Volunteers at sports events as active participants in new sustainability challenges

Abstract

This article focuses on the involvement of volunteers in the organisation of major sporting events and their involvement in the new challenges of sustainability, a much discussed topic in the preparation and subsequent organisation of a major sporting event.

Volunteers are part of large sporting events and in many cases are the largest group of the organizing team in terms of the number of people involved. Therefore, they are also a very important group to involve in usability activities. And usually a very enthusiastic group of people involved, because they participate in the event in their own time, without payment, but with the expectation of gaining new experiences, experiences, friendships.

And it is the need to know the motivation to participate in the event and the preference of communication methods between the time of signing up for the event and the start of the event that is important for the organizer to set up the right program for the volunteers and also ways to keep in touch with them and keep them part of the team before the event starts.

The results presented here are based on the results of a questionnaire survey of volunteers at the 2020 and 2022 Olympic Festivals, which was completed by 131 volunteers who actively participated in the project.

The second part covers specific topics of sustainability issues, namely the long-term cooperation with volunteers, their involvement in long-term activities beyond the Olympic Festivals project, and the possibility of their further training in sport, Olympism and environmental education.