National Volunteers’ Week: Maddie Rhodes interview

Volunteering at a local badminton club has allowed one aspiring videographer to take the first step towards achieving her dream.

Maddie Rhodes, 18, didn’t expect to be offered the chance to do some filming when she joined a 10-week badminton course at Markland Hill Racquet Club, her local club in Bolton.

But when she became involved with a shoot that showed off Markland Hill, she enquired to the videographers about how to get into their line of work.

From there, she got offered work experience where she would shadow a cameraman, Adam, and learn from those in the know – an opportunity she couldn’t pass up.

“It’s helped a lot because I actually got to use a few of these cameras,” Maddie said. “He showed me some techniques and I actually held the camera whilst people played, taking the video that’s going to be used for the final piece.

“I’ve done shadowing before and I don’t think I got as much experience in any of the places than I did with Adam.”
[embedded content]

This week (June 3-9) is National Volunteers’ Week and Maddie is a firm believer in the value of volunteering. She has encouraged adults to show an interest in what younger people want to do in life, as it could open up a voluntary opportunity that would be greatly beneficial to all parties.

This is especially the case in badminton clubs, where all kinds of fun and exciting jobs are needed to be done, such as producing content for the club’s social media.

When asked what adults can do to encourage volunteering, she added: “I’d say maybe show interest in the younger people, ask what they’re doing, what they’re doing with their life, what they want to be.

“You can then find out more about them and the different ways that they could help or volunteer within the club, for all different skill sets.”