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Why Volunteer?

Sports Volunteering in England accounts for 26% of total adult volunteering with over one billion hours contributed to sport each year! Without volunteers sport would not be sustainable. With the successful 2012 London Olympic bid even more quality volunteers are going to be needed for the event and in communities where people are inspired to take up sport and physical activity.

Energize Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin, along with other local partners, are working with organisations such as Sport England, both at a national and regional level to support links between the local volunteering infrastructure and the local sports environment and to encourage even more people to engage in sports volunteering.

Recent research carried out by Sport England demonstrates exactly how important sport volunteers are and what a significant contribution the voluntary sports sector makes to volunteering activity as a whole:

There are 5,821,400 sports volunteers, that's 14% of the adult population
The sporting sector makes the single biggest contribution to total volunteering in England, with 26% of all volunteers citing "sport" as their main area of interest
They contribute one billion hours each year to sport, equivalent to 720,000 additional full time paid workers
The value of the time contributed by sports volunteers in England is estimated at over £14 billion

Development opportunities for Volunteers in sport from runningsports

runningsports is dedicated to providing skills and support for volunteers working in sport. From quick online tips and tools, to fun and informative workshops, runningsports will help you get more for yourself, your club or organisation and its members. Visit www.runningsports.org for more information.

Volunteers – We Need YOU! Campaign

In April 2010, Sebastian Coe, Chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games joined the West Midlands Leadership Group for the 2012 Games to launch a major new region-wide volunteering initiative, inspired by the London 2012 Games.

‘Volunteers – we need YOU!’ aims to encourage people across the West Midlands to spare just one day to volunteer at a one-off regional event or an hour a week helping people in their own communities, like Telford based volunteer Diane Halford, winner of the Energize Volunteer of the Year Award 2009.

Diane Halford volunteers for Shropshire Junior County Badminton Club as the Secretary and Head of Coaching & Development averaging 10 to 15 hours a week helping the youngsters' Club. She has been involved in badminton in Shropshire for 30 years and will become the President of the Senior County Association at their AGM to be held this week. Diane volunteers alongside working full-time.

‘Volunteers – we need YOU’ signposts people to a volunteering opportunities notice board at www.wmfor2012.com/volunteering which also provides practical advice and guidance on volunteering as well as profiling some of the West Midlands most dedicated volunteers. This programme has been granted the Inspire Mark, the badge of the London 2012 Inspire Programme, for innovative and exceptional projects that are directly inspired by the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

To find out more about ‘Volunteers – we need YOU!’, or any of the ways you can get involved in activities in the region, visit http://www.wmfor2012.com/volunteering.

To view the Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin 'Volunteers - we need YOU!' flyer please click here.