as possible. Most incidents are minor and should not be blown up out of proportion. Do not initiate unsolicited physical contact, particularly with members of the opposite sex. Where contact is necessary (e.g., someone needs a push out of the start gate), always ask permission first. |