For the past 27 years, Nollind van Bryce has been extremely active in the sport of sailing as an athlete, coach, race official and administrator at the Glenmore Sailing Club. His time commitment is far above the average and his passion for sailing has spurred tremendous growth at his home club. His volunteer hours far exceed those of other members, and the programs he has initiated within the Club as part of the “Experience Sailing” strategic plan he developed, have resulted in an increase in the membership and increased participation by existing members.
His wealth of knowledge, experience, and love for the sport shines through everything he does. He has organized many successful events such as “Women, Wind, and Wine” and “Indoor Sailing” to get people out on the water. His contributions are admirable, and we are grateful to have him be apart of our community.
How does it feel to have been selected as the Volunteer of the Year?
There are good volunteers all across Canada working hard, year-round to advance sailing at all levels… this recognition feels extraordinary.
You have done a lot to promote sailing in your community, what’s the key to getting people involved?
Our original focus was to make sailing less obscure as a recreation and sport. We decided our best hope for success was to become relevant, meaningful and connected to the larger community. All our new programs create multiple points to experience, learn and continue sailing for all ages and skill levels. Our greatest successes so far have come from programs for groups (Scouts Canada, the military community, women).
How do you get the ideas for the events you’ve created? Anything we can look forward to this year?
We got our inspiration from both sailing and non-sailing groups and programs that were successfully attracting people. We adapted the ones we liked to our Club’s capacity and ability. Women, Wind and Wine was a massive success last year. This year we’ll adapt the concept and offer “Boys, Boats and Beers”.
Sailing takes a great number of volunteers to succeed, what is the most rewarding feeling when volunteering?
Sailing has brought a lot of joy to my life. Giving people opportunities to experience their own joy through sailing is my reward for my volunteer time.
Join us in celebrating their award on Friday, March 6th, 2020 at 6:30 pm at The Carlu in Toronto, ON.
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The Volunteer of the Year Award was established in 1991. This award recognizes volunteers for their outstanding contributions to sailing activities at Sail Canada member clubs, Sailing Schools and Regattas. The contribution can be related to activities by the candidate(s) over a period of years or to a specific event or program during a particular year. The candidate(s) must:
a) Have shown leadership qualities with respect to the event or activity.
b) Be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada.
c) The award cannot be awarded to a current director or employee of Sail Canada.
