It's amazing that so much of our sporting industry is supported by the time and energy donated by hundreds of thousands of sporting volunteers every year. These individuals don't just give up their time for a warm and fuzzy feeling of a job well done and of helping out (although it certainly is the driver for many), they also volunteer their time to develop themselves as individuals.

The problem comes when sports become so reliant on volunteers to help them remain sustainable but cannot in turn provide those volunteers with the resources and support they need to do a first-class job and to make a difference in their sport.

So what's the solution?

Clearly you can't necessarily expect to attract high-quality administrators and volunteers if you don't have adequate systems in place to help those volunteers out. Clear guidelines for the work that volunteers will be undertaking make a huge difference, as do detailed role descriptions - like a job description - for volunteer positions.

Just because they're not getting paid doesn't mean volunteering can't be professional.

What about you? How have you found the support given to you in your volunteering role in sport? What do you think can be done to make sure that our sporting volunteers are set up to succeed and thrive, not just get by?