Volunteers in organizing sport events: foreign experience analysis

Sport can be described as one of the biggest social movements in the world. In many countries the organisation of sport events relies on the dedication of thousands of volunteers. Besides volunteer sport clubs and associations thus provide a large part of the opportunities for EU citizens to practice sport. Therefore, they make an important contribution to promotion of physical activity as a part of a healthy life-style.

Being a volunteer is a great adventure in one‘s life. It allows gaining experience in many areas, to meet new people, to realize how events look like from the background. It is also a great occasion to check skills (language, organising) and character and to learn something new from more experienced colleagues. The object of our research is to analyze and to compare the role and significance of volunteers in organising sport events all over the Europe. Volunteers are strength of the university sport – said one of the participants IX FISU Forum that took place in Cracow in 2008. Volunteers are inseparable element of each event, championships organised (not only) by university sport associations all over the world. They not only help prepare the event or look after a proper run of it, but also take care of participants, guests and provide a good and friendly atmosphere during the events.

Volunteers have taken part to both Summer and Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games since they were used for the first time at London 1948. So in 2012, the volunteer programme will be coming home to the city where it all began. The OC of London-2012 considers volunteers as –Games Makers‖. They will receive an official uniform to wear during the shifts, which they can keep after the Games as a souvenir also they can get free meal vouchers. But the members of OC are going to recruit volunteers from across the UK, and are unable to provide accommodation for –Games Makers‖, and will not reimburse travel costs to selection events, training or test events.

Besides, there‘re some official associations and voluntary organizations in Europe. The European Voluntary Service (EVS) is a part of the youth programme, an EU programme that promotes the mobility of young people through international activities with a non-formal educational dimension - such as youth exchanges, voluntary services, youth initiatives and training of youth workers. EVS measure supports, for example, young people in helping make different sporting events a success across Europe.

Volunteering helps to counteract the trend towards growing individualism and consumerism and helps to build up social cohesion and social networks, argued the European Youth Forum in its vision for volunteering in a policy paper in November 2004. It recommends that public authorities develop and implement policies to enhance volunteering opportunities and remove legal or other barriers to participation by young people. Special attention should be paid to barriers arising from visa and immigration policies as well as from social and employment legislation. Student sport organizations and its work with volunteers are also needed to mention. Student Volunteer programme is a project of the European University Sports Association (EUSA), its Student Commission (EUSA STC), together with the Organizing Committees of the European Universities Championships.

Active students from all over the Europe can apply for the place in EUSA STC Volunteer Program. The candidate will raise their competencies and skills in organizing sport event in the European level, get new experiences in different fields, will be useful for the organizing committee, exchange knowledge, learn about the culture of the country, get new friends all over the Europe and much more. Also the organizers have established the training course taking place during the European University Championships (EUCs). It includes, for example work as team attachés of the participating delegations, working as a member of the organizing committee or supporting the organizers in the competition fields (global coordination, manning information desks, communication between organization committee and referees, guests).

The hosting organization of each EUC covered accommodation costs during the organizing period, food and transportation on the spot. The travelling costs to the EUC have to be paid by the student or his/her institution. Minimum two candidates will be accepted per event. Applications are accepted online at http://volunteers.eusa.eu/, this year, young people and students have been chosen by organizers of European Championships by themselves.

Concerning national sport association and their experience in organizing system work with volunteers, it‘s necessary to tell about University Sport Association of Poland (AZS), which perceives a huge strength of volunteering and a great effect that it has for a future of one‘s career. That is why AZS have created a data base of volunteers from Poland helping them in participation in sport events. Portal http://www.wolontariat.azs.pl/ that has been started in the middle of May 2010 is a platform of communication between organizers who prepare sport events and people who are keen to work as a volunteer.

Regarding, the conclusions we reached in the course of the research, they might help Russian sport organizations. This analyzes of foreign experience raised important questions: how and where to recruit the volunteers?; how to motivate and get their interest? ; should volunteers be rewarded somehow for a job well done? Maybe organizers of sport events should release a guide with a detailed description. In conclusion, we‘d like to say that 2011 is declared –The 'European Year of Volunteering‖, so volunteer work in helping to organize major sporting events and to exchange of best practice is recognized in the sport world.

References:
1. –Volunteer work and sport‖, 2006, http://www.euractiv.com/en/sports/volunteer-work-sport/article-129580/;
2. –EUSA Volunteer program‖, 2010, http://stc.eusa.eu/;
3. –Student Volunteers in Poland‖, 2010, http://eusa.eu/;
4. –Volunteers are Game Makers‖, 2010, http://www.london2012.com/

Daria Timoshenko