Volunteering initiative sees the spirit of the Olympics return to the county

David Moorcroft, former 5,000m world record holder and director of sport at Join In, led both the formal launch and the induction of the eight newly appointed Join In Coordinators.

Their role is to match local people to fun, interesting and rewarding sports volunteering opportunities in clubs and sporting events in Hertfordshire.

Volunteers are the life blood of grassroots sport in Hertfordshire. They teach us how to swim, ride a bike, keep us safe at sports clubs, marshal our races and manage our football teams. Unfortunately today, seven out of ten local sports clubs say they need more volunteers.

That’s where Join In Hertfordshire comes in as they aim to find more enthusiastic volunteers who would like to give something back to sport within their local communities.

As well as promoting local sports volunteering opportunities, Join In has also become the ‘go-to’ organisation for recruiting sport volunteers at major sporting events.

From Sport Relief to the Tour De France, Join In volunteers receive exclusive opportunities to help out at some of the world’s highest profile sporting events. Today, more than 130,000 people are Joining In and the numbers are growing weekly.

Moorcroft inspired this new team of coordinators, at the launch that took place at the University of Hertfordshire, with his passion for the programme. He spoke about the importance of volunteering in sport and how by uncovering ‘hidden diamonds’ in Hertfordshire we can make more people, more active, more often.

The Herts Sports Partnership is managing the Join In Hertfordshire programme and needs to recruit two more Join In Coordinators who will be responsible for Join In in a district or borough area.

Sports volunteers across the county are needed in each district, who can volunteer in clubs and one off sporting events.

So if you are feeling inspired, why not dedicate some of your time and skills to local sport; and give something back to your local community while gaining that many benefits that only volunteering can give you.

Contact [email protected] for more information or alternatively visit www.JoinIn.org.uk.