|
It is important that the sports club understands the barriers to volunteering and develops positive strategies to reduce these. Volunteers are responsible for the management, operation and coaching in the vast majority of sports clubs yet they have limited exposure to education and training in these roles. Professionalization of sport and the ability of volunteers to meet the ”job” demands through extra training and education as unpaid staff, challenges the goodwill of the volunteer. The main barriers identified from Sport Ireland’s research are (a) investment of personal resources, particularly time, (b) skills development and (c) club administration.
Available “time” is seen as the greatest barrier to volunteer participation. Volunteers describe themselves as time-poor. Time for them is both a measurable (but limited) resource as well as a value-laden concept. Therefore it is important to the volunteer how they perceive whether this resource is wasted, exploited or valued by the club. Volunteers have identified better role clarification, more efficient communication structures and better matching of people to specific roles as helping to make their time more efficient and effective. Getting feedback and recognition for the roles they perform from all members of the club tends to reinforce the feeling that their time is valued by the club and that they are not being exploited.
Volunteers who described their experiences in a positive light tended to describe effective and efficient use of their time, investment in their development and appreciation for their commitment – all of which reflect on sound administration within the club.
While time is potentially a significant barrier to volunteering, another important barrier is whether or not the volunteer feels competent enough to deliver the volunteering role expected. Skill level was cited as an issue by almost half of the volunteers surveyed in Sport Ireland’s most recent research despite the fact that ¾ of them had a qualification in the role they carried out. Those pursuing specialist coaching pathways indicated that what they required was a combination of formal and informal education, coach education programmes, knowledge sharing between coaches, mentoring and opportunities to gain experience.
Clubs need to invest time in helping volunteers to develop their skills and knowledge base. For the club, one of the challenges is to be able to deliver the right type of education and training at a time and place which suits the time strapped volunteer.
In terms of volunteer recruitment there are certain things which can be off-putting to a potential volunteer. These include that you need to be a club member for a long time, an expectation that they should be good at / knowledgeable about the sport, a tendency for club management to be dominated by a specific gender, an expectation that they should be of a certain age. In relation to the last issue, young people have potentially a great deal to offer as volunteers. Many have qualified as sport leaders and administrators through programmes at school and have been involved in volunteering in community sport. However, they are often overlooked as potential volunteers because of misconceptions about their interest, skills, maturity or commitment.
|