Pioneer Profile | Sarah Millac
We’re proud to shine a spotlight on the amazing volunteers who make the Pioneer Programme so special!
- Full Name: Sarah Millac
Tell us a bit about yourself...
I grew up in Leicester where I played or participated in almost any sport available to me including hockey, netball, tennis and athletics. I often went to Welford Road to watch the Tigers against the Barbarians between Christmas and New Year which is where my interest in Rugby was born.
When I went off to University in London, I was surprised and delighted to see, at the fresher’s fair, that they were looking for people to join the women’s rugby team. I signed up and loved it. There were very few women’s rugby teams in the mid 1980s so we travelled far and wide for matches. One of the most memorable was to Magor in Wales where we were soundly beaten in torrential rain.
When did you get involved with the Pioneer Programme?
After being a Games Maker in 2012, I embraced ‘big event’ volunteering and volunteered at anything from gymnastics in Glasgow to F1 in Silverstone. It was at an athletics event that I met a Pioneer who told me that one of the best volunteering roles she was involved in was at Saracens. I was living near St Albans at the time, realised it would be a straight-forward journey to Mill Hill and applied shortly afterwards. The rest, as they say, is history.
What do you do on matchday?
Mostly, these days, I am on one of the gates scanning tickets as people come into the ground. I enjoy this role especially as on several occasions I have scanned the ticket of someone I know, some of whom I hadn’t seen for many years.
What makes the Pioneer Programme special to you?
The Pioneer Program is the one sporting volunteer role that I am still involved in. I volunteer for some local groups locally such as a community group and a hedgehog sanctuary, but the Pioneer Program is the only one where I get to see the same people week in and week out and where the sense of being part of a team is at its core.
What are your three best memories?
One of my best memories is from the Covid season. I was very lucky during these times that my life carried on. Watching those matches in an empty stadium where you could hear everything that was going on on the pitch was bizarre. During the first match we were supposed to wash the ball with soapy water before it went back on the pitch, well that didn’t last long!!
Then there was a match last season, I was on gate A, scanning tickets when a voice said my name. I looked up and it was someone I hadn’t seen for about 20 years. We met up for coffee a week later for a catch-up.
