How to be a sporty volunteer, March 2023, Romania

On 24 March 2023. our organization TEAM4Excellence visited the “Lazăr Edeleanu” Technological High School in Năvodari, Constanta County, Romania to facilitate a workshop on volunteering for the 9th C class. The workshop was facilitated by Nicoleta Acomi and Daria Barbu from TEAM4Excellence and aimed to promote sport volunteering activities, digital education and the Erasmus+ project Safe&Informed Volunteering.

First, the nearly 20 students had to define volunteering in their own terms using the Mentimeter app. They associated volunteering with responsibility, work, help and involvement. Then, thE facilitators introduced them to the opportunities offered by the European Solidarity Corps and the ways in which young people can choose their type of volunteering. The discussion then focused on volunteering in sport. Here, they worked in groups on an activity in which they had to identify the long and short term benefits and drawbacks of sport and volunteering activities. The activity was followed by a discussion with the students based on the results of team work.

The second activity consisted in identifying two actions for sport volunteering, a digital action and a face to face action. Some of their responses were: donating sports equipment to the underprivileged, organising charity sports competitions and marathons, facilitating online training sessions with people who cannot afford a personal trainer and organising campaigns to promote sport both online and offline.