Sports Volunteering Research Network (SVRN)

The SVRN aims to bring together national governing bodies (NGB) of sport and recreation and academic researchers interested in sports volunteer research to share knowledge and best practice. It currently holds two events a year - one focusing on sharing the latest academic research findings on sports volunteering, the other with a focus on sharing NGB research and case studies. In addition, the SVRN is also producing a directory of sports volunteer researchers for use by NGBs. The directory will provide researcher’s contact details and relevant experience and should be available in early summer of 2011. 

The most recent SVRN event was held on 7 April 2011 and consisted of six presentations covering a broad range of topics. All but one of the presentations are available to download below.

For further information about the SVRN, please contact Spencer Harris.

On your marks...Get set…Please fill in sub-section 152b in triplicate - How sports clubs want to break free of unnecessary red tape 
Syann Cox, Sport and Recreation Alliance

  • 61% of grassroots sports clubs believe they are tied up by too much red tape, preventing them from doing what they do best - offering sport and recreation to the community. This presentation covers key findings from the Red Card to Red Tape Report - a review of the red tape affecting volunteers in sport and recreation and accompanying policy recommendations aimed at improving the lot for grassroots sport.

Growing sport through clubs: understanding and respecting the heterogeneity of club types
Spencer Harris, University of Hertfordshire 

  • In the context of NGB targets to sustain and grow participation in sport, this presentation explores policy implication from a club perspective and highlights findings from recent research which show the diversity of club types and how different levels of club formality can impact on the delivery of community sport. 

Reviewing governance: a case from the ASA 
Marc Taylor, Sheffield Hallam University and ASA

  • Marc’s presentation examines the role of the board of a governing body, in this instance swimming, when all board members are volunteers in terms of remuneration, but still need to monitor the organisation's performance. It also explores strategy development within organisations which are 'led' by volunteers, but require professional management to deliver the day to day business and results.

The trouble with volunteers
Professor Leigh Robinson, University of Stirling

  • There is no doubt that volunteers are the lifeblood of our sport system, but in a fast-changing environment that requires increasingly specialised skills, are volunteers appropriately equipped to help sport organisations to move forward and develop? This presentation considers the management of voluntary sport organisations and highlights a number of examples of how volunteers have prevented or slowed up progress in these organisations.

Volunteering for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games: visions, policies and capitals 
Cynthia Zhuang, University of East London

  • This presentation details research and analysis on how volunteer selection was practised at the Beijing Olympics and the motivations behind this. The implications of the research findings are expected to be useful for guiding practitioners in selecting volunteers for large sport events in particular, as well as for other activities that require a large quantity of volunteers.

The following presentations were given at previous SVRN events

3 November 2010

19 March 2010

14 October 2009

12 May 2009

Some other useful research resources:

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