The person who is the first to arrive and the last to leave, the one who chips in wherever needed and wants to help take the burden off those who have paved the way for years.
They are the people who like to stay in the background and not make a fuss, despite the extraordinary lengths they go to to keep their sport ticking over.
You can imagine Bray’s surprise then when he was named Softball New Zealand volunteer of the year recently.
‘‘Surprised - pretty humbled,’’ Bray said.
‘‘Admittedly, there’s a lot of people who have been doing this for years that probably haven’t been recognised.
‘‘I might have just been the one that was at the front of it while people were looking this year.’’
Technically it has been a quick rise through the ranks for Bray, who only joined the sport four years ago.
Growing up, Bray played cricket and football - the latter he is still involved in - and started helping out at the Cardinals when his children took up softball.
Since then he has joined the Cardinals committee, helping manage part of the junior club, coaching three teams by himself and serving as manager for the school team, which amalgamated with the club this year.
Regionally, he became Otago Softball deputy chairman this year, which led to him becoming the groundsman and helping with anything else that crops up from tournaments such as filling in as a player, canteen duty and all the work behind the scenes.
Bray, who has also coached a Queen’s High School football team for the past three years, has lent a hand volunteering in sport across Otago for the past 15 years - but there was something special about softball, he said.
‘‘Softball is the one I feel I can give back the most to because I can let other people who are in the association who maybe have thought about giving up, so that they can be an administrator.
‘‘They can maybe go back to playing while someone else does the paperwork.
‘‘That’s the part I quite enjoy - letting other people have the game ... while other people are in the background doing the work.’’
Softball clubs, and the association, are made up of hard working people to love the game - and that buzz hooked Bray.
‘‘I love the people around me. I see that they’ve been doing this for 10-15 years ... they’re just shedding it and it’s hard not to pick up on their vibe.
‘‘Their exposure’s what’s making me enjoy the game and their hard work. People are appreciating you.
‘‘I love what it’s doing for the kids too. You kind of feel wanted and sometimes that’s all it takes.’’
The impact volunteers have on sport can never be under estimated, from the grassroots to the elite level, and what they can do for the next generation of people coming through.
But there is a key reason he stays involved, Bray says.
‘‘The main reason is: if I don’t, who will?
‘‘The other one is that hopefully kids that what they’ve seen from me and then when they’re 17, 18, 19, they actually give back.
‘‘Maybe they remember the person who did it for them and maybe my daughter’s being coached by one of them in the future.
‘‘It’s trying to breed a new culture of volunteers in town is my look on it.’’
