A prestigious award for Outstanding Service in Volunteering was presented to GB Women’s Team Manager Simon Mortimer at the 55th Annual Torch Trophy Trust Awards on the evening of Wednesday 7 March.
The ceremony was held at the Army and Navy Club in London’s Pall Mall.
The Torch Trophy Trust is an organisation that exists to encourage and reward volunteers in sport. Its President is Sir Bobby Charlton, and many famous names in sport make up its Board and Trustees. Trophies were presented on the evening by His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester.
Simon Mortimer was nominated for an award by BaseballSoftballUK for his volunteer work over the past five years as a GB National Team Manager and Treasurer of the GB Management Committee, which oversees and supports national team programmes on behalf of the British Softball Federation.
Many hats
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Simon Mortimer wears many hats as a volunteer for the Great Britain Softball National Teams programme. From 2013-15, he was Team Manager for the Great Britain Junior (Under-19) National Women’s Softball Team and from 2014 to the present he has held the same position with the Great Britain Senior Women’s Softball Team that has serious aspirations to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
Simon has served as the Treasurer for the GB Management Committee since 2013, which now provides support for nine different national teams across various age-groups and genders. As such, Simon oversees financial planning for most of these teams, maintains bank accounts for them and makes payments based on team needs.
Over the past two years, Simon has project-managed the provision of new uniforms for most (soon to be all) GB National Softball Teams, researching several suppliers and then working through a large range of options and designs. The result was excellent and attractive uniforms delivered on time for the 2017 competition season.
Simon has also been responsible for driving the creation and implementation of a range of policies to make the operation of GB National Team programmes more professional and transparent.
Finally, he has taken on the role of mentoring and supporting less experienced Team Managers from other GB Softball National Teams, and he collates information from all players trialling for different national teams as well as collating and summarising player, coach and parent feedback after tours on behalf of the GB Management Committee.
And all this on top of a demanding full-time “day job”!
Reaction
Simon Mortimer said: "I’m very honoured -- it was a surprise when I found out about my nomination. We have a huge number of volunteers in the sport, and I was truly surprised that my name was one of those recognised. It's nice, however, to be someone in the background getting recognised like this because usually it’s the players and the Head Coaches that people see, so it’s a great honour to win this.
"What I was humbled about," Simon added, "was the fact that there were so many people out there with so many years of experience in such a wide variety of sports and different interests, and it was encouraging to know that there are other sports out there just like us who are reliant on volunteers to survive. There were a lot of people that I met tonight, including his Royal Highness, the Treasurer of the Trust, and I also had a good conversation with a number of others who genuinely seemed interested in softball. I was surprised to find out that they knew a bit more about the sport than I expected."
BSUK CEO John Boyd said, "“I’m thrilled that Simon’s significant contribution to softball has been recognised tonight. He has done an outstanding job for the sport and stood shoulder to shoulder with the many other award winners tonight. Without people like Simon, sport cannot function. With Simon, fastpitch softball in this country is better off."
Liz Knight, Assistant Coach for the GB Women's Fastpitch Team, added: "I’ve been very fortunate to work alongside Simon for the last five years in my volunteer capacity with GB softball national teams, and his managerial skills are second to none. He is super-organised and hardworking and nothing is ever too much trouble."
A fellow volunteer with Simon on the GB Management Committee said, "Taking Simon's resume all together, it’s no surprise that the Torch Trophy Trust decided to make him one of the recipients of an Outstanding Service Award this year. Simon's timely communication to players, other staff and tournament organisers before during and after tournaments, allied with his organisational skills, is a large reason behind the recent success of GB National Teams.”