Erin Macaulay SAMOA COMMONWEALTH YOUTH GAMES SECRETARIAT | INTERNSHIP FINAL PROJECT

The Year of Youth A VOLUNTEER PLAN, PROGRAM AND TRAINING MODEL FOR INTERNATIONAL YOUTH MULTI-SPORT EVENTS

BROCK UNIVERSITY

Faculty of Applied Health Sciences

Department of Sport Management

THE YEAR OF YOUTH: A VOLUNTEER PLAN, PROGRAM AND TRAINING MODEL FOR INTERNATIONAL

YOUTH MULTI-SPORT EVENTS

Commonwealth Games Federation

2015 Samoa Commonwealth Youth Games Secretariat

Apia, Samoa

Prepared by

Erin Macaulay

4931093

SPMA 4F01

Spring/Summer, 2015

September 14 2015

Samoa Commonwealth Youth Games 2015 Secretariat

Level 5, FMFMII Building

c/- PO. Box L1861

Apia, Samoa

September 14, 2015

Emily Allan-Dakin

Department of Sport Management

Brock University

500 Glenridge Ave

St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1

Dear Mrs. Allan-Dakin,

This report entitled “THE YEARS OF YOUTH: A VOLUNTEER PLAN, PROGRAM AND TRAINING MODEL FOR

INTERNATIONAL YOUTH MULTI-SPORT EVENTS”, was prepared as my major project report for the

Department of Sport Management and for the Samoa Commonwealth Youth Games Secretariat and

governing body Commonwealth Games Federation. This report encompasses work covered from May

12, 2015 to September 13, 2015.

The Samoa Commonwealth Youth Games Secretariat is the main organizing body for the 2015 Youth

Games in Samoa. The purpose of the organization is to ensure successful completion and running of the

Games for the 68 competing nations, their 1000 athletes and 450 Team managers. The Secretariat

encompasses the overarching missions of the Commonwealth Games Federation, which include:

Humanity, Equality and Destiny.

The 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games Secretariat is directed by Vitolio Lui and is primarily involved

with the Commonwealth Youth Games Organizing Committee. This major project is connected to the

Secretariat and the Organizing Committee as volunteer recruitment, planning and training are a critical

element of the Games planning. Volunteers will be the major workforce that will support all functional

areas of the Games. The games will require approximately 1,500 volunteer workforce members to

service all areas of the Games. Ultimately, the major project will ensure adequate numbers of

volunteers will be recruited to fill the predetermined roles, they are trained to successfully completed

their job, and reduce the attrition of unsatisfied volunteers.

This report has been solely prepared and written by me and has not received any previous academic

credit at this or any other institution. I would like to thank Vitolio Lui, Moira Lassen and Lindsay Smith

for their assistance in preparing this document.

Sincerely,

Erin Macaulay

4931093

Table of Contents

Page

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… i

1. INTRODUCTION: 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games Samoa …………………………………………………………. 8

2. LITERATURE REVIEW..……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….10

3. VOLUNTEER PLANNING …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 13

4. VOLUNTEER RECRUITMENT & SELECTION

4.1 Call for Volunteers …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 15

4.2 Volunteer Vetting Process ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 16

4.3 Volunteer Hiring and Accreditation ………………………………………………………………………………… 17

5. VOLUNTEER TRAINING

5.1 General Workforce Training …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 18

5.2 Uniform and Accreditation Distribution and Attrition ……………………………………………………….. 19

6. VOLUNTEER SCHEDULING AND MEAL ALLOCATION

6.1 How Volunteers were Scheduled ……………………………………………………………………………………… 21

6.2 Volunteer Meal Allocations ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 22

7. VOLUNTEER DEPLOYMENT: GAME DAYS

7.1 Volunteers in action…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 23

7.2 Observations about Plan effectiveness ……………………………………………………………………………… 24

9. CHALLENGES…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 25

10. RECOMMENDATIONS…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 27

APPENDIX 1

Call for Volunteers Letter / Advertisement – Word Attachment.…………………………………………………..

APPENDIX 2

Volunteer Accreditation Form – Word Attachment...……………………………………………………………………

APPENDIX 3

General Workforce Volunteer Training Documents – Power point attachment …………………………..

