Opinion: The wider culture and structure of youth sport has changed and volunteers are operating in an increasingly challenging environment
Youth sport depends on an army of volunteers, coaches, referees, committee members, and organisers who keep the whole system running. Without them, grassroots sport simply would not exist. Yet almost every sport is facing a crisis of volunteering: fewer people are stepping forward and many who do – almost 1 in 5 according to research in the Irish Sports Monitor report - are finding it harder to stay involved.
Maybe we shouldn't be surprised?
Like many parents, I spend hours every week volunteering across a range of sports and clubs. I coach my daughter’s hockey and football teams. I am chair of our swimming club. I love it. My motivations for volunteering are echoed in the literature which consistently shows that volunteers cite a blend of reasons, some focused on helping others and some centred on personal benefits. This duality reflects my own experience; volunteering allows me spend quality time with my children and their friends, and through my professional role as an academic I feel I can contribute positively to the experience for young athletes, fellow coaches, and clubs. In another way, volunteering in youth sport has given me a broader perspective for my research on coaching and talent development.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Inside Sport, Jen Hogan from the Irish Times and Zoe Poole of the DDSL discuss the behaviour of parents and supporters on the sidelines of children's games
Much of the existing research on youth-sport volunteering focuses on individual-level explanations; that is, why people choose to volunteer, how satisfied they feel, and what predicts their decision to stay or leave. This body of work, however, overlooks how the wider culture and structure of youth sport has changed and how volunteers are operating in an increasingly challenging environment. Expectations from parents have risen. An increasingly transactional approach to sport is prevalent, and there is a range of systemic and interpersonal issues within clubs and organisations.
Occupying both an insider role as a volunteer and an outsider role as a researcher has led me to reflect on how volunteers are supported by the systems and organisations around them. When I put out a call for help with an underage team, often with the tagline of "if you can stand at the side of the pitch with a coffee, you can stand in the middle of the pitch with a whistle" and receive no responses, or when I ask parents to help set up a pitch, organise a blitz, or even bring post-match snacks, it is invariably the same handful of parents who tick the poll, and the same group of parents who don’t. Like many willing volunteers, I get disillusioned with the 'same people’ doing everything.
"Most volunteers are committed and well-intentioned but operating in conditions that almost guarantee failure."
Instead of getting frustrated about the lack of volunteers in youth sport, I have started to appreciate the problem through another lens; youth sport lacks the systems and structures to support and protect those that put their hands up to volunteer.
Why would people volunteer given the burden of the role?
Coaching is inherently complex and uncertain, and volunteers, who are often novices, are asked to navigate challenging demands and real-time decisions, communicate with parents, and meet children’s developmental needs, often with minimal preparation or experience.
Read more: How to positively help support your child in sport
I am certainly not suggesting that all coaching in youth sport is of a high quality but in 20 years of supporting grassroots coaches and clubs I have yet to meet an individual who has intentionally set out to create a poor experience. Most volunteers are committed and well-intentioned but operating in conditions that almost guarantee failure. Perhaps the real problem is that we throw willing volunteers to the lions, without the required skills, preparation and support they need and then criticise and chastise them when things go wrong.
I sat at a sport organisation's conference last year, in a room packed with volunteers who give incredible time, energy and commitment to youth sport. Like them, I am firmly committed to and deeply appreciative of the importance of volunteering, but I drove home that day disillusioned ... and humbled. The session was dominated by accounts of poor parent behaviour, perceptions of a lack of support for volunteers, and limited organisational intervention, with what felt like an overarching message of 'how to put up with poor behaviour’ rather than how to solve it. This risk adverse, bystander approach to supporting volunteers from organisations is disappointing but, more critically, is undoubtably contributing to the widespread volunteer attrition across youth sport.
Read more: Will new competition structures impact the future of youth sport?
The volunteer-led organisation of Irish youth sport is something that we should value and protect, but we can’t continue to rely on the motivation of individuals without commensurate attention on how organisations support them. The research is unequivocal: volunteers stay when they feel competent, connected, respected, and supported; they leave when these needs are eroded.
Youth sport cannot survive without volunteers. Sustaining youth sport means supporting the people who give their time, energy, and commitment to make it happen.
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
