Sport has long been driven by a valuable but diminishing volunteer base.
It’s slowly being replaced by an increasing “where do I pay, where do I play – no volunteering for me” attitude from those seeking recreational activities.
You can understand that as people’s lives become busier, and as choice in recreational pursuits grows, people can and are becoming more selective on where they spend their personal time.
It’s crucial that as a sport, you provide an appealing option for people to join you.
It’s pretty simple. Without volunteers, sport would not operate in communities across Australia.
Volunteers remain the lifeblood of every sport and should be cared for and nurtured as best you can.
There is, however, a careful balance between providing autonomy for those in communities to deliver what they need or want to, versus a scalable standardised offering from a sport where players can experience the same game in Penrith or Perth.
Local knowledge and expertise is gold, and it should be nurtured.
It is also important that sport matures and grows, and those leading it at local levels understand they are key contributors to the health of your sport at a much larger state and national level. They can’t ‘go it alone’ and expect long term support and success.
The transition from TV to local ground is real for many. If the local offering does not reflect what is being shown on TV, or is simply too hard to join, you will not grow players or volunteers.
But to do that, local volunteers need easy to understand information and easy to implement support from their governing bodies.
And those governing bodies need to listen to their local volunteers needs and wants.
No one owns your sport, we are all just torchbearers for it for a certain period of time.
Sport can only grow when everyone is clear on their role, and supportive of each other.
Have a great day!
Ivan Spyrdz
|
By the way, I’ve released an e-book called “GROWING YOUR GAME – How to buck the trend of declining participation in traditional sport”. This e-book provides insights and options on how to evolve the way your sport is viewed, enjoyed and loved by all Australians. If you want to grow participation and results in your sport, I invite you to grab a copy by downloading it free here.
|