APPENDIX 4

Volunteer Schedule – Excel attachment……..…………………………………………………………………………………

APPENDIX 5:

Request for Quotations – Workforce Uniforms – Word Attachment.………………………………………….

Appendix 6:

Youth Making the Games – Volunteer Montage – Youtube…………………………………………………………

Executive Summary

Purpose of Report

The purpose of this project intends to fill a void that exists in the organization of the 2015

Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa. Particularly surrounding the attainment of volunteers to help

assist with game day operations and logistics. Due to the structure of the Organizing Committee and

limited staff in the Secretariat, when I arrived for my internship, volunteer planning, acquisition, and

scheduling was a large task that needed to be taken on. This project was created for functional

implementation during the games, to strategically acquire volunteers to fill games time operational

roles. The Youth Games hosted 926 athletes, approximately 250 team officials and 200 Technical

officials competing in nine different sports in eight different venues. This project identified, filled and

monitored all the roles and services that would be necessary to run an international multi-sport event at

the youth level.

Scope of Report

This report looks at the various stages of volunteer planning and implementation for the 2015 Samoa

Commonwealth Youth Games. The report is a debrief on the major elements of volunteer planning,

recruitment, training and scheduling I did while interning for the 2015 Samoa Commonwealth Youth

Games. The report intends to capture the magnitude of what is involved in volunteer planning, what

elements were most important, what was challenging, and how the Samoan culture had an impact on

volunteerism.

Major Points

The report outlines the key components of volunteer planning, recruitment and scheduling. It captures

the steps I put in place to ensure all the functional areas for the games were supported. Items such as

the call for volunteers, volunteer training and uniform and accreditation distribution were key elements

that were planned and the report intends to express how these things were completed. Other items

such as the success and failures of various components of the volunteer plan are also captured in the

report. Ultimately, the report encompasses everything that was done in regards to volunteers for the

games.

Introduction

2015 Samoa Commonwealth Youth Games

Samoa was host to the fifth Commonwealth Youth Games, beginning September 5 to September 11

2015. These games saw 1000 athletes’ ages 14-18 competing in nine different sports for 71

Commonwealth Nations. The sports selected for the Samoa games were: Aquatics, Archery, Athletics,

Boxing, Lawn Bowls, Rugby, Squash, Tennis and Weightlifting. Samoa was awarded the games in 2011

by the Commonwealth Games Federation. Prior to the Commonwealth Youth Games being in Samoa,

Samoa had various experiences with other large sport and cultural events such as; the 2007 Pacific

Games and the 2014 Small Island Development Conference (SIDs).

The 2007 Pacific Games played a major role, in terms of legacy for the 2015 Commonwealth Youth

Games. The facilities that were built for the 2007 games were all updated and retrofitted to support the

inclusion of: Aquatics, Archery, Boxing, Lawn Bowls and Weightlifting, with Squash being the only facility

that needed to be rebuilt. Similarly, the main stadium for the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games is Apia

Park. This location is home to Samoa’s National Rugby Team Manu Samoa. The facility had to be

updated and certified by the IAAF for the inclusion of Athletics in the 2015 games. Also, Manu Samoa

and the New Zealand All Blacks had a test match, and provided a legacy for the youth Rugby that

occurred at the games in September. In addition to the facilities, Samoa utilized two local colleges and

nineteen hotels in the Apia areas, to accommodate all of the teams, technical officials and accredited

guests of the games. In this regard, the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games leaves a legacy for both the

College accommodations via external lighting, updated and retrofitted bathrooms facilities.

The Samoa Commonwealth Youth Games has an Organizing Committee of thirteen members, the

Chairman of the Organizing Committee is the Prime Minister of Samoa. Each member of the Organizing

Committee is the head of a subcommittee that is responsible for various logistical components of the

games. Outside of the subcommittees is the Samoa Commonwealth Youth Games Secretariat. The

Secretariat is made up of nine individuals. A large component of the Secretariat is responsible for all

Commonwealth Games Association (CGA) relations, ensuring all of the countries competing have all

their athletes registered in the correct sports and are all accommodated and accredited. The Secretariat

is also responsible for all of the day-to-day functions and liaising with the subcommittees to ensure all

elements of the games were prepared and organized prior to the arrival of teams.

