Volunteers are the lifeblood of local sport, without them there just simply wouldn’t be any sport!
Behind any functioning sports club is a small army of people who volunteer countless hours of their time to ensure the survival of their local club.
Just what is it that drives these people to give up so much of their precious time to contribute to a local sports club?
You could start with how entertaining sports are, it’s great to have your favorite sport played close to home, or how sport is a distraction from our daily lives…but I think it runs deeper than that.
Sport inspires even the most cynical of us, makes us believe in the seemingly impossible, for example, Liverpool in the 2005 Champions League Final where they were hopeless in the first half going in 3-0 down to AC Milan. Three goals in six second half minutes turned the game on its head and Liverpool went on to win on penalties.
For a split second even the Everton/Man Utd fans where on Liverpool’s side that night, though that will never be admitted…….EVER!
Or
The story of an unlikely hero doing something extraordinary. My favorite example of this is the story of Jason McElwain. Jason McElwain is autistic, he was his high school basketball team’s manager. After a few years of fetching water and towels, the coach lets him suit up for the last game of the season. With four minutes left the coach puts him in, he goes on to score six three pointers in a row, 20 points in total. The scenes are something else, something that only sport could do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMjmzhF5320 give it a watch!
There is simply nothing that can bring a community together like sport can. How many times have you been having a relatively awkward conversation with a stranger before sports comes up and you end up blabbering and being late for something?
Sport provides common ground for people to get to know each other. In local communities many of the volunteers have played very little sports in their lives, but they are extremely passionate about their clubs and their sport. There are countless examples of communities pulling together to fundraise for clubs on the brink of folding, sports clubs give the whole community a common goal to work towards and give a real purpose to everyone in the community.
Simply put, volunteers work hard to keep more than sports clubs alive…they keep the community alive!
So for that…
