Big Help Out Hockey Launched

With the EuroHockey Championships 2015 taking place in London, England Hockey and sports volunteer charity Join In have launched ‘Big Help Out Hockey’ to promote community spirit in the sport.

The ‘Big Help Out Hockey’ initiative will work with amateur hockey clubs across the UK, to inspire new and existing volunteers to help out each week at their local clubs and events and contribute to the on-going #BigHelpOut target of 10,000 set by Join In and BBC Get Inspired ahead of Sports Personality of the Year.

Throughout the campaign, community clubs with a Join In club page will benefit from a huge audience of volunteers, who will be driven towards hockey. The London 2012 legacy charity’s network of on-the-ground volunteers will be on hand to work with clubs regionally and help connect and support clubs and volunteers, filling roles such as coaches, umpires, social media promotion or painting the clubhouse.

Seven out of 10 grassroots sports clubs still need more volunteers. Join In’s research has revealed that each volunteer creates the capacity for at least 8.5 more participants in sport. By connecting hockey clubs with volunteers, ‘Big Help OutHockey’ will increase the amount of people taking part in hockey across the UK with more people leading happier and healthier lives through sport.

England captain Kate Richardson-Walsh agrees: “Some of our most important team mates are those off the pitch. The coaches who helped us develop and kept us motivated at club level through to the event volunteers who make each event run smoothly- we couldn’t do it without them.”

England Hockey officiating and volunteers manager Richard Glynne-Jones said: “We are delighted to be working with Join In again. Their expertise and assistance has been invaluable in the past and we are confident this campaign will result in more volunteers getting involved with hockey clubs”.