Colleagues across Welsh sport are being invited to join a working group being formed to help shape the next decade of the Young Ambassadors programme.
Members of the working group will be tasked with ensuring that the programme continues to evolve and empowers young people through sport. The group will consider recommendations that have been made following a recent review and will set new priorities for the next ten years.
The Young Ambassadors programme was initiated by Lord Seb Coe in 2006 as a legacy of the successful bid to host the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was first introduced in Wales in 2010, with funding and support provided by Sport Wales in collaboration with the Youth Sport Trust.
More than 25,000 young role models have taken part in the programme over the last 12 years, gaining valuable leadership skills, while thousands more have been inspired by them to participate in sport or start volunteering.
Last winter, Sport Wales appointed consultants ngatahi sport to conduct the first external review of the programme. The findings of the review, which can be found here, pick out numerous successes and strengths, such as the long-term commitment and consistency of the programme, the way in which it provides young people with a voice, and also praises the pathway of progression which sees Young Ambassadors have additional developmental opportunities as they get older.
The review also highlights some challenges which members of the working group will need to consider. For example, while further efforts need to be made to recruit young people to the programme generally, there should be a particular focus on increasing the representation of young people from more diverse backgrounds. The Young Ambassador programme also needs to increase its strategic influence and profile across Welsh Government and partner organisations.
Although there have been some cases of local authorities coming together to share learning, good practice and resources, it was also reported that this was becoming a rare event and that more opportunities to bring partners together should be explored. It is hoped that the formation of Sport Partnerships will play a key role in this.
Shaping the future of the Young Ambassadors programme
Explaining more about the review, Stephen DeAbreu, Sport Wales’ People Development Officer, said: “Since the programme’s inception, it has been one of the leading initiatives in providing young people with a voice in sport and the empowerment to influence the opportunities they and their peers receive. We’ve seen wonderful work being done by partners across Wales to develop young role models who have championed the positive values of sport.
“A decade on from the London 2012 Games felt like the opportune time to reflect on the many significant successes of this legacy project but also to shift our attention to the next 10 years of opportunities for youth voice and youth leadership throughout sport in Wales.
“We feel the time is right to reignite the Young Ambassador programme as young people are facing many new challenges in the changing landscape of sport and physical activity in Wales. We want to ensure that the Young Ambassador offer is open to all young people and delivers an experience which contributes to a lifelong enjoyment of sport and physical activity.
“I’d like to thank everyone who gave their views to ngatahi to help them conduct their review and look forward to the formation of the new working group to drive the programme forward.”
If you’d like to express your interest in being part of