Www.northumbria.ac.uk/lifesciences SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES “The Changing Motivations of Young...

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SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES

“The Changing Motivations of Young Sports Volunteers; Young Games Makers at the London 2012 Olympics”

Ryan Storr, Linda Allin and Lindsay Findlay-King. Northumbria University



PhD Study: Young Sports Volunteers-Broad aims are to explore the experiences and outcomes young people gain through engaging in sports volunteering

-Exploring how young people develop and accumulate capital through sports volunteering

-Longitudinal year long study following 10 young volunteers from a volunteer programme in Sheffield

-Culminating in 2 week ethnography and focus groups with young Games-Makers volunteering as court side assistants at the Olympic Volleyball Event.



Why Study Young Volunteers in Sport?

• Little research on young sports volunteers

• Young people provide the highest percentage of sports volunteers across all age groups

• We know very little about young people’s experiences whilst they are volunteering



Conceptual Framework

• Bourdieu’s conceptual tools used to interpret findings of the study

1) Capital – social, cultural and economic2) Field3) Habitus



Methodology

• Interpretive 1 year longitudinal study comprising of

- Individual interviews with 10 young volunteers over the course of 12 months (3 data collection points)

- Individual interviews with 4 staff members and stakeholders of the sport volunteering programme

- Ethnography and focus groups with 16 young people at the London 2012 Olympics

- All young sports volunteers recruited through a sports volunteering programme in a UK city.



Initial Findings: How do young people develop capital?

“You get to meet a lot of new friends and new people, so you are expanding your friendship groups all the time” Sandy, 16.

“I think it gives me opportunities that some people might not have, it gives you a lot of opportunities like helping at events and stuff like that, and also I think it will look good

on my CV and for my future” David, 17.

“Almost like a portfolio, as in what you do, the experiences you get which you obviously put in your university applications and for jobs. Like that's a positive, and the enjoyment

meeting new people” Jacob, 18.

“My main reason for volunteering in sport is that I love working in sports because I am an active person and I like the different opportunities that I couldn’t get anywhere else. Also, volunteering opens lots of doors and I like working in groups and around people”

Sandy, 16.



Findings: How do young people get into the Sport Volunteering Programme (SVP)?

“The selection process was someone that was doing well at school, reasonably well academically, really committed and driven in sport; that’s what the teachers saw in me”

David, 18.

“Erm well it started off in year 8 and 9 really, my PE teachers saw that me and a couple of others had a proper passion for sport, so we would help out at a feeder school’s handball tournament, football and referring matches. Then I was chosen to go on the leadership

academy, which is ran by one of the four school sport partnerships in Sheffield, so I got picked to do that from school, and did lots of events like the Ashes at Headingly, and then got chosen

for SVP” Sophie, 16.

“I think it’s the amount of work , amount of hours, how much you enjoy it. Some people just didn’t put that extra time and effort in , but now I’ve been given the opportunity to go to SVP”

Peter, 15.

People from School, like if I said I’m volunteering at this event they would be like oh right, where as if I said I’m volunteering with SVP they would be like oooooh” Laura, 17.



London 2012 Young Games Makers • 16 young people from SVP • Raised £1k individually; Total of £20k in total • Had volunteered 2+ years before Olympics• Motivations to volunteer from the start of

volunteer journey changed to the end of the journey



Exclusivity in Youth Sport Volunteering

Pathways into SVP are exclusionary, and certain criteria has to be met from each volunteer.

• Young people get asked to volunteer through school and PE, then selected onto a leadership academy through SSP, then recruited onto the SVP.

Selection criteria is based on current levels of capital, and the value within the field of PE, the SSP, and SVP.



What do the Findings Tell Us?

Initial Physical and Cultural Capital (being good at sport and study)

PE Teachers/ staff/ club members ask them to volunteer

Young people have positive experiences and outcomes

Accumulate greater Social and Cultural Capital

Converts to Economic capital as paid sports coaches



Recommendations

• The ability of young people to develop various forms of capital through sports volunteering is a complex process and dependent upon their personal circumstances and habitus

• Ability to access resources and develop capital affected by structural, personal and social factors surrounding each individual and what is valued within their particular field.

• Opportunities need to be made available to all young people, regardless of ability, social class and status, educational background

• Efforts need to be made to engage those least likely to volunteer



Some discussion points....

• What can we do to maximize the benefits that young people accrue from volunteering in sport?

• How can we get more young people involved in sport volunteering?

• What can we do to encourage young people to volunteer in sport and not exclude them from participating?



References

• Bourdieu, P. (1986) The forms of capital. In. Richardson, J. (ed.) Handbook of theory for research in the sociology of education (pp.241-258). Westport, Greenwood Press.

• Bourdieu, P. (1988) Homo Academicus. Cambridge, Polity Press. • Davis Smith, J. (2000) ‘Volunteering and social development’, Voluntary Action 3 (1): 1 – 12.• Kay, T. and Bradbury, S. (2009) ‘Youth Sport Volunteering: Developing Social Capital?" Sport,

Education and Society 14(1): 121 - 140.• Kay, T. Armour, K., Cushion, C., Thorpe, R., and Pielichaty, H. (2008) Are we missing the coach

for 2012? [online]. Available at http://www.thelssa.co.uk/lssa/sportnation/SportnationDiscussion.pdf (Accessed: 18 august 2009).

• Leisure Industries Research Centre. (2003) Sports Volunteering in England in 2002. London: Sport England.

• Sports Coach UK (2012) coach tracking study: A four year study of coaching in the UK. Leeds; Coachwise Limited.

http://www.thelssa.co.uk/lssa/sportnation/SportnationDiscussion.pdf

Www.northumbria.ac.uk/lifesciences SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES “The Changing Motivations of Young...

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