The relationship between sports organizations and community
service exists on at least two different levels: team activities and individual
activities. The players may be asked to take part in various activities as a
club; such activities would typically be accompanied by extensive publicity with
cameras rolling. In addition
, players may be asked to individually
participate in activities to benefit the community as a whole. In each of these
situations, the players may be pressured to be part of the community service, or
they may choose to truly volunteer, either as a group or as individuals. In this
instance, there may be less publicity.
Team Participation
Team
participation in a particular community service project usually involves lots of
publicity and may even be undertaken with the intent of convincing other members
of the community to participate in the project. The team may appear at a rally
to raise funds for a community center, or may take part in a drive to collect
funds for Christmas gifts. Usually, the community service activity is a project
that will benefit either the entire community or some segment of the community.
The star power of the team is utilized to persuade others to join in physically
or financially. During a fund raising drive for a community playground, for
example, the players of a team may man the telephones to collect
pledges
, or sign autographs for fans in return for a
donation. Although it is a team sanctioned event, the entire team may not always
appear at every event.
Individual participation
Another type of
relationship between sports organizations and community services is less formal.
A team member may choose to participate individually in a particular community
service project, simply because he or she believes in the project. This
participation may be a matter of spending a few hours each week as a basketball
coach at the local community center or Boys and Girls Club. The team member may
choose to volunteer at a Blind Camp or as a Big Brother or Big Sister. In this
instance, there is likely to be less publicity. In fact, the player may shun
publicity for the project. This type of assistance can be either physical or
financial. It can even be a matter of anonymous assistance, simply because the
need is there and the player wants the attention focused on the need rather than
on him or herself.
Financial Assistance
There is little doubt that
sports figures are paid some of the highest salaries in the world today. It is
for that reason that many in society assume that because players earn more
money, they should also be more willing to contribute money toward the general
welfare. The difficulty with this way of thinking is that each supplicant
looking for help for a community or personal project believes that their pet
project is of highest importance. Rarely is there any recognition that the
player may have their own schedule of priorities that may not include financial
assistance to individuals or community service projects. For sports stars and
movie stars alike, there is some perception that since the public is responsible
for the stardom, the public has the right to demand financial assistance from
the sports star.
Training and educational volunteer
Often a
player may feel they get more personal satisfaction from volunteering their own
time for a community service activity. They may be fully capable of hiring
someone to do the physical part project for them
, but choose instead to actively, physically
and emotionally participate in the planning or implementation of the project. In
this instance, the only reason publicity is sought is for the good it will do
the project itself. A surprising number of sports personalities choose to
volunteer their time and energy in this way for the good of the community.
Publicity
Among those sports organizations that value the
importance of publicity for the team, there can be a great deal of pressure upon
team members to take part in publicity type community service projects. This can
be to publicize the good citizen aspects of the team, or can even be a pet
project of the team administration, owner or manager. Although the organizers of
the community service project are usually happy to get any possible publicity
for their project, in fact, the sports organization may be just as interested in
fostering good publicity for the team because of the community service
activities. The more fans that are happy with the team means more attendance at
games which in turn can mean more revenue for the team.
