Step into Sport Volunteer Conference 2006

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What is Step into Sport?

The main aim of Step into Sport is to encourage more young people to become involved in sport in their local community. Step into Sport concentrates on training a new generation of volunteers, mostly aged between 14 and 19. Step into Sport builds on existing structures and programmes such as JSLA and CSLA to encourage and generate greater volunteer links between schools and clubs. Step into Sport is a joint project funded by a consortium of Sport England, Youth Sport Trust and Sports Leaders UK. The aim of the SIS conference is to encourage and sustain young people's involvement in quality community volunteering placements
The Step Into Sport Pathway
Step 1: Young people engage in a programme of Sport Education at school.
Step 2: Young people move on to undertake the nationally recognised Level 1 Award in Sports Leader Award (formally the JSLA)
Step 3: Young people gain practical experience in volunteering through planning and running a TOP Link sports festival for primary aged children (TOP Link one-day conferences, TOP Link festivals).
Step 4: Young people undertake community sports leadership training and sport specific leadership training - accredited.
Step 5: Young people, supported by a teacher mentor, engage in a programme of volunteering in their local community. The Lincolnshire Sports Partnership provide help and support to volunteer placement providers to ensure volunteering opportunities are available, appropriate and of a high quality.
In addition to the generic leadership training courses developed and administered by Sports Leaders UK, several NGBs have developed sport specific courses aimed at training and developing the next generation of sports volunteers.

In Lincolnshire there are eight School Sports Partnerships involved in the SIS programme . These schools sports partnerships are as follows;

1. Boston and District School Sports Partnership

2. Lincolnshire Central School Sport Co-ordinator Partnership

3. City of Lincoln School Sports Partnership

4. Lincolnshire South East School Sport Partnership

5. Lincolnshire Coastal School Sport Partnership

6. Lincolnshire West Lincolnshire School Sports Partnership

7. Cherry Willingham School Sports Partnership

8. Lincolnshire North West School Sports Partnership

Twenty children from each School Partnership will attend a Step into Sport conference.The conference aims to enable young people to begin and sustain an involvement in leadership and volunteering through sport, by providing training to develop their leadership,communication and social skills in preparation for their community placements within local sports clubs.

How Will Step Into Sport Help Lincolnshire?

Step into Sport will help to establish and ensure communication links between the School Sports Partnerships and local clubs. The Lincolnshire Sports Partnership will provide strong assistance in the task of finding suitable volunteering opportunities - matching the skills and interests of volunteers to vacancies in school/community/club structures that have met or are working towards their Minimum Operating Standards.

Step into Sport aims to identify a Volunteer Coordinator in each club, to oversee recruitment, training and retention of volunteers in the club. The number and quality of coaches, officials and administrators working in local clubs will increase to help them achieve their Minimum Operating Standards and ClubMark recognition. A communication schedule will be put in place in order to create links between schools/clubs and volunteer placements.

Lizzie Daubney or Joe Capon on 01522 585580

2005 'Year of the Volunteer' and ahead to 2006

2005 was the Year of the Volunteer, a year-long celebration of the amazing work volunteers do and a call to action to get more and more of us volunteering

The Year's main aims were to:

-Increase the number of volunteers.
-Open up more volunteering opportunities.
-Raise the profile of the work volunteers are doing nationwide.
-Thank volunteers everywhere for their time and commitment.

The question that arises in my mind is did you know this was the case? Did you know that this was Year of the Volunteer, that this applied to you as a potential or existing sports volunteer and that if you do not already volunteer there are sports clubs that need your help.

Volunteering in sport is hugely important in this county but the month that was dedicated to sport was August the holiday season! The only volunteering I did that month was when I volunteered to carry the suitcases from the airport taxi to the terminal building.

Just to prove how important this is a few statistics: Over 90% of sport and active recreation is led by the voluntary sports sector, mainly at the grassroots level in informal as well as formal participation. Sports volunteers make-up the single largest contribution to volunteering in England with 26% of the formal volunteer work force. This equates to 1.2 billion hours each year being given free by sports volunteers with an economic value of £14 billion pounds.

Sport and active recreation fulfils major elements of the governments agenda active citizenship, social engagement, healthy living, crime prevention and volunteering. Not surprisingly sport cuts across numerous public service issues and can be used by the majority of other voluntary organisations, from Age Concern to groups working with people with disabilities.

From a public service point of view then, sport and sports volunteers really are a valuable commodity. Yet the sad fact is that we can never stop trying to recruit and develop volunteers, sit back and look at how well we have done. More volunteers are always needed. One person with many years experience usually requires three people to take over from them. It is the nature of the beast!

A friend of mine always used to be fond of trying to imagine what the world would be like if sports men and women stopped fighting amongst themselves and started working together the prime minister would play second fiddle to the England Football manager and the local council would not be required because sports volunteers had managed to organize refuse collection cheaper and quicker and in the process managed to find a cure for the common cold if only miracles did happen!

This year has seen Lincolnshire take some very significant steps forward in encouraging sports volunteers and here are just a few of the examples and ways you can get involved:

Step into Sport
This Education based project attempts to get young people aged 14 years and above to train as Sports Leaders and then run activities in primary schools, local clubs and communities. The project has only just started, but by the end of February it is hoped that over 150 young people will be trained and ready to begin placements. These are our volunteers of the future.

Change-Up
Yes another government funding stream, but one which has provided £100,000 over the next 12 months (in conjunction with Sport England) to put in place a support structure for volunteers. It will pay for successful volunteers to spend time encouraging and supporting others, to develop the existing voluntary sports IT infrastructure (see www.sporting-lincs.com), and for someone to work with other voluntary groups who would like to make stronger links with sports organisations.

Lincolnshire Voluntary Sports Forum

This group was set up this year to help support the voluntary sports sector in Lincolnshire. It has accessed the funds for Change-up (see above), lobbied local councils and Sport England and generally ensures that the views of grassroots volunteers are not forgotten when people like me start talking about Lincolnshires links to the London 20012 Olympic games. If you want to get involved in this group or simply get more information contact Robin Wright at rwright@lincoln.ac.uk

Club mapping
The Lincolnshire Sports Partnership has started working with the School Sport partnerships and the county governing bodies of sport to carry out health checks with local sports clubs. The checks are designed to identify issues and training needs of local volunteers and see what can be done to help with anything that is brought up. Clubs should be accredited according to national guidelines and these checks are part of a support process before seeking accreditation.