Kick off a Career in Sport Volunteering

Recent research demonstrates exactly how important to 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 representing 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.
In terms of the activities that young volunteers are engaged in, sports and exercise leads attracting 44 per cent, the largest percentage across the age range 18-24.
They contribute one billion hours each year to sport, equivalent to 720,000 additional paid workers.
Sports and ICT have been found to be particularly effective in engaging young men and more disaffected young people.
The value of the time contributed by sports volunteers in England is estimated at over £14 billion.

Sport in England is dependent on its volunteers
Sport in England is dependent on its volunteers,as the following quotes bring to life:

•  “It remains the bedrock of opportunity in many sports” (Sheffield Research Team)
  
• “Without volunteers there would not be so many choices for people to participate in sport”
  (Young Volunteer)
• “Without them all the activities we do would fail” (Local Authority Sports Development Officer)
  
• “Without volunteers, our clubs would not exist” (Badminton Club Member)
• “Without them we wouldn’t survive, there wouldn’t be any provision” (Local Authority Officer)
  
• “There is no economic substitute for volunteers in sport” (Sheffield Research Team)