Thursday 28 July 2011

Do you know a sport volunteer doing a great job? Sport Wellington is calling for nominations for the 2011 SPARC Sport Volunteer of the Year Awards.

You can nominate anyone in your club, school or sporting organisation who you think deserves recognition for the work they do. You have until midnight 23 August to get your nominations in.

Previously the awards recognised volunteer coaches only. But this year the awards have been expanded to recognise not just coaches but all 800,000 volunteers at the heart of community sport – the administrators, coaches, kit washers, strappers, soup makers, and dial- a drivers who give freely of their time week in, week out to provide sporting opportunities.

Also new for 2011 are three distinct categories:
• Wattie’s Student Sport Volunteer Award (for sport volunteers 18 years old or younger);
• SPARC Sport Volunteer Award (for sport volunteers over 18 years of age);
• Lifetime Achievement Award (for 25+ years of service to community sport).

The Wattie’s Student Sport Volunteer Award will reward responsible students, motivated by growing the sporting opportunities within their school or sporting organization, whilst the Lifetime Achievement award will reward the volunteer stalwarts who have sacrificed countless hours to the service of sport over many years.

Sport Wellington’s Community Coach Advisor, Mark Watson, says “these awards are for those people who, through their servitude and passion, have added so much to our community, and are deserving of our recognition. We are also looking to recognize volunteers with the x-factor; the social committee member whose great idea and energy saw the club post a surplus from its fundraising initiatives, or the administrator who, despite an already full work and home schedule, wrote a solid strategic plan for their club which will see it in good health for the years ahead.”

A team of experienced judges will decide the Wellington regional finalists in each category and all finalists will be invited to an awards breakfast at the brand new Wellington Indoor Community Sports Centre in Kilbirnie on Wednesday 21 September, where the category winners will be announced.

This is a nationwide promotion and Sport Wellington is confident that Wellingtonians will respond to the challenge and nominate in large numbers, proving once again that Wellington is a sport loving region.

Nominations can be made on line at www.sparc.org.nz/volunteers. Each one will generate a thank you e-card which can include a message from the person making the nomination.

These annual awards run concurrently with Sport Wellington’s Monthly Logan Brown Coach and Volunteer Awards, which also aim to recognize and reward the work of volunteers within our sporting community.

ENDS

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