Supporting health & fitness activities within the local community

What will be the role of EVS volunteers in the Host Organisation:

• To assist children in enjoying leisure and play.
• To assist young people in learning about health and fitness.
• To assist in the growth of our volunteer scheme, helping to recruit from the community.
• To assist staff with monitoring and evaluating our demographics.
• To support with the research, planning, delivery and evaluation of school holiday programmes.
• To assist with promoting the YMCA across the community and in schools and colleges.
• To assist the Junction in communicating, networking and partnering with the wider YMCA.

• To spend one day per week helping in another YMCA department of their choice. The kind of tasks they would be offered are: co-presenting a radio show on our community station, reading with children in one of our children's centres, helping fundraise at a youth event, conducting interviews for the YMCA newsletter, building a marquee for a summer festival, etc.

• To contribute to review meetings.

The profile of volunteer candidates:

• Enthusiastic & motivated
• Appreciative of diversity and equality
• Interested in with engaging young people
• Basic communication skills
• Keen to work as part of a team
• Time management
• Honesty & integrity

We would appreciate and value volunteers with an interest in working with many different people (ages and abilities) in the leisure industry. Volunteers should be prepared for varied tasks of which there will be some which require creativity and leadership and others which require patience and communication.

We will assess the candidates against criteria such as motivation and enthusiasm before we look at experience and qualifications. We will consider all applicants equally and we will keep notes.

We will induct the volunteer with a two-week programme where he/she can try different activities and negotiate with the Project Manager what his/her role will be. We will endeavour to tailor their role to match with their interests and skills. There will be quarterly reviews where they will have the opportunity to make alterations to their role.

We are accustomed to having adult volunteers helping us and we always make sure they do not take the place of paid staff. We will be clear about defining their roles and responsibilities when they undertake their induction and will regularly review these to ensure that he/she does not take on any tasks from paid staff. We will also be clear with staff what the volunteer’s role is to avoid any inapropriate delegation.

We are open to all sending organisations although we would be interested to connect with a similar non-government organisation engaging in community health and youth leisure. In particular, one associated with the YMCA movement. However, we are more interested in finding the right volunteer, regardless of their sending organisation.

• We will arrange safe accommodation for EVS volunteers in a host family or shared apartment. We will arrange this in advance and draw up a contract with the host family or landlord involved. If necessary, we will top-up the funding in order to provide adequate food an...
MOTIVATION AND EVS EXPERIENCE

The Junction has no previous experience of hosting EVS volunteers but Bournemouth YMCA’s Youth Projects are going into their third year of hosting EVS volunteers. The Junction is really keen to become involved in the programme since hearing about how it works. We strongly believe that The Junction would be an ideal placement for an EVS volunteer with an interest in leisure and community. We have consulted with all staff around The Junction and everybody is keen and excited at the prospect of receiving a volunteer from overseas. We understand that EVS is non-formal learning and volunteers must not be treated as job substitutes.
Bournemouth YMCA’s Youth Projects’ first EVS volunteer arrived in October 2011 for one year. Their second volunteer arrived in September 2012 for one year. We met both of the volunteers and they agreed that our leisure centre would also be a good placement opportunity
DESCRIPTION OF THE ORGANISATION

Bournemouth YMCA is a charity committed to helping young people, particularly at times of need, regardless of gender,race,ability or faith. Bournemouth YMCA manages The Junction Sports & Leisure Centre.

The Junction’s mission is to be at the very heart of the Broadstone community, positively enhancing the lives of all through our passion for affordable fitness, sport, health and leisure.

The Junction comprises of a well-equipped fitness suite, swimming pool, main hall, children’s soft play area, bar lounge and tennis courts which are open for use by the general public. Within these areas, numerous activities are held to encompass many different ages and abilities such as:

• Fitness Suite – including regular sessions for 11-15 year olds, over 50s and those with disabilities.
• Swimming Pool - Swimming lessons, fitness classes, parties, zorbing, scuba diving, lifeguard training.
• Main Hall - Badminton, football, trampolining, gymnastics and other dryside activities.

The centre also provides entertainment for a variety of parties (children’s soft play, pool) thus fully utilising The Junction’s facilities for the overall benefit of the public in Broadstone and Poole.

The Junction’s staff comprises of a Centre Manager, Assistant Centre Manager and a manager in each department: catering, fitness, sales, dryside activities, wetside activities and customer service. Additional employees consist of full and part-time staff within the departments, including ‘attendants’ (age range 16–21yrs) who are starting out in the leisure industry.