ABSTRACT
Working with volunteers in sport necessitates an understanding of the nature of the voluntary sport sector context including the scope of the volunteer workforce, the characteristics of the volunteers and their involvement in the sport system. The previous chapter addressed definitional issues related to volunteering and outlined the nature, scope and impact of volunteers’ contributions socially, culturally and economically. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a more focused overview of volunteer involvement in sport. It introduces definitions of sport, VSOs and sport volunteers as a context for exploring the importance and significance of volunteer involvement in sport. Building on the dimensions and categories of volunteering discussed in Chapter 1, the size and nature of volunteer involvement in sport is compared and contrasted across sport systems in several nations before exploring broad categorizations of volunteer participation. Subsequent chapters discuss the structural elements of voluntary sport systems and organizations and explore volunteer involvement in more detail.
