At the European Championships Waterski 2009 in August in Vallensbaek near Copenhagen, 75 enthusiastic volunteers were engaged. 89% of them had worked as volunteers before and as many as 85% would like to do it again at a future waterski event. 15% may volunteer to do it again and nobody said they would not.
These encouraging findings, , along with several other interesting data such as the macro-economic spin-offs of the event, are presented in Sport Event Denmark’s latest effect analysis, which is now available.
Volunteers are a natural and important part of event hosting in Denmark, and when it comes to the waterski event in Vallensbæk, almost half of the volunteers (48%) had travelled a long way to join forces (>200 km). The majority of volunteers are giving a hand because of the great experiences they are expecting to have at the event.
”It is important for us to evaluate the many international sports events that Sport Event Denmark supports. The waterski results give us a clear picture of how the typical volunteer is regarding age, gender, educational and occupational background, motivation etc. The majority of volunteers seek fun and the feeling of being part of something bigger than themselves. Personally, they gain useful experience by volunteering, but also future event organizers may benefit as it seems that the volunteers are coming back” says Chief Executive, Lars Lundov, Sport Event Denmark.
At the more than 50 major international sports events in the Danish Year of Sport 2009 the many volunteers have been indispensable for the event organisers. As an extra service and on a trial basis, Sport Event Denmark has provided the event organisers with an online database through which volunteers and event organisers can trace each other.