Iowa Games Commissioner

What is a commissioner?

An Iowa 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 Games commissioner meeting
Respond to emails from Iowa 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 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 Games team will do most ofthe marketing efforts in recruiting participants and/orteams, although we can use any resources the commissioner may have to assist in marketing. For the Summer Iowa Games, Discover Ames assists the Iowa Games in recruiting “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 ortiming.