An examination of the importance and satisfaction sports participants attach to volunteering support contextualized within a broader measure of satisfaction with the quality of the sporting experience

This article describes the development of a new tool for measuring the satisfaction of sports participants with the quality of their sporting experience and discusses the results of the first implementation of this survey. The survey discriminates between 10 ‘domains’ of sporting experience, one of which is the people and staff involved in organizing sport. ‘People and staff’ is ranked as the second most important domain for club members, and the domain ranked third for levels of satisfaction. Satisfaction scores are just below, but close to, importance. Analysis illustrates variations between sports, reflecting the different roles of volunteers. The research confirms the distinctive and important role of volunteers as a component of the sports’ experience.