Tuesday, June 2, 2026

The Miracle of Many Hands

When we work together, we can achieve amazing things

By André van Heerden, Communications Director

I recently volunteered to help take down and put away our local tennis club’s indoor dome. It’s a dome that goes up in the late fall to allow people to play tennis indoors on the five courts during the winter. In the spring, it needs to be deflated and packed and stored away. To do this, at least 30 volunteers are needed—not just because there are a lot of tasks to do (there are)—but because the biggest job, folding the enormous thick PVC-coated polyester fabric, is physically impossible without that number.

The process is pretty straightforward.

Step one: remove the wooden planks that are wedged into a groove around the courts that hold the outer edge of the fabric dome in place.
Step two: separate the dome fabric into three pieces.
Step three: fold the pieces into large piles (like a giant burrito) that can be lifted with a crane and transported to storage.

Steps one and two could be done with just a handful of people. It goes much quicker and easier with more, but it would be possible.

It’s the third step that fascinates me. With a third of the dome lying on the ground, it’s still larger than the size of two tennis courts. To fold it properly it needs to be pulled so that it lies completely flat.

I moved to an edge and thought I could pull and shift my small area. No way. Not even a little bit. I felt like an ant trying to shift a wet blanket. It’s so big and heavy that even when five more guys came over, we couldn’t budge it. But when 30 of us spread out and all pulled on the count of three, it shifted and slid.

Oddly, while I was definitely pulling, I wasn’t sure how much I was actually contributing. But when others stopped pulling before me, I came to a stumbling, abrupt halt. It became apparent that the number of people pulling, rather than their physical attributes, determined the success. Older men and women seemed just as helpful as youthful, muscular men.

It’s a great example of the well-known John Heywood saying that “many hands make light work.” Walt Disney echoed this saying, “It seems to me shallow and arrogant for any man in these times to claim he is completely self-made, that he owes all his success to his own unaided efforts. Many hands and hearts and minds generally contribute to anyone's notable achievements.”

But organizing and directing that many people over such a large space wasn’t easy. The two guys in charge of taking the dome down got their signals crossed part way through and our folds became skewed and bunched in one area. Both initially tried blaming the other, but thankfully they kept a sense of humour, corrected their mistakes, and got us back on track.

Like this dome work, filmmaking is a very collaborative process. The size and scope of a film’s credits is a testament to that. It takes many people, all doing different things but working on the same project, to get it completed. While there’s strength in that, there’s also risk. Actor and filmmaker Ryan Phillippe noted that: “A film goes through so many hands, that by the time it's done, it might not resemble what you thought you were making.” It’s important that everyone has a clear understanding of the ultimate goal—and some grace and a sense of humour help as well.

Author and inspirational speaker Brian Tracy wrote: “By the yard it's hard, but inch by inch, anything's a cinch.” I’ve used this saying a number of times when tackling seemingly insurmountable tasks. However, sometimes even inch by inch, there are things that can’t be done just by yourself. There’s no way I could shift or fold those dome pieces without the help of dozens of others. While bringing in others may introduce risk to a project’s outcome, it can also bring people together to accomplish amazing things. For anyone driving by a large building and able to say: “I built that,” I’m sure they can relate.

The Miracle of Many Hands

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