Literature Review

The literature surrounding volunteerism at major sporting events provides valuable insights into various

elements of volunteerism such as: training, expectations, job satisfaction, barriers, motivations,

commitment and retention. Baum, T., & Lockstone, L. (2007), define volunteers as “someone who

willingly gave unpaid help, in the form of time, service or skills, through an organization or group” (p.

32). Literature suggests that each volunteer has different motivations for providing their help and

choosing to be a volunteer at a specific event. Kodama, E., Doherty, A., & Popovic, M. (2013) suggest

individual volunteers engage in events to make a difference, to do something different or to fulfill

personal and/or social enrichment (p. 77). Earlier research suggests similar reasoning as to why

volunteers choose to become involved. Elements such as: helping others and the community, gaining

new experiences, widening one’s horizons or feeling as they personally had to, were all reasons

researchers were able to pin point as to why individuals choose to volunteer (Ralston, R. Downward, P.

& Lumsdom, L. 2004. p. 19). Understanding why individuals choose to volunteer is critical to how major

events are able to recruit volunteers to assist with their event. For the purpose of this report, these

motivations were considered when developing and releasing the call for volunteers for the 2015

Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa. Not all the motivations directly applied to the culture present

in Samoa, however, the research was still beneficial to the overall recruitment of volunteers.

Further literature discusses the implications of training and how training can positively or negatively

impact a volunteer’s experience. Literature suggests that training should attempt to foster a sense of

community in order to promote a more positive volunteer experience that will lead to greater

commitment and overall satisfaction (Kodama, E. et al. p.78). Research urges that training is imperative

to establishing the volunteer’s sense of belonging to an event. If a volunteer is unsatisfied with their

training experience it may lead to attrition prior to the event starting (Costa, C.A., Chalip, L., Green, C., &

Simes, C. 2006. p. 167). To avoid attrition training should be structured so it ensures interactions among

volunteers, allowing volunteers to establish social connections. These social connections no only

increase satisfaction and commitment to the event, but also act as a form of intrinsic reward (Costa, C.A.

et al. p.169). In addition, to building a volunteer culture, training must also ensure individuals are

trained correctly. Management must discern between specialized volunteers who may only need a

briefing about what their duties entail. In contrast to non-specialized of general volunteers who require

a more comprehensive training session, so they can fully understand their roles and responsibilities as

volunteers (Costa, C.A. et al. p.170-171). Thus, sufficient training measures were employed by the

organizing committee for the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games. This was done to ensure all

volunteers were satisfied with their experience, fully understood their role and were able to develop

connections that lead to more satisfied and committed volunteers for the games.

Additionally, literature observed the interaction of volunteers and event management. Research has

identified that it is important for event management to fully outline the expectations of volunteers, so

there is no disconnect between what volunteers expect to obtain from the event and what

opportunities will actually be available (Ralston, R. et al. p.15). Further, management must make a

conscious effort to communicate effectively with volunteers for the entire duration of the event. Poor

communication will result in unsatisfied volunteers (Ralston, R. et al. p.22).

Moreover, literature expresses the importance of effective management of volunteers, as better

support leads to a better volunteer experience and satisfaction; job satisfaction is a precursor of

volunteer retention (Kim, M., Kim, M.K., & Odio, M.A. 2010. p. 129). Kim, M., Kim, et al. (2010), define

job satisfaction as a “pleasurable emotional state resulting from the perception of one’s job as

fulfilling…of one’s important job values, providing the values are compatible with one’s needs” (p.129).

Literature has indicated that job satisfaction of volunteers is imperative to the success of the event, and

needs to be a major focus of event organizers as to avoid attrition.

Further, researchers have identified key areas and elements of volunteerism that impact volunteer

retention and future volunteerism. First, previous experiences often play an important role in whether

or not individuals will volunteer again (Ralston, R. et al. p.20). Samoa has been host to the 2007 South

Pacific Games and the 2014 SIDs (Small Island Development) conference, both of these major events

have an impact on whether or not individuals will volunteer for the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games.

