Australian Sport Volunteer Coalition releases its Year 3 Report

Australia’s Sport Volunteer Coalition has just released its Year 3 Sport Volunteer Coalition Report and will soon be launching a new and improved resource hub to help clubs attract, support and celebrate their volunteers.  

Year 3 of the Sport Volunteer Coalition (SVC) Action Plan strived to ‘reimagine’ volunteering in sport – moving boldly beyond the traditional lens of recruitment and retention. The Coalition created opportunities for sports to connect and developed resources to support new ways of thinking about volunteering.

The Australian Sports Commission notes “while volunteers get less fanfare, hundreds of thousands of Australians continue to make an impact on Australia’s sporting landscape every day.”

Since 2022 these club champions have been the focus of the nation’s first-ever Sport Volunteer Coalition.

The Coalition was established ten years out from the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games to ‘transform the experience for volunteers’ and strengthen sports clubs across the country.  

Chief Executive Surf Life Saving Australia and Coalition member Adam Weir notes “we know that one of the biggest barriers to volunteering is people’s lack of time.

“We’ve been working hard to reshape the volunteer experience so that clubs can tailor roles to better suit peoples’ needs, availability and priorities.” 

Sport Volunteer Coalition Chair, Dr Lindsey Reece from the Australian Sports Commission added “we’re tackling the big issues together – rather than in silos – and better supporting volunteers.

“In the last year, the Coalition’s work has led to almost several national sports launching their own Volunteer Action Plan and a further 21 sports forming their own Volunteer Leaders Network.” 

ASC notes that “Volunteering is one of the central pillars of Australia’s first Participation Strategy: Play Well which aims to ensure that everyone- including every volunteer- has a place in sport.”

Access the Year 3 Sport Volunteer Coalition Report