A recent survey by the New Zealand Amateur Sports Association said the number of volunteers in sport clubs has dropped from 31 to just 18 per club over the past five years.
But two Southland rugby club presidents and a Gore High School sports co-ordinator said they had the opposite problem.
Pioneer Rugby Football Club president Scotty Egan said the Gore club had no issue with volunteers, and even had some coaches pencilled in for next year.
"We have to advertise it, but they’re pretty keen to do it again, so we’re pretty lucky in that space," he said.
They had coaches who were "pretty passionate" about the club, and some of them were ex-players, which added to their enthusiasm.
The club’s coaches, committee, managers, physiotherapists and medics were all doing it for the love of it.
Only the strapper gets paid, he said.
Maruawai College sports co-ordinator Tracey McCall said it depended on the sport and how many teams there were, but generally, they did well.
This was because people from the community were "fairly dedicated" and liked to see their children win, she said.
Having said that, their senior boys’ basketball coach Sean Heanue, who was taking the team to nationals this year, had none of his own children at the school, Ms McCall said.
"He’s just doing it for the love of basketball and enjoys coaching the boys," she said.
Wyndham Rugby Football Club president Hamish Martin said they were a reasonably successful club of late, winning the Ack Soper Shield for the second year in a row in July.
The winning division one team coach Jimmy Sinclair returned this year after coaching a couple of years ago.
"He had some unfinished business and wanted to come back," Mr Martin said.
He said coaches and managers were not breaking down the door to volunteer and he did have to approach people and twist their arms.
"But we have found people and we’ve found good people to do this job," he said.
They had great numbers in their committee also, which was much appreciated.
He said what benefited a club was keeping a "succession model" where they rotated presidents every three years.
That kept everything fresh and encouraged new volunteers to enter.