Ralston, R. et al. (2004), state that “volunteer’s predictions of what working at an event will be like

based on experiences of recruitment, training and communication prior to the event” will have an

impact on involvement and retention of volunteers (p.14). Similarly, other external elements such as:

time restrains, financial implications, lack of skills and lack of social confidence play a role in whether or

not individuals choose to volunteer (Ralston, R. et al. p.15). Additionally, retention becomes an issue if

volunteers face “burnout” from a heavy work load and unsatisfactory volunteer numbers (Ralston, R. et

al. p. 16). Also, if a volunteer task is too simple or does not challenge a volunteer, or does not provide

them with the intrinsic rewards they were looking to achieve, those individuals may also choose not to

continue volunteering for the event (Kodama, E. et al. p.78). Elements such as these may even prevent

people from volunteering for future events. It is the goal of this report to ensure that volunteers are left

with a sense of pride and satisfaction of their volunteer experience. In addition, to avoiding attrition by

employing various strategies that literature has deemed necessary to ensure positive volunteer culture,

experience and longevity.

Volunteer Planning

The major purpose of this project was to create an efficient and effective volunteer plan that could be

put in place for the 2015 Samoa Commonwealth Youth Games. Through the use of research and

collaboration with the Secretariat’s Game Planning and Delivery Advisor, I was able to develop a plan

that was implemented on August 31 2015 for the Samoa Commonwealth Youth Games. This plan

captured a total volunteer workforce of 1,000 people working in various functional areas. The

functional areas were identified in two ways. First, the Team Leader Manual that was created for the

games was a valuable resource that outlined all areas in which volunteers would be necessary.

Additionally, I was able to fill some holes through brainstorming sessions with my internship supervisor,

who has vast amounts of knowledge regarding major multi-sports games. Other resources such as

Technical Delegates from each of the nine sports also provided the various volunteer roles they would

need filled by the Organizing Committee.

The establishing of the total number of volunteers that would be required was done in a variety of ways.

First, all areas were allocated a leader to manage a team of volunteers, and each team was created

using a ratio. The ratio depended on the functional area of the volunteers. Sport venue services were

done based on the capacity of the venue and field of play services were done in relation to the number

of athletes competing. This system provided a substantial base to work from as the plan developed.

The numbers were solidified further upon meeting with the Games Chief Coordinator, who instructed

that all volunteers are scheduled on the basis of a maximum of two shifts per day. The shifts were

created by looking at the training and competition schedule for each sport and ensuring there would be

a support staff on venue during these hours. On training days volunteers were scheduled thirty minutes

before training began and thirty minutes after. On competition days volunteers were scheduled one

hour prior to the start of competition to ensure the venue is set-up, spectators are accommodated and

athletes are ready to compete, the same volunteers would remain on shift until competition concluded

for the day. This structure of scheduling volunteers did result in long hours for volunteers, however it

did mean that there did not need to be a transfer of knowledge and all volunteers fully understood their

roles.

Another crucial element to the volunteer planning was ensuring the experience and satisfaction of each

volunteer. A way in which this was done was to ensure that all volunteers received a uniform. For

uniforms, I collaborated with our Chief Coordinator to determine the appropriate number of uniforms

that would need to be ordered. Our Chief Coordinator determined we would outfit all of our general

volunteers with one polo t-shirt, with our games logo on it. Uniforms were ultimately obtained through

a request for quotation process.

Further, another critical element to the volunteer planning phase was creating a breakdown of accurate

numbers of volunteers for our catering team. I developed a daily breakdown of the number of

breakfasts, lunches and dinners that needed to be delivered to each venue. All volunteers were

provided a minimum of two boxed meal per shift, and this critical information to be passed along to

catering, so the boxed breakfasts, lunches and dinner were ready for pick-up by volunteers.

The most intensive elements of the volunteer planning were the logistical elements such as:

accreditation and uniform distribution, volunteer schedule distribution and meal allocations, pick-up

and delivery. All of these required a lot of fore thought as well as man power to ensure it ran

effectively. These various elements and their planning, implementation and success are outlined further

in this report.

Volunteer Recruitment and Selection

Call for Volunteers

The call for volunteers was done in a variety of ways. First, the secretariat connected with local youth

organizations to invite them to volunteer for the event. Samoa’s National Youth Council was a major

contributor of youth volunteers (18-35 years of age). Additionally, local colleges were an excellent way

to recruit volunteers for the games. Outside of the local groups, the Secretariat reached the general

public in two ways: Call for Volunteers in the newspaper and a Call for Volunteers on the radio. The

secretariat released the newspaper ad first, and two weeks later began the radio advertisements,

promoting volunteers to join the games. The original call for volunteers was released on July 22nd, forty-

five days before the games. The Secretariat did two radio sessions, the first to promote open

registration and the second as to communicate about training days.

