2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, Australia: Recruiting, Training and Managing a Volunteer Program at a Sporting Mega Event

2012 ◽  
pp. 239-248
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-62
Author(s):  
Musa Gumede ◽  
Vusi Mazibuko ◽  
Pumela Msweli

The Commonwealth Games Federation recently awarded the hosting of the 2022 Games to Durban, South Africa. This will be the first time the Games are hosted in the African continent. The paper looks into whether tangible benefits for hosting mega-events are less or more important than intangible benefits. In investigating this issue, the paper takes a political geography theoretical stance for its ability to provide normative ideological content for explaining intangible and tangible values for hosting Commonwealth Games. The paper looks at pros and cons for investing in mega-event infrastructure and also looks at the cost of hosting the Games for cities. The 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi budgeted $240 million for the entire Games, but the actual costs after the Games were found to be $1.7 billion. Similarly, in 2014 Glasgow, the cost of the Games was calculated at £575 million ($690 million). The paper looks at whether South Africa as the 2022 Commonwealth Games host can afford the games. It also considers the impact of the Games on national identity, national pride and patriotism here identified as novelty values that preserve social cohesion, a social attribute that has to be in place to build a robust economy. The paper concludes by noting that the success of the Games will depend on deliberate investment in catalytic facilities in areas that will be sustained post event. The amount of novelty value generated out of the Commonwealth Games will depend on how successful the Games are and on how the communities are able to interact with the facilities post event.


2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eilidh H.R. Macrae

Voluntary sports clubs (VSCs) provide the primary opportunities for organized community sport in the UK and thus hold the responsibility for delivering on mega-event sports participation legacies. This study presents findings from open-ended questionnaires and interviews conducted in two phases (Phase 1—Spring, 2013; Phase 2—Summer, 2015) with representatives from a sample (n = 39) of VSCs to understand their ability to deliver on the participation legacy goals of London 2012 and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Thematic analysis of the data outlined three themes where support for VSCs should be placed when planning future mega-events: building VSC capacity, retaining members in the long-term, and promoting general visibility of the VSC throughout the event. Bid teams who hope to use mega-events as catalysts for sports participation increases should direct funding and guidance toward VSCs to ensure they have the tools, knowledge, and capacity to deliver on national sports participation ambitions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (23) ◽  
pp. 39-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Gunter

AbstractThe hosting of mega events in the Global South has become a symbol of prestige and national pride. From the hosting of international mega events such as the world cup, to regional events like the Commonwealth Games, developing nations are hosting mega events frequently and on a massive scale. Often used as a justification for this escapade in hosting a mega event is the purposed infrastructural legacy that will remain after the event. From the bid documents of the London Olympics to the Delhi Common Wealth Games, the pretext of infrastructural legacy is cited as a legitimate reason for spending the billions of dollars needed for hosting the event. This paper looks at this justification in the context of the All Africa Games which was hosted in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1999. It examines how the legacy infrastructure from this event has been utilised as a social housing development and how the billions of dollars spent on the infrastructural legacy of the games has been used by local residence of the city. The vast majority of the current residence of the All Africa Games Athletes’ Village have little recollection of the Games and do not feel that the housing stock they have received is of significantly better quality than that of other social housing. This points to the contentious claim that developmental infrastructure built through hosting a mega event is of superior quality or brings greater benefit to the end users. That is not to say that hosting a mega event does not have benefits; however, the claim of development through hosting, in the case of Johannesburg, seems disingenuous.


Author(s):  
Albert Saló ◽  
Laia López

Research Question: This analysis arises from the decision of the current local council of Barcelona regarding the postponement of the sporting mega-event ‘World Roller Games’, due to a lack of a social and sportive implication in this event. This research tries to shed some light on the matter and give evidence to the local council to become the world capital of skating. The research question is to analyse whether non-economic impacts could be relevant enough to organise a mega-event.Research Methods: The methodology is based on the perception and experience of spectators and participants on four main impacts (social, economic, sports city image and sports practice) using a survey from a National Roller Skating Championship in Spain, considering that this profile of respondents have a better knowledge of the current situation of this sport.Results and Findings: There are positive expected future consequences of this mega-event to be held in Barcelona in social and sportive terms. We can also conclude that the local council must still introduce some social and sportive policies in the city in order to improve the chances of success in social, sports practice and sportive brand image development.Implications: It is demonstrated that a mega-event should not be seen purely from a perspective of business generation, especially with minority sports like roller skating. There is a clear opportunity to develop social and sportive practice initiatives that can push social cohesion throughout the city thanks to a mega-event such as this one.


HortScience ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 503a-503
Author(s):  
Sheri T. Dorn ◽  
Paula Diane Relf

Virginia Cooperative Extension's (VCE) Master Gardener volunteer program is available in 72 unit offices. The unit programs are managed by MG coordinators who currently include 10 locally funded agents, eight locally funded technicians, and 28 volunteers. The VCE Master Gardener Coordinator Manual, a 12-unit resource book, was developed cooperatively with teams of MGs, coordinators, and agents to enhance coordinators' skills for managing the local VCE MG program. The manual includes chapters on VCE MG components such as risk management; job descriptions; recruitment and screening; and volunteer review, recognition, and retention. Additional resources within the manual include a synopsis of educational program planning, implementation, and evaluation, as well as a copy of the current VCE Master Gardener Program Policies and the volunteer section of the Virginia Master Gardener Handbook, which serves as program orientation for new or prospective trainees. The VCE Master Gardener Coordinator Manual is the basis of three local MG coordinator training sessions in 1998. Additional resources available to coordinators for enhancing the local MG program include a MG newsletter focused on the role of Master Gardeners as community leaders and educators; program policies and guidelines for the management of MG training and operation; VCE publication 426-699 Welcome to Virginia Master Gardenering! Guide to Educational Programming and Resource and Reference Guide; and the VCE Master Gardener Internet website at http://www.ext.vt.edu/vce/specialty/envirohort/mastergard/master.html.


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