The Weight We Don’t See: Rethinking Community Sport - After International Volunteer Week

Just after National Volunteer Week, I found myself reflecting on something that doesn’t get talked about enough.

Not participation rates.
Not funding gaps.
Not even access.

Something deeper.

The weight.

A system carried by volunteers

Community sport in Canada is often described as the “foundation” of our system.

But here’s the part we don’t say out loud:

It’s a multi-billion dollar, multi-outcome system… run almost entirely by volunteers.

And not just any volunteers.

We’re asking people—parents, guardians, coaches, board members—to take on responsibilities that, in almost every other sector, are handled by trained, resourced professionals within structured systems.

Think about what sits inside that “rock” they carry:

Compliance and governance
Inclusivity and accessibility
Safe sport and risk management
Accredited coaching and training
Fiduciary responsibility and financial oversight
Insurance and liability
Sponsorship and fundraising
Physical and mental health outcomes
Community building and retention
Diversity, equity, and belonging
Communication and conflict resolution

That’s not a volunteer role.

That’s an entire industry.

Let’s compare it honestly

If we step back and compare community sport to other volunteer sectors, something becomes very clear.

In faith-based organizations, there are governing bodies, formal training pathways, and centralized structures.

In emergency services, volunteers are supported with standardized training, protocols, funding, and integration into formal systems.

In healthcare, even volunteer-supported roles exist within deeply structured, regulated, and resourced environments.

And yet…

Community sport is expected to deliver outcomes across all of these domains—without the same infrastructure holding it together.

The growing list of expectations

Every year, the list grows:

“We need to improve retention.”
“We need to be more inclusive.”
“We need to prioritize safety.”
“We need better-trained coaches.”
“We need to partner with schools.”
“We need to make sport more affordable.”
“We need to bring the fun back.”

All valid. All important.

But here’s the disconnect:

We keep adding expectations… without strengthening the system expected to deliver them.

So what happens?

Dedicated volunteers step up. They always do.

They carry more.

They figure it out.

Until, eventually, they burn out… or step away.

And the cycle repeats.

This is the paradigm shift

For me, the shift is this:

Community sport isn’t just a collection of local teams and leagues.
It’s an essential social infrastructure—operating without infrastructure.

Once you see it that way, everything changes.

Because now the question isn’t:

“How do we fix individual problems?”

It becomes:

“How do we connect and support the system itself?”

Connecting the disconnected

Right now, thousands of community sport organizations operate:

Independently
With limited visibility
Without shared tools
Without consistent access to resources
Without a clear pathway to connect with participants, partners, or national initiatives

They’re doing incredible work.

But they’re doing it in isolation.

A path forward

If we want real change—sustainable change—we need to stop thinking in silos.

We need to:

Create visibility so organizations can be found
Provide access to practical, usable resources
Enable connection between local organizations, communities, and national initiatives
Build pathways for collaboration, not duplication
Support volunteers with tools, not just expectations

That’s infrastructure.

Not theoretical.

Practical. Connected. Accessible.

Where this goes next

This is exactly why I built Sportall.

Not as another program.

Not as another report.

But as an on-ramp.

A place where:

Organizations can be found
Volunteers can access tools and resources
Communities can discover what’s available to them
Partners can connect directly to the grassroots level
Ideas, support, and solutions can actually flow—up and down the system

A simple question

If you’ve read this far, you’ve probably felt it too.

That moment where things click a little differently.

So here’s the question I’ll leave you with:

What would community sport look like if we supported it like the system it already is?

Because once we answer that…

We don’t just reduce the weight.

We finally start sharing it.