Further, the Secretariat also recruited volunteers through the government. The President of the

Organizing Committee is the Prime Minister of Samoa, so the Secretariat asked for a directive to be sent

out to all of the government ministries to release personnel to the Samoa Commonwealth Youth Games.

The volunteer plan outlined the positions that are high functioning and require a specific skills and

designated those positions to members for the government ministries that agreed to participate in the

games. This approach was done to combat some of the cultural implications surrounding volunteerism,

and was a strategy organizing committees from previous events held in Samoa implemented and found

to be successful.

The Call for Volunteer process took approximately a month to complete. It required liaising with the

various groups we were recruiting from. In addition, to coordination with the government ministries.

As well as, continuous community outreach and promotion, utilizing social media as a platform.

Volunteer Vetting Process

The vetting process for the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games was very simple as it is a very small

island Nation and majority of the people involved in the games are connected to the community, and

personally know the people who registered as volunteers. However, each volunteer was required to

provide a piece of identification that validated who they were. Additionally, each volunteer had to

complete safeguarding training as they were interacting with a vulnerable sector. This component was

crucial as it not only protects each athlete and volunteer, but also protects the Organizing Committee

from anything that occurred.

Volunteer Hiring and Accreditation

After the completion of the volunteer vetting phase The Secretariat was able to recruit approximately

500 volunteers for the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games. Once all the application forms were

collected, each individual was scheduled in a position and provided their shifts for the games.

Accreditation was a lengthy process and not without its challenges. The initial plan for the games was to

provide each individual volunteer an accreditation with their name, photo and privileges listed on the

card. However, not all parties volunteering for the games were able to follow the correct procedure to

become accredited. The process for accreditation consisted of collating all of the forms into a soft copy

on an excel document and uploading the spreadsheet into our accreditation system Zeus. Once in Zeus

each person was assigned privileges based on their volunteer role for the games, and what secure areas

they would require access to. Further, each person’s photo was attached to their profile on Zeus, and

finally printed. However, during this process we had a great deal of volunteers who’s photos or names

did not match up, or were not taken and prevented our team from printing them in a timely manner.

Eventually, our team had to transition to generic accreditation cards, that did not have names or photos

attached, but rather just controlled the access to all venues. This process was not ideal however the

magnitude of information that was required to be proceed in such a short period of time caused us to

change strategies.

Volunteer Training

General Workforce Volunteer Training

One week before general volunteer training day the planning and coordination began. We organized

the materials that were delivered during the basic training session, that ultimately provided an overview

of the games, highlighted key areas such as: safeguarding, accreditation, daily sign-in, meal allocations

and uniform distribution. We also coordinated for a respected member of the Ministry of Tourism to

deliver our training to the volunteers. Further, we had to coordinate all of the appropriate training

materials to disperse to volunteers. Some materials were basic, such as the safeguarding information

and volunteer transport shuttle. However, other materials were role specific, such as; job descriptions

and organizational charts, for reporting purposes. All of our documents were logoed with our games

logo, as well as with the logo of the sponsor of volunteer training.

In the preparation we also needed to coordinate with catering and transport. We decided to hold our

training day in conjunction with the catering test event, so all volunteers could be feed, and catering

would also be able to mimic the numbers they had during games time. This was an additional step that

was taken, and required continuous communication with the catering team, ensuring we provided them

with accurate and up to date numbers.

Further, we decided to run training at two different venues, so we could do basic training and role

specific training all in one day. This meant we divided the volunteers into two groups based on the

location of their role for the games. Our two locations were our two sport venues, Apia Park and

Tuana’imato. Dividing training required us to do a morning session at Apia Park, and have lunch

delivered from our caterer, who were based at Tuana’imato. This allowed us to provide venue specific

training and a meal, and also allowed catering and transport to test their boxed meal delivery system,

prior to games time. Our afternoon session was held at Tuana’imato, and catering served dinner to our

volunteers. Both sessions received the same basic training, and then were divided based on venue for

their role specific training.

