The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) has outlined a new approach to fostering positive with safe and fulfilling experiences for sport volunteers in a new action plan.
Chief Executive of the ASC, Kieren Perkins said the four-year Sport Volunteer Coalition Action Plan tackled a number of the challenges the industry was facing.
“The four-year Action Plan is part of the ASC’s renewed focus on sport volunteering following the significant impact COVID-19 had on the sector in 2020 and 2021,” Mr Perkins said.
“Recent data indicates that sport has lost over 100,000 volunteers in the past few years and that the volunteers that remain are often undertaking more than three roles, risking burnout,” he said.
“The Plan encourages stakeholders to look out how they can leverage diverse skills, experiences and resources in volunteering while stimulating innovation, creativity and investigating new ways of working to respond to individual and societal shifts.”
Mr Perkins said the new Action Plan would be delivered against four key pillars, including ‘Celebrate’, which would communicate the broad value of sport volunteering through powerful storytelling, and ‘Empower’, to support and connect volunteers in sport.
He said the Plan’s ‘Reimagine’ pillar would support the sector to re-design the sport volunteering experience, while the ‘Innovate’ pillar aimed to drive and stimulate innovation in sport volunteering.
“At its very essence, volunteering is about helping others and to do so while enjoying the fun of sport is an incredible opportunity that we can all take part in,” Mr Perkins said.
“Volunteering in sport can also create a sense of belonging, connects communities and it can improve physical and mental health,” the Chief Executive said.
The ASC’s 12-page Action Plan can be accessed at this PS News link.
