by Callum Ellis
WELSH Athletics have revealed a new strategy in the hope of attracting more volunteers to the organisation.
The governing body for athletics in Wales currently has more than 14,000 licensed coaches and more than 750 licensed officials involved across Wales.
But with the aid of the Welsh Council for Voluntary Action, the body is working towards achieving the Investing in Volunteers (IiV) Quality Standard.
IiV is the UK quality standard that aims to show volunteers their value to an organisation and provides them with confidence in their ability.
The governing body also played a role in delivering the 2018 Cardiff Half Marathon earlier this month, where more than 12,000 volunteers participated.
Welsh Athletics acknowledge they have significant volunteer challenges and are aware of the changes in the volunteering culture.
They have now decided to continually review what they do, become more open to new ideas and new people and increase their resources, including their staff and budget.
They are also putting a focus on key volunteer roles which led to them conducting an internal governance review.
As part of the review, the organisation collected data via focus groups, interviews, telephone interviews and online questionnaires.
The review highlighted that there was not enough help, guidance and support provided for their volunteers.
Speaking at the UK Sports Volunteering Research Network Seminar in Cardiff, Chris Moss, Club Network Manager of Welsh Athletics, reflected on the process.
He said: “It is good to talk and be challenged. We need to continue to learn from research, the reality of what is happening and other areas and sectors if necessary.
“Prior to this process, we would have sat down internally to discuss the issues.
“When people asked the question ‘why do we do that?’, we didn’t know. It’s good to get external people in who ask those critical questions.”