The training session was mildly successfully, and saw a decent turn out from the general workforce

volunteers. Our team intended to utilize an online texting software to contact all of the volunteers

regarding training, however, this system did not work as effectively as we had hoped and did not reach

the mass population. As an alternative measure we cold called all the volunteers in an attempt to reach

as many volunteers as possible. Unfortunately, majority of the volunteers did not have consistent

access to communication means such as email, which would be an easier form of communication and

allow for better transfer of information. This cultural element in addition to the failure of our texting

system caused us to not have the intended outcome of volunteers at our training session. However,

those that attended training ultimately became the most committed of our volunteers.

Uniform and Accreditation Distribution and Attrition

Uniform and accreditation distribution was held over three days. We did a soft opening on August 31st,

we took the uniforms and completed accreditations to the Government Building where most of the

ministries were based for them to be distributed. During the soft opening a large majority of the

government volunteers that had originally been appointed by their ministries, were replaced by other

employees. This resulted in the soft opening turning into another registration day, where we had to

collect information from all of the replacement volunteers in order to print new accreditation cards.

The lack of consistency with the government volunteers, who received a directive to be involved in the

games, caused there to be a drastic increase and uncertainty of information negatively impacting the

uniform and accreditation distribution.

On September 1st and 2nd general uniform and accreditation distribution was organized. The completed

accreditations were printed and the matching schedule was placed in the envelope with the card. This

allowed for easier distribution. Unfortunately, not all general workforce volunteers’ accreditations were

completed and resulted in them having to return multiple times to pick-up their identification. As stated

earlier, our accreditation team had to transition into utilizing generic cards for the games, as the first

shift of volunteers commenced on September 3rd. The generic cards were disappointing for the

volunteers, as they did not receive a personalized memento from the games, however, it was what

needed to be done in order to control access and safeguard our athletes.

Between registration and uniform distribution I recognized a great deal of attrition. There were a large

number of volunteers who registered to assist with the games, but never materialized at training or

uniform distribution. I would partly attribute this to the lack of communication I was able to employ to

the volunteers leading up to the games. Additionally, there were a lot of general workforce volunteers

who decided to participate in another event surrounding the games; be it the opening and closing

ceremonies, or the Teuila festival (annual cultural festival) that was scheduled to run in conjunction with

the Samoa Commonwealth Youth Games. Further, there was another wave of attrition after the

conclusion of uniform and accreditation distribution. There were numerous volunteers who attended

uniform distribution, but never attended a shift. Lastly, once the games commenced a portion of the

volunteer workforce stopped attending their shifts, as they may not have been stationed at the venue of

their choice, were underwhelmed with their role for the games or had trouble securing reliable

transport.

Volunteer Scheduling and Meal Allocation

How Volunteers were scheduled

The volunteer plan took a comprehensive look at all of the functional areas volunteers would be

responsible for and they were scheduled accordingly. Volunteers in the service areas such as; Athlete

Services, Spectator Services, Games Family Services and CGA (Commonwealth Games Association)

Services, were scheduled for a skeleton shifts prior to the start of competition based on the training

times for each venue and sport. The sport specific (field of play) volunteers did not begin work until the

competition began, and similarly to the service volunteers were scheduled based on the competition

schedule. Volunteers working a skeleton shift prior to the start of competition were asked to arrive to

the venue thirty minutes prior to athletes arriving for training and remaining on venue thirty minutes

post the last training session. Similarly, when competition began all volunteers were asked to arrive one

hour prior to the start of competition and remain on the venue for thirty minutes after the completion

of competition. Volunteers were not scheduled for any breaks during their shift, however, the

workforce team leader was responsible for delegating breaks to each volunteers. This was particularly

important during peak competition hours to ensure the volunteers were able to eat their allotted meal,

but also not sacrifice service in the venue.

Further, the college accommodations required a volunteer staff, as the colleges were temporary

accommodations that did not have an existing service team, like a hotel. Volunteers made up the bulk

of the service teams at the two college accommodations. These volunteers worked a specific schedule

set out by the village operations coordinator. Village operations volunteers were scheduled for three

shifts per day on a twenty-four hour cycle. The first shift operated 6am until 2pm, the second 2pm-

10pm and the third 10pm-6am. The shifts at the village worked on a 24 hour cycle to ensure continuous

service to the client groups residing at the colleges in case of emergencies or questions.

