Volunteer development opportunities

Overcoming barriers to training

Volunteers often don’t have the time or the money to undertake training. Asking people to give their time to volunteering is difficult enough, so in some circumstances, asking for more time to train to do the job might just be one step too far (Sport England, 2003).

Money Issues

The following scenario will help to explain why money isn’t always an issue:

“We’re a small club – we can’t afford to train our volunteers”

• It only takes one person to have an instructor qualification to give guidance to other members.
• Smaller clubs could run informal ‘in-house’ training, for instance: tips/pointers, an introduction to sailing or guidance on instruction.
• Hire an instructor for the weekend and offer reduced rates to members.
• Join forces with other local clubs or water sports centres, try and get a group of members together and then you may be eligible for a group discount.
• Remember investment will pay off – help to fund a couple of volunteers to do courses and they could eventually teach a multitude of club members!

Time Constraints

“We have a good volunteer pool but not all volunteers are around at the same time”.

• Plan training weekends well in advance – include dates and venues at the beginning of the season in the club calendar. This way, members know when they can get training and will plan attendance well ahead.
• Or, if you are unsure send out a form to gauge interest for training and plan as appropriate: do this at the beginning of the year.
• Organise a few weekends through the season, so members can pick and choose. Put the most important courses early on so volunteers are ready for the coming year, i.e. race officer, safety boat or sail training. ‘Refresher sessions’ are a good idea for these roles.
• Two shorter sessions might be more accessible than one. Parents, for example, may be happy to attend training whilst their children are at club sessions.
• Occasionally, substitute training for regular meetings when volunteers would normally expect to be at the club anyway.

Make training accessible

Ensure that facilities are accessible for your disabled volunteers. Think about timing and try to present options to volunteers, think about the suggestions above.

It is important to remember that different clubs will have different barriers to training. Some may be financially stretched, or some may have a large membership so getting people in one place at one time could be an issue. In some circumstances actually getting to the venue may be an obstacle!

Whatever your club’s issues with training, don’t worry. Think about what the possible barriers are and how the club can overcome them.