The ongoing training and development of Motorsport Australia officials is continuing through the ongoing pandemic, with an innovative and new online national training session taking place over Zoom.
With the current COVID-19 environment making it difficult for individuals to travel around the country to host the appropriate theory classes required for bronze level status or above, the success of the first online class has forged a pathway towards a more accessible future.
Run by Gold-level Timekeeping official Lucy Hatton, the Zoom training session gave the 18 participants an opportunity to complete the vital theory section of the curriculum and help them get closer to receiving bronze time keeping status – all from the comfort of their own home.
Usually, run as a single face-to-face four-hour session, the online theory course ran as two two-hour sessions instead and covered the same content as the normal face-to-face sessions.
Some of the topics in the training included what it meant to be part of the timing team, calculations, logistics, integrity surrounding results and all the things a timekeeper would need to know for an event.
Following on from the positive feedback gained from the class, Hatton believed that Zoom online courses were the future of training as it allowed more flexibility for officials.
“I really enjoyed it and I think it was very beneficial to all the officials who took part in it,” Hatton said.
“It’s definitely something to work on in the future. Being able to do training across states will help the consistency of all different roles, meaning that instead of getting different messages by different presenters, the officials will all be trained the exact same way and with the same thought.
“As far as timekeeping is concerned, it’s a role where there are far less volunteers required compared to other positions and the courses are run few are far between, meaning officials can’t necessarily receive developments they need – this changes that now. We can do more sessions more often.
“It was also really nice because participants had plenty of levels of motorsport experience and it was great to have them share information and give insights into their disciplines and experience at different events. It ranged from club level motorkhana, to rally, hill climbs and national circuit racing.
“These opportunities also show the diversity of our presenters and training material and how it can be diverse enough to be delivered in different formats under one common message.”
The 18 participants from NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, ACT and NT will now complete the second half of the training session shortly, which will be a practical experience before undergoing an assessment to receive their bronze timekeeping status.