Volunteer Meal Allocations

Through collaboration with the Chief Coordinator for the Games and the Catering Contractor I was able

to implement the meal allocation system for the volunteers. The caterer at Tuana’imato Sport venue

supplied a boxed breakfast, lunch and dinner for all the volunteers schedule and allocated a meal. It

was agreed that all volunteers would be provide two meal per shift, and it would be pre-prepared and

boxed.

When allocating meals, the majority of volunteers were located at Tuana’imato, and those scheduled at

Apia Park and the two college accommodations had their meals delivered to their venue by the games

transport team. At the beginning of a volunteer’s shift they would sign-in and the number of volunteers

on shift for the day was relayed to the caterer so the correct number of meals were delivered. The on

shift volunteer rosters for each venue indicated their numbers to the caterer and meals were delivered

accordingly. Each venue was outfitted with a workforce volunteer area, which was dedicated as a break

area for all volunteers on shift. Workforce volunteers could either pick their lunch up from the tent, or a

member of the volunteer meal distribution team would deliver lunch to the specified sport venue.

Appendix two indicates the breakdown of estimated meals based on the number of volunteers

scheduled for a shift that day at each venue.

Volunteer Deployment: Game Days

Volunteers in action

As a whole the volunteer plan was a success. Each venue had dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers to

support the technical staff and the athletes. I was able to secure two fantastic volunteer coordinators

who assisted in the management of the volunteers on a daily basis. The volunteer coordinators were

responsible for recording which volunteers were on shift, ensuring food delivery and redeploying

volunteers to areas of need upon request. The volunteer coordinators were an instrumental component

to the success of the volunteer plan. Additionally, each venue had a workforce team leader who liaised

with the volunteer coordinator about the specific needs of each venue. The workforce team leaders

turned out to be an integral part of the volunteer plan, as they provided support to the volunteer

coordinators and were responsible for managing the workforce on their specified venue.

The structure of the volunteer plan was successful; however, it was truly the general workforce

volunteers who made the event what it was. The general workforce volunteers went above and beyond

their specified roles. They were attentive and engaging with the youth athletes and truly embodied the

spirit of Samoa and her culture. The culture in Samoa is very attentive and joyful; it showed when

interacting with each of the volunteers.

Observations about plan effectiveness

Overall the volunteer plan was effective. It most definitely was not without its holes. A lot of the

preparation work that was done could have used more fine tuning and definition. For example, roles

and responsibilities for each volunteer role were created, however they were never distributed to the

volunteers themselves. There were many instances where either I or a member of my volunteer

coordination team had to quickly explain to a volunteer their role during their shift. This type of system

is not ideal. Going forward, it would be wise to orchestrate more effective pre games communication

regarding things such as training and on venue familiarization. One of the largest pieces of feedback I

received from the volunteers was the lack of role definition and total role and job ambiguity. This is

something going forward I would work hard to prevent.

Further, other elements of the volunteer plan and schedule did not hold up when people were added to

the equation. For example, a large majority of people had conflicts with at least one of the shifts they

were provided. In future, it would be beneficial to include an availability matrix to the registration form.

This would allow for greater success of volunteer scheduling and prevent multiple changes. Similarly, it

would have been beneficial to list the sports that athletes were participating in on the registration form

as it would have allowed for more accurate placement of volunteers and prevent people from being

dissatisfied with their location. Ultimately, the most substantial component that was missing from the

volunteer plan was a measure that helped to capture the interests and skills of each specific volunteer. I

believe a lack of information about the volunteers recruited and minimal communication and

interaction with the volunteers prior to their involvement with the event were the two most substantial

stumbling blocks.

In contrast, there were also a multitude of instances where the plan was effective and positively

benefited both the volunteers and the games themselves. On various occasions I received feedback

from volunteers about how much they were enjoying their experience and all of the positives they were

able to take away from it. Both of my volunteer coordinators expressed to me their views on their

experience volunteering for the games. Both of them discussed the opportunity for growth, how they

enjoyed the challenging experience and going forward they recognized how much they were capable of.

Hearing feedback such as this solidified to me the positive outcomes of this volunteer plan and how if

you provide people with opportunity they rise to the occasion. Some legacy was clearly left behind.

