Monday 04-06-2018 - 09:42

This year, we recruited four Sport Volunteering Ambassadors to represent what sport volunteering is all about. We were fortunate to be blessed with four very different volunteer ambassadors - a teacher, a writer, a footballer, and a mountaineer. Each one brought their own experiences of sport to the role and each one took to the role with different goals and motivations. While we’re extremely proud of all of their little quirks, there’s one thing you can’t differentiate between them and that’s their passion for sport and their ability to use sport to make a difference.

We're sharing their stories to tie in with Volunteer's Week. First up is Harriet Dorrington-Ward.

Harriet studies English and Creative writing, plays hockey and has used her passion for sport to write some amazing blogs throughout the year. Harriet used her role at sporting events to support our other volunteers. As Chair of hockey, it’s clear she is loved by everyone in and out of her club, which made her such a valuable ambassador to sport volunteering. We asked what her year’s been like, not just as a volunteer ambassador but as a student who loves sport. She said:

 "I wanted to become an ambassador so that I could volunteer at more events across the university first and foremost, however I also wanted to encourage other students to get involved with volunteering, particularly within sports. I have been a member of the hockey club for all three years at uni and it changed my experience completely, and completely for the better. I have met friends for life while staying active and meeting people across all faculties that come from such a range of different background, and that for me is fundamental to university lifestyle.

Personally, what I am most proud of is becoming the chairman of the hockey club in my third year. I felt honoured to be voted in by my teammates and I thoroughly enjoyed my role, even through the hard and busiest parts. I enjoyed meeting all the new students and being someone that they could turn to for help or assistance with anything. Being a support system is something that I pride myself in being, as I love to help others and test myself by doing so, and I feel I achieved that this year.

As an ambassador, I really enjoyed volunteering at the AOC games. It was amazing seeing young people thrive off playing football and really loving being there. It reminded me of why I was there to help volunteers in sport and in a way answered that question that we all sometimes feel: What is the point? It was reassuring and was a pleasure helping support the day for a lot of excited people.

Something I wanted to overcome this year was my ability to delegate. I find that I put a lot of pressure on myself and so resist from asking for help, I found this particularly difficult at the start of the year. However, as the year progressed I found myself giving other people jobs to do rather than doing it all myself, as I tend to be a bit of a ‘control freak’. By doing this I was able to balance my roles within sport alongside my studies and just enjoy my final year the way it should be enjoyed."

 

Harriet finished her exams last month and though officially no longer one of our ambassadors, the year would not have been the same without her.

Check out Harriet Bell's story and Russell Townsend's story too.

Interested in volunteering in sport? Find out more here.

Learn more about all our different volunteering opportunities here.