FEATURES OF SPORT VOLUNTEERS’ MOTIVATION IN THE LARGE RUSSIAN REGION

Mrs. Telepaeva Daria¹*, Dr. Pevnaya Maria²

¹Ural Federal University, RUSSIA, daria.telepaeva@gmail.com
²Ural Federal University, RUSSIA, usovet_info@mail.ru
*Corresponding Author

Abstract

Sport volunteering is one of the most popular areas of volunteering in the world. Every year thousands of people want to join sports events not only professional but also amateur sports. International and national charity races are held. In some countries, competitions among amateur athletes are widespread. The organization of these events requires the participation of volunteers. Recently, sports volunteering has become a specialized activity of volunteers. In this direction, their behavior patterns are formed. In the community of people who have experience of volunteering, status positions are distributed, their own ideology is formed, a system of incentives that motivates people is developed. Over the past five years, Russia has hosted major sporting events. In 2018, it was the FIFA world Cup, where more than 17 thousand volunteers from around the world were involved. In 2019, Russia hosted the winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk, where 5 thousand sports volunteers worked. Such a massive annual sporting event as the "Cross of Nations" and "Ski Track of Russia" is also popular in the country.

Despite the political situation and ban of the World anti-doping agency (WADA) on the participation of Russian athletes in international competitions, in 2023 the world summer Universiade is expected to be held in Russia in the capital of the Ural region (Ekaterinburg). The infrastructure for training volunteers in sport events of different levels in all regions of the country is also developing.  The expansion of sport events and the popularization of mass sports in Russia is constantly expanding the community of sport volunteers.

The report gives a critical assessment of the survey data based on the members of volunteer community in the Sverdlovsk region, included in the database of the largest regional NGO "Volunteers of the Urals" (sample target, N=706). Sverdlovsk region is one of the key regions in Russia, where international sport events are traditionally held. The largest University in Russia (Ural Federal University) is in the capital of the Ural region, on the basis of which in 2013 was established volunteer center "Volunteers of the Urals". In 2019, in the Association of volunteer centers, this non-profit organization passed a competitive selection and received the status of an infrastructure organization in the Ural Federal district. In the next few years, the organization will be recruiting and training volunteers for all major regional and local events. The survey data allowed to check the dependence of sport volunteers’ motivation and their age.

According to the empirical research, it is proved that the nature of activity and behavior of sports volunteers determines not only the special nature of motivation, but also specific goals, as well as socio-demographic characteristics of volunteers. In the internal space of interaction between the community as a whole and volunteers in a particular organization, it is important to correctly set tasks for volunteers with different motivation profiles. These studies allow more effectively organize the process of recruiting volunteers for different volunteer positions (vacancies) depending on the profile of their motivation. In accordance with the peculiarities of sport volunteers’ motivation, it is possible to conduct their training more effectively and work to retain already experienced, trained volunteers.

Keywords: Volunteerism, sport volunteering, young people, civic engagement.