The cup has 200 volunteer shifts spread over three days. The shift schedule was made in March, changed twenty-odd times by text message, and at nine o'clock on Saturday nobody knows which version applies. Not because anyone has been sloppy, but because the schedule has been dead since the day it was written.
Four things that break down, in this order
Ask a volunteer coordinator at a cup, a tournament or a festival, and you get the same story every time.
Recruitment. Someone has to ask. In practice, the coordinator phones around, and the same twenty parents say yes again. The other hundred were never asked, because nobody had time. That is not a feeling, it has been measured: in Frivillighetsbarometeret 2026 (the Norwegian volunteering barometer), 41 per cent of those who are not volunteers say they would consider contributing. Only 9 per cent of them have been asked.
Allocation. The shifts are put in a spreadsheet. One family gets four shifts, another none. It's discovered on Thursday evening, and by then it's too late to fix without stepping on someone's toes.
Changes. People get ill, swap among themselves, forget. Swaps are agreed in the team's message thread, which the coordinator isn't part of. The spreadsheet is never updated.
The day itself. There is no overview. Just a coordinator with a red-hot phone, an A4 sheet that was accurate yesterday, and a kiosk manager calling to say they are two people short.
On their own, each of these is manageable. Together, they are the reason many volunteer coordinators give up after one season. NIF's trend report “Idretten mot 2040” (Sport towards 2040, April 2026) describes the direction: people still turn up for volunteer work (dugnad), but fewer take on positions of responsibility, and six out of ten sports clubs say finding volunteers for essential roles is one of their biggest challenges.
Turn it around: plan from the volunteer's point of view
The usual mistake is to plan the shift schedule top-down from the organiser's needs. So many on the kiosk, so many on parking, fill it up. The volunteer gets told where to be, and little else.
Norway Cup coordinates 1,700 volunteers and 4,000 shifts in Rubic. During the Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim 2025, Rubic Organizer handled 2,500 volunteers and 11,000 accredited people. A weekend tournament with 30 volunteer shifts uses exactly the same setup, just smaller.
Turn it around and the schedule looks different. The volunteer wants to know three things: when, where and what. She wants to choose for herself among shifts that fit the family logistics. She wants the confirmation in one place, not in a text message she has to hunt for. And she wants to be asked next year without having to sign up first.
A shift schedule built around that fills itself. One built around the spreadsheet has to be filled by the coordinator. And the figures from the barometer point the same way: among those who were actually asked, 52 per cent said yes. Among those who were never asked, 40 per cent. The difference isn't willingness. It's the question.
How it works in Rubic Organizer
The shifts are published, with station, time and number of places. Kiosk, parking, officials' desk, match host, setup. Parents and members choose for themselves. The coordinator stops phoning around and starts filling the gaps that are actually empty.
Check-in on shift, in the app. The volunteer checks in when the shift starts, in Rubic Connect. The coordinator sees attendance as it happens, not when the kiosk has been empty for half an hour.
One screen for the whole event. Where it's full, where people are missing, who hasn't checked in. You see the gap before it becomes a problem.
Messages to the people concerned. To one station, one shift or everyone. Not to 200 people who don't need the message.
Station managers see their own area. The kiosk manager has the kiosk, without access to the rest.
Accreditation in the same system. Volunteers, teams, referees and press get QR-based accreditation controlled by role and area. Not another list to maintain.
From 30 volunteer shifts to 11,000 accredited people
That means two things. The organiser doesn't switch tools as the cup grows. And last year's structure is there for next year: the stations, the shift lengths, who usually turns up. The volunteer puzzle doesn't start from zero every season.
Rubic Organizer is used together with Rubic Arrangør, or added on top of the membership system the club already has.
Organising a cup, tournament or festival this year? Book a free demo — 30 minutes, and we'll show you the shift overview on a real event.
Rubic is part of ECIT.