Challenges

Cultural Implications

When I first began this project, I did not realize the cultural elements that were going to pose such

challenges to developing a volunteer plan, schedule and training. First, volunteerism is something that

not everyone in Samoa understands. A great deal of people believe they should be compensated in

some manner for their work, and for a few, a meal and a t-shirt was not enough. Conversely, there were

a great deal of people, particularly the younger demographic (18-35), that understood the importance of

volunteering, and were able to see the benefit to being involved in an event such as the Commonwealth

Youth Games.

The largest cultural implication we faced was that of hierarchy and placing people of higher status in

appropriate roles that were not viewed as beneath them. This was a key factor as half of our volunteer

workforce came from the government ministries. We liaised with various members of the government

to ensure all government professionals were placed according to rank and seniority, also ensuring that

the government members were not partaking in any menial tasks.

Unfortunately, having such a large workforce from the government sector caused other volunteers,

particularly the youth (18-35) to be placed in smaller positions, with less responsibility and autonomy.

This did not match my intended goal for the project, to leave a legacy that improved volunteerism and

raised the self-efficacy of the youth demographic in Samoa.

Further, another interesting cultural implication was that of shame. Shaming is evident in the Samoan

culture, and often causes people to not want to act, or take initiative themselves, in fear of doing it

wrong, or having members of the community view them negatively. This is as much a cultural issue as it

is religious.

Religion was also a major factor that needed to be considered when seeking out volunteers and creating

a workforce schedule for the games. In Samoa, Sundays are a day of worship, all business in the

community are closed on Sundays as almost everyone attends church; once in the morning and once in

the evening. This was a major obstacle for me as I developed the schedule, knowing that people were

scheduled on a Sunday. This had two implications. First, it caused some attrition of volunteers as

individuals choose church over attending their volunteer shift. Secondly, those who did attend their

Sunday shift were potentially viewed negatively by members of their communities for not attending

church. Either way Sunday shifts caused an issue for the games.

Recommendations

As a whole the volunteer plan was successful, however we did encounter a few obstacles that faulted

various elements of the plan. If this was to be implemented again there were various components I

would do differently. First, I would suggest beginning the recruitment of volunteers earlier allowing for

greater time to coordinate, training and accredit the correct people. Similarly, I would improve the

accreditation form we asked them to complete, by adding a section about special skills, so we had a way

to measure what roles would be the best for each volunteer. Further, I would suggest minimizing the

use of government volunteers as they were not as invested as the general public who wished to engage

with the games. However, it was beneficial to have people with special skill sets in specific positions

such as; team liaison officers, IT assistants and village operations. Additionally, having a hard deadline

for volunteer registration would be wise. Unfortunately, we allowed ours to remain open and continued

to accept volunteer’s right up until the games. By doing this we ended up running out of t-shirts and

had mass amounts of information to attempt to upload into Zeus. Lastly, improving the overall

communication to the volunteers would be beneficial. Both training and uniform distribution days did

not have the turnout we intended because of the breakdown and lack of communication between the

volunteers and the Secretariat. If these elements were improved going forward the overall plan

effectiveness would improve immensely, and may ultimately improve the volunteer’s enjoyment.

References

Baum. T, & Lockstone, L. (2007). Volunteers and Mega Sporting Events: Developing a Research

Framework. International Journal of Event Management Research. Volume 3, p. 29-37.

Costa, C.A., Chalip, L., Green, C., & Simes, C. (2006). Reconsidering the Role of Training in Event

Volunteers’ Satisfaction. Sport Management Review, No. 9, 165 – 182.

Kim, M., Kim, M.K., & Odio, M.A. (2010). Are you proud?: The influence of sport and community identity

and job satisfaction on pride of mega-event volunteers. Event Management, Vol. 14, 127 – 136.

Kodama, E., Doherty, A., & Popovic, M. (2013). Front line insight: an autoethnography of the

Vancouver 2010 volunteer experience. European Sport Management Quarterly. Vol. 13, No. 1,

76-93

Ralston, R., Downward, P., & Lumsdon, L. (2004). The Expectations of Volunteers prior to the XVII

Commonwealth Games, 2002: A Qualitative Study. Event Management, Vol. 9, 13 – 26.

NOTES:

Appendix 6: Link to video on Youth Volunteers

http://www.samoacyg2015.ws/?p=1240

OR

Youtube – Youth making the games by Young Reports Academy