An Exploration of Sports Volunteers Experiences at the 2012 Paralympic Games

1. An Exploration of Sports Volunteers Experiences at the 2012 Paralympic Games Ellie May Leeds Metropolitan University e.may@leedsmet.ac.uk

2. Outline of the Presentation • Introduce Paralympic Games • Provide overview of PhD research • Context & rationale for the study • Disability studies • Research methodology • Themes

3. 2012 Paralympic Games • What comes to mind as you watch these clips? • Are Paralympic athletes ‘superhuman’? • What position do non-paralympic sports women/men hold in society? Intro to Paralympics Superhuman Clip

4. PhD StudyParalympic Gamesmakers Volunteering at the Paralympics Understandings of Disability How do volunteers understandings of disability, disability sport and disabled athletes evolve as a result of their volunteering experience? • What are volunteers reasons for volunteering at the Paralympics? • What are their expectations for volunteering at the event? • What previous experience do volunteers have of volunteering? • What are the experiences of volunteers during the Paralympic Games?

5. Context • Sports event volunteering • Reflexive (Hustinx & Lammertyn, 2003) • Importance of volunteers in staging events • Motivation, satisfaction & commitment

6. Why disability sport? • Limited studies exploring volunteerism within disability sport • Research replicates methods used in mainstream sport • Issues relating to disability neglected? • Paralympics neglected? • Paralympics – driver to change attitudes and perceptions or reinforce stereotypes?

7. Disability Studies Medical Model Social Model • Problem • Society • Brave • Barriers • Defective • Change • Passive • Restrictions • Limitation • Environment • Needing care • Attitudes

8. Application to sport? Medical Model • Individual deficiency • Biological limitation • Incapable of competing in sport Social Model • Structure and practice of sport is disabling • Sports changed to account for differences

9. Methodology • Qualitative study • Research approved by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) • Series of 4 interviews with Games Makers • Games Makers recruited through social media • 27 interviews prior to the Paralympics (July/August 2012) • 17 during Paralympics (September 2012) • 25 post Paralympics (November/December 2012) • Final interviews (May/June 2013)

10. The Games Makers • 19 female/8 male • Diverse age range (between 21 & 60 years old) • Geographically dispersed (York to East Sussex) • Range of previous volunteering experience • Varied Games Maker role (e.g. Event Services, Field of Play, Last Mile, Transport) • Paralympics only or Olympics and Paralympics

11. Interview Topics

12. What Games Makers think of Disability • “Someone who has difficulty in doing something or a physical impairment that stops them doing something that an able bodied person would be able to do, that restricts them” (Ashley) • “Disability? I suppose its some form of impairment that prevents you from doing something as readily or easily as someone who doesn’t have that impairment. (Angela) • “Some sort of impairment whether its physical or mental but something that stops that person from being able…some sort of impairment that holds people back in some way” (Katherine) • “I guess something that makes you different from somebody else. I suppose part of your physical or mental functioning that isn’t conventionally classed as normal” (Alex)

13. Games Makers views of Paralympians and Disability Sport (1) Inspiring? • “I think the Paralympics, its more inspiring, more shocking, its harder for them as they’ve got more to deal with, emotionally and physically which would make it harder” (Rachel) • “Its more challenging. For example, the wheelchair tennis that I’m working on for me as an able bodied person to stand on a tennis court and hit a ball with a racket and run side to side and back and forth is relatively easy but then in a wheelchair having that speed and the mobility to do the same thing I suppose it makes it much more challenging and for the athletes overcoming something. I think I have a lot more respect for them.” (Katherine) Easier? • “Wheelchair tennis, so, it’s a similar kind of sport but its slower you know the ball is allowed to bounce twice so it’s a slower pace obviously so yeh its easier to manage I feel more at ease with the Paralympics.” (MacKenzie)

14. Games Makers views of Paralympians and Disability Sport (2) Society? • “the first thing that comes to mind is good on you for not letting people hold you back because I don’t think it’s the disability that would hold them back, it’s the peoples perceptions of their disability and their limits and then imposing these limits on them.” (Melissa) • “They’re athletes, the same as the Olympians, you know ones that are at the very top of their game. I don’t know if you’ve come across the comedian Laurence Clark who has cerebral palsy? It really irates me, he talks about everything he does in life people say its ‘inspiring’ and he said I’ve had children, that’s inspiring, why because I’m in a wheelchair? What difference does that make? And it really hit home to me because its true, the British disabled football team could be knocked out in the first round of the Paralympics but they would still be called inspiring but you know our own footballers get to the semi-finals of the European Cup or something and their deemed as useless. That to me says a lot actually about society, you know the ‘ahh’ syndrome and how inspiring and in fact their just living their lives the same as anyone else.” (Tilly)

15. Views during the Paralympics (1) • “Absolute admiration. I just don’t know how they do it. I couldn’t sit on a horse you know with two arms, two legs and everything else I just don’t know how they do it quite frankly” (Angela) • “I think if you see someone in a wheelchair you almost feel sorry for them, you know what a shame and you would be inclined to say do you want any help? Can I help you? They don’t need or want that, they’re totally at ease, independent and can do everything. I suppose its opened my eyes to that in a way that they’re no different.” (Katherine) • “What has amazed me is the quality of the tennis played. I thought wheelchair tennis, the quality would be low and slow games, boring! You know it won’t have much excitement, but on the contrary! I think the quality of the play is good, these guys are athletes you know we under rate and under estimate them but they are athletes. As a disabled person myself I watch them and think wow!” (MacKenzie)

16. Views during the Paralympics (2) Normalisation? • “It was actually interesting watching the athletes because you might see, there was a guy whose got literally nothing from the thigh down and there’s another female rider that has no legs and you see them in the chair and then they’re put on the horses and you start watching them ride and after a while you don’t even see the disability, the disability just seems to disappear, you just forget totally.” (Diane)

17. Next Steps? • Transcription • Data analysis • Final interview • Any questions, comments, suggestions?

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