Volunteering in sport: trends, opportunities and challenges

The association Sport and Citizenship, the first European think tank specialized in the study and promotion of sport values, published a special issue of its scientific journal, in partnership with the International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA), the partners of the EuroVolNet project and with the support of the European Commission. This special issue is devoted entirely to volunteering in sport.

Volunteering is indeed a catalyst which should be supported and developed. Even if European governments and politicians have long since recognised the importance of volunteering to the economy, society and individuals, and the sports movement is fully aware of the vital role played by volunteers, are we, as citizens, conscious of this?

In this respect the European Year of Volunteering is already a success as it casts the light on the whole subject and reveals the work of these millions of European citizens hidden in the background. In fact, the picture in Europe is very patchy as a result of differing historical, political and cultural attitudes towards volunteering in each European country.

How to measure the social and economic impact of volunteering, develop a common framework to build a European volunteer status, promote this typically human activity, develop the relevant tools for welcoming, training and recognizing volunteers –in other words, attracting and keeping them– these are some of the various challenges facing us today.

That is the reason why -with only a few months left of the European Year of Volunteering- Sport and Citizenship, in partnership with ISCA and the EuroVolnet project partners, has decided to devote it special issue to the theme of volunteering in sport, its trends, opportunities and challenges.