Danielle Waterman Interview

Club sport in England relies heavily upon the skills and time of volunteers. Those people who run our clubs, collect the subs, set up our fixtures, and do so much more to ensure that community sport happens. But it is not just at club level that volunteers are essential. Danielle Waterman, from the Women’s England Rugby Team, talks to Esther Lochrie and discusses how volunteers have played such a vital role in her career and how runningsports, a portfolio of tools and resources for volunteers working in sport and funded by Sport England, is helping to develop sports volunteers.

The chances are that if you are involved in club sport then you will certainly be aware of those vital individuals who give up their free time to help run and develop your club – from committee members, volunteer coaches and social secretaries to the people who wash the kit and provide the post match food. Whatever the scenario, it is generally recognised that without sports volunteers, many local clubs would cease to exist.

Danielle Waterman began playing rugby at the tender age of four after refusing to be left behind when her two older brothers were taken to the local rugby club. Danielle started playing competitive girls rugby at the age of fourteen and was involved in the regional under 16 set-up for a year. She was then selected into the Senior England Academy for two seasons and progressed into the England A team. She received her first international cap at the age of eighteen and became England’s youngest ever capped player. She is currently representing England in the Women’s Six Nations.

Danielle recently attended a new product launch for runningsports, a Sport England portfolio aimed solely at providing support and skills for sports volunteers. As Danielle explained it is not just in clubs and community sports organisations, but at all levels in sport, including world class performance level, that volunteers play a crucial role. Danielle spoke passionately not only about her sport, but what it meant for her to be where she is today.

“Playing for England is something I always dreamt about, so to be actually here and doing it is very special. I’d never take wearing the England shirt for granted though – selection phone calls still make me nervous! We have a very good under 20s team, with some exceptionally talented youngsters who will soon be coming through, pushing us seniors, so you can’t relax and think that you don’t need to do any more work. You’re constantly training and trying to improve.”

Danielle recognised the importance of club sport in her career development and still remembers a lot of the people who were there for her at the start of her career. Especially the volunteers who gave up their time to make sure her training sessions and matches went ahead.

“The first club I played for was the Minehead Barbarians and they were a huge influence on me. They created an incredibly friendly, almost family like environment, which I think is really important in encouraging young people into the sport. My parents coached me but there were a lot of people who willingly gave up their time and undoubtedly they contributed to the success of the club, which ultimately contributed to my success.

Some of my best friends, friends I have even now, I made whilst I was at that club, and I think a well run club can teach you the importance of the social element of club sport. Team sports will teach you leadership skills and the importance of working with other people, and the volunteers who ran this club, and others like it, really drilled those social skills into me.”

Danielle remembers that the volunteers at Minehead were mainly local people who gave up their time on Sunday mornings, essentially to encourage young people and to develop the club – as is so common at sports clubs across the country. The small yet essential jobs, like washing the kits, providing food after a match and training the teams make a significant difference to those young peoples’ experience of sport.

“Volunteers are essential in Rugby, but in women’s rugby especially - even at national level. Women’s Rugby doesn’t get anywhere near the amount of funding that mainstream men’s rugby gets, so the role of the volunteer is essential to us. We have a professional set up, and we have paid coaches, but as players you aren’t professional and a lot of us have to do other things. I’m a supply teacher for example. So essentially, everyone involved is either part time or a volunteer.

Even now, the manager of the women’s England team is a volunteer. She’s absolutely amazing and I know for a fact that the team would literally cease to function without her help. She works full time herself but is always there for us. She does so much for the team, she comes on all the trips, texts us to check everything is going OK, and pretty much keeps us ticking along. She’s fantastic!”

Danielle attended the runningsports product launch as part of the Sporting Champions scheme which brings world-class athletes face-to face with young people to motivate them to take part in sport. Danielle is passionate about encouraging people into sport, but also about how important volunteers are in rugby.

runningsports provides existing sports volunteers with a wealth of support via the website and offers Top Tips, Role Outlines, Quick Guides, Workbooks and Workshops. These resources provide practical support for volunteers on subjects that are relevant across all sports. The new products include Top Tips for Promoting and Marketing Your Club which provides club volunteers with practical help and ideas on how to make their club stand out from the rest, Awards for All - a complete ‘how to’ guide for those who want to make a lottery funding application for projects costing under £10,000 and the Action Planning for Your Club Workshop and Quick Guide which helps clubs to look to the future development of their club.

Three additional Quick Guides have also been added to the portfolio, which can be downloaded for free by volunteers who are Network Members (Network membership is open to all and is free too). Guides provide more detailed guidance on Promoting and Marketing Your Club as well as on the Disability Discrimination Act and Taxation and Sport.

The expansion of the runningsports portfolio reflects the consistent success and popularity of the practical resources made available to administrative sports volunteers. In fact 99% of volunteers who have attended a runningsports workshop are happy to recommend it to other sporting volunteers, finding the expert guidance from tutors and interaction with fellow participants invaluable. The workshops and accompanying workbooks provide volunteers with tangible strategies that can be implemented simply and effectively at their sports clubs and organisations to improve their facilities, programmes and overall club success and increase membership.

Danielle feels that there are certain specific qualities that are characteristic of a good sports volunteer. In particular, Danielle remembers the enthusiasm shown towards her, and also her sport when she was younger. She sees enthusiasm as being a key quality in a volunteer because that enthusiasm is infectious and makes the whole experience fun - vital if you want to attract young people to your club.

But as she notes enthusiasm alone is not enough.

“A volunteer who has a good understanding of what they are doing is certainly good, because then you know that everything is going to be done properly and efficiently, which is where the support provided by runningsports comes in.

Skills, information and knowledge are the key areas of support that are important to a sports volunteer. Because once they have these, they can develop themselves and get satisfaction not just out of the sport but through their own self improvement. Individual success is important and if volunteers feel that there is support out there for them to develop they are more likely to get satisfaction out of what they do.

So the information and resources that are provided by runningsports, many of which the volunteers can access themselves by downloading from the website, make runningsports a very useful tool.”

Danielle also made an important point about recognising your volunteers too. As she says:

“Recognition of the work that volunteers do is very important. Teaching clubs how to show their appreciation is vital in ensuring that the volunteers who put so much time and effort in are thanked and valued.”

runningsports works to increase skills and support for sports volunteers and Danielle believes that this directly contributes to developing sports across the board, from grassroots level right up to international performance level. Without volunteers grassroots clubs would be unlikely to be able to function, which would in turn stunt the progression of school leavers into sport and affect the thousands of people who participate in sport at club level. Not only this, but she believes that the lessons young people learn in sport are good life lessons, and the volunteer plays a significant part in imparting this wisdom to younger club members.

“I think the support for sports volunteers, which enables them to do such a great job, is essential - because it allows grassroots clubs to function and encourages kids to get involved in sport. For every 100 children you may attract into sport, you may get one elite athlete. So the support for volunteers directly affects the development of more elite athletes.

The Sporting Champions scheme, which I am part of and brings elite athletes into contact with young people to help motivate them into sports, really completes the cycle.

I was inspired by volunteers and I’m delighted to be able to show my thanks whilst also promoting runningsports, giving support to volunteers and helping them to develop their skills.“