runningsports provides help in recognising the people behind sport

Sports clubs across England could soon be running a little more smoothly thanks to new advice published by runningsports, the programme created and funded by Sport England in order to provide skills and support for administrative volunteers in all sports.

Coinciding with Volunteers’ Week (1-7 June), runningsports is publishing a guide entitled “Recognising and Rewarding Volunteers”. Designed specifically for use by busy sports clubs, it provides a short collection of tips on how to find, keep and get the best from a volunteer workforce. It is available free from the runningsports website, www.runningsports.org.

In fact 1.9 million adults contribute more than an hour of their time each week to running English sport, making up 25% of all volunteers in the country and providing the workforce that makes sport happen for participants at almost every level.

As with all organisations, motivating and rewarding this workforce is crucial for maintaining and developing successful sports clubs.

Lisa Wainwright, Head of National Sport at Sport England, says:

“Volunteers are the lifeblood of grassroots sport and keeping that workforce motivated is hugely important. With happy, motivated and valued volunteers, working within a clearly set out role and with specific responsibilities, clubs will run more smoothly. Not only that, but volunteers will stay in their roles longer and new ones will be easier to recruit.”

Recognising and Rewarding Volunteers is one of a series of free Top Tips available to sports clubs through www.runningsports.org. All the runningsports Top Tips provide quick and instantly applicable advice on the issues that currently face grassroots sports clubs.

And Top Tips are just part of a whole range of support from runningsports, which includes:

• www.runningsports.org, containing a wealth of free information to help sports volunteers, including the Top Tips, best practice guides, volunteer case studies and answers to frequently asked questions.

• Published guides on topics such as fixture planning, event coordination and fundraising, many of them free of charge.

• Workshops covering a range of key issues for those involved in running a sports organisation, such as volunteer recruitment, retention, management and motivation, club finances, tax breaks, links with schools and accessibility in sports clubs. These are led by accredited tutors and recommended by 99% of attendees.

All runningsports materials are developed by authors who are not only experts on their subjects, but who also have experience of applying their expertise in sports clubs.

Clubs can access the materials, including Recognising and Rewarding Volunteers, via www.runningsports.org.



Media enquiries relating to runningsports should be referred to Ricky Coussins
Tel: 020 8392 1118

For non-media enquiries please refer in the first instance to www.runningsports.org or contact runningsports on info@runningsports.org


Notes to Editor:

1. The Active People Survey (October 2005 - October 2006), found that 1.9m people contribute at least one hour a week to volunteering in sport. This equates to over 54,000 full time equivalent jobs. Survey conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of Sport England.

2. runningsports is Sport England’s portfolio of skills development and support for administrative sports volunteers. The resources are the result of a major overhaul of Running Sport and the Volunteer Investment Programme. These have now been replaced and come under the runningsports banner. The new resources reflect the latest good practice, tools and techniques to address sports volunteers’ most commonly experienced issues.

3. The most recent figures (published April 2007) show that 99% of users would recommend runningsports workshops to a fellow volunteer. Figure based on a sample of 1,559 runningsports workshop attendees surveyed between April 2006 and March 2007.

4. Further information on Volunteers’ Week can be found at www.volunteersweek.org.uk