London 2012 is being regarded as an opportunity to inspire everyone to develop their interests and volunteer – in sport and more widely within their community.
Many people from across the world have already experienced the excellent quality of UK volunteering at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester so London 2012 has much to live up to and the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games will depend on up to 70,000 volunteers to run smoothly and successfully.
Volunteers will carry out a range of essential tasks, from spectator services to press operations to medical care. It is hoped that the volunteering spirit will spread wider than the Games themselves as everyone is encouraged to give their time to help others.
The London 2012 organisers are currently planning their Volunteer Programme and recruitment will start in 2010. They are pledging to recruit from right across the UK and from all sectors of the community. With a transparent, open and fair process their goal is to select applicants who will bring passion, enthusiasm and energy to the Games. Although they state that previous volunteering experience is not necessary, those like yourselves already volunteering in sports clubs will undoubtedly be in a good position.
And runningsports products, particularly the workshops, can help you maximise your chances of selection. There are two workshops that are particularly relevant. The first is The Role of the Volunteer Coordinator. Every club can benefit from having someone fulfill this role and you will learn exactly what it entails and also how best to recruit and retain volunteers and to recognise and reward them.
By participating in the Valuing Your Sports Volunteers workshop you will develop an understanding of the importance of volunteers in English sport, and will be able to identify what clubs need to do to be able to welcome new young volunteers.
All the runningsports workshops are three hours, so you do not have to give up much of your time to attend one, and they are organised at a time convenient to you – mainly evenings and weekends. Best of all they take place all over the country so you will not have to travel far to attend one.
All this knowledge will be invaluable in terms of being able to understand the requirements of volunteers at the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, and in addition will help you in your day-to-day volunteering at your sports club, therefore making the club even more effective.
Each successful applicant will be assigned a specific role to ensure that everyone can make a meaningful contribution to the Games. There will be two kinds of Games volunteer – specialist and generalist.
Specialist volunteers will have specific existing skills or qualifications that are needed for them to undertake the role, for example medical training. Generalist volunteers will not need any special skills or qualifications and will receive full training. They might be given roles in the Villages or other aspects of the Event services.
All volunteers will be expected to attend training events that will give them the knowledge they need to carry out their role.
The aim after the Games, is to create a ‘family’ of volunteers who would like to stay in touch with new found friends, and hopefully to create a world class volunteer workforce that is able to continue providing the highest standards of service at other major sporting events hosted in this country.
So why not take a step today on the way to perhaps being selected to volunteer in the biggest sporting event this country has ever seen.
Further Information:
Visit the London 2012 website to find out more about the Volunteer Programme.
