Mikilvægi sjálfboðaliða
þri, 06/08/2010 - 10:08 — fsiadmin
Í maí útgáfu University Sports magazine, má finna góða grein um mikilvægi sjálfboðaliða í störfum íþróttahreyfingarinnar og þá aðalega við undirbúning stórviðburða. Flesta þættina má yfirfæra á sjálfboðastarf félaga og deilda óháð stærð. Alltaf er mikilvægt að finna sjálboðaliðum störf við hæfi. Ábyrgðin er mismunandi eftir störfum en öll eru þau jafn mikilvæg. Greinin er á ensku og frönsku og má nálgast á heimasíðu International University Sport Federation FISU. Enska greinin fylgir hér á eftir.
The philosophy of volunteering,
one of the strong points in university sports
What does it mean to be a volunteer? Can this be summarized as working a lot without being paid, or are there other aspects that can attract people? Volunteering has an increasingly important place in the organization of sports events (and others, of course). The movement is now acquiring a deeper meaning – it is increasingly appreciated by young people and by organizers. However, in certain countries or on certain continents, it is not yet as widespread as it could be. Nevertheless, there is no exaggeration in saying that any sports events, and particularly high level competitions like the Universidad and the World or European Championships, require the help of volunteers present at almost all levels of the organization, for example at the Championships Bureau, in the accommodations and sports infrastructures,
at the cafeteria, etc. Years of experience in organizing these types of events show that the role of volunteers must not be underestimated. In addition, they sometimes stay with the association for a long time because they do a good job and their skills are appreciated by the Federation, which then wants to keep them. Consequently, by recruiting and training volunteers, it is possible to train future members and workers, who have thus acquired experience. We hope that those who are not yet convinced will realize the importance of volunteers,
the help they provide, and the advantages that the situation represents for
both parties.
Very often, most of the work of the Organizing Committee is based on volunteer activity. Some of the volunteers have less responsibility, which does not detract from the importance of their jobs, and others may manage an entire department.
Before the event, it is essential to find a group of people who are responsible, who know foreign languages, are creative, know how to communicate and are overflowing with energy and enthusiasm for their work. In addition, they must have a wide variety of aptitudes and skills, so they can be entrusted with various tasks and activities. In most cases, volunteers are recruited from among the students, which means that they can find young people with a variety of skills and centres of interest. Quite often, when the organizers find people who work in an effective, well-organized way and share the unforgettable spirit that corresponds to university sports events, they keep them on and count on their help for subsequent competitions and championships. Under the circumstances, it is easy to see how precious their aid and commitment really are.
It is important to recruit volunteers sufficiently early, to have a few meetings with them, to explain their assignments and responsibilities, to assign them to missions and to discuss the expectations of the organizers and volunteers.
Volunteers from other countries represent a challenge for organizers; an appropriate function must be assigned to these young people to keep them from wasting their time, and to prevent us from losing the help they have to offer. They should join the organization sufficiently early to be involved in the
events and in their own assignments. When they come just before the beginning of the event, they can become an additional problem for the Organizing Committee. If they are on hand earlier, we have the time needed to talk about everything and clarify assignments and responsibilities of everyone. Consequently, the earlier they are on the job, the better cooperation will be. Both parties come out winners. The volunteer programme of the EUSA Student Commission is a good example. Every year, young people from all over Europe can take part in a championship, contribute to the work of the Organizing Committee and the organization of the event. The organizers are required to offer room and board to at least two European volunteers. They can count on the help and involvement of these young people. The following assignments are proposed to them: accreditation and reception, preparing the daily newsletter and documentation on the event, photographic records, the free-time programme, the sports and competition programme, logistics.
Although they must pay for their own travel costs, the number of applicants for the volunteer programme keeps growing. This year, we need 27 participants for the European championship and we have received more than 60 applications from all over Europe. Projects like the EUSA have a good chance of growing and offering considerable opportunities for organizers and volunteers.
This kind of programme can also be envisaged for FISU events. Even if it takes time to prepare everything, participation of foreign volunteers could be a great help for the organizers. Of course, certain financial problems may arise concerning travel costs, which must be covered by the participants in the programme, but in any case they could envisage volunteering for world championships or Universiades on their own continent.
As we mentioned above, volunteers are present at every level of organization, for example: When the teams arrive, volunteers (who are familiar with the foreign languages concerned, of course) can welcome the teams very visibly, particularly at the airport (they can wear the same T-shirt, for example, or set up a stand) where this kind of reception is easy to organize. They can help the teams on their arrival, answer questions, organize transport.
Some volunteers can take charge of coordinating transport during the event. At the office and during the accreditation procedure, volunteers can be very helpful because there is a lot of work to do, documents and data bases to be prepared. We decide on the number of volunteers contributing to the accreditation procedure in view of the number of participants who are arriving, the type of event and needs (World Cup championship, European championship, etc.). Of course, volunteers can work by positions, but is preferable not to modify their assignments too often, because the accreditation procedure is one of the most difficult jobs and responsibilities are very important here, so we need people who know what to do and when, who are involved in the system and are reliable.
A daily newsletter must be prepared, with results and certain information that changes daily – these jobs are often entrusted to volunteers. The attaché is an assistant for the team who accompanies the team almost everywhere, helps solve any problems, acts as a guide and fulfils many jobs, in order to meet the team’s special needs. Language skills are very important – the volunteer must be able to communicate with his own team. By and large, we are the ones who appoint the attachés, decide on how many there are, etc. If we have a limited number of volunteers, the same person may handle several teams, unless we decide to assign attachés only to the larger teams. The technical delegate, the EUSA or FISU representatives by and large also need an assistant (generally one per person) who is constantly available.
The presence of volunteers is also often required in sports infrastructures. Their jobs depend essentially on the characteristics of each sport. Information and multimedia services, etc.
Since, volunteers can represent such an active part of the job of the Organizing Committee, and sometimes even be one of the keys to our success, we need to think about ways to promote their role, to recruit and train them. Particularly in countries and federations that are not used to getting this type of support. Under these circumstances, certain questions arise – how and where should they be recruited? How can they be motivated and their interest attracted?
The role of volunteers should be stressed with the organizers – how can this be done? It could be helpful to draft a guide containing a detailed description of assignments, recruitment processes and important aptitudes and skills.
Another question: Shouldn’t volunteers be compensated in one way or another
for their good work?
Karolina Rohan,
Polish University Sports Federation (AZS)
