A variety of national and local sport organisations from across the United Kingdom were invited to attend the national sport volunteering workshop to learn about the V4V initiative and hear first findings from the European Skills Survey on Sport Volunteering.
The group then discussed how the results can inform the development of a new sport volunteering toolkit, which will be of great benefit to sport organisations across the sector, including Alliance members.
The European Skills Survey on Sport Volunteering closed in July 2022, with 2732 responses collected from across the globe and 233 from the United Kingdom. Findings from the V4V survey were shared with the group, followed by a consultation of their organisational realities, needs and challenges surrounding sport volunteering.
The discussions confirmed the need for sport organisations to get support with recruitment, management, retention, and training of volunteers – a key objective of the V4V project.
The second half of the workshop was devoted to the presentation of an innovative toolkit to facilitate recruitment, training, management, and retention of volunteers in sport organisations in Europe. This key output of the V4V project is being led by Leeds Beckett University. The group reviewed the format, ease of accessibility and the purpose of the new toolkit. All feedback and suggestions will inform development of the toolkit which will be discussed further at the next V4V project partner meeting in Tallinn, Estonia later this month.
Imo Greatbatch, Head of Volunteering at England Netball, said: “With Sport England data evidencing the decline in sport volunteer numbers in this country, there has never been a greater need for organisations to collaborate better to attract, involve and nurture volunteers in sport. This project is a great way of bringing key organisations together to; dedicate time to enable collaboration but also build connections and kickstart a movement, that aligns what we do, to wider sector strategies like Uniting the Movement and Vision for Volunteering as well as learn from good practice in other countries across Europe.”
Helen Vost, Managing Director at Youth Sport Trust, said: “Youth Sport Trust International welcomed the opportunity to take part in the V4V workshop about volunteering. Bringing together a range of sporting organisations to share their experience and practice helps us all to learn from each other and combine our expertise to find solutions to the challenge of recruiting and retaining more volunteers in sport, and importantly ensuring they feel valued for their support”.
Martin Lindsey, Chief Operating Officer at the Alliance, said: “It was great to welcome such a broad range of individuals to the Alliance’s office to discuss volunteering and gain excellent insight from those in attendance to help shape the future of the V4V project”.
Ste Robson, Leeds Beckett University, co-presented with the Alliance. He said: “It was a really positive session with a group of highly experienced and knowledgeable colleagues. We’re very keen to create a useful Toolkit for those who work with sport volunteers, so the feedback we received on our work in progress will help enormously. This National Workshop, along with the five others taking place in locations around Europe, will help the project partners to improve the state of sport volunteering across the continent.”
Ste and his Leeds Beckett colleague Janine Partington will continue their work on the Toolkit with a view to it being launched in 2023. To progress the online toolkit, we invite you to share case studies or content examples that highlight good practice of recruitment, training, management, and retention of sport volunteers for inclusion by Wednesday 18 November. Any ideas or examples can be shared with Amie Mills (amills@sportandrecreation.org.uk)
Learn more about the V4V Project.
Contact: Aurélien Favre - EOSE Executive Director - aurelien.favre@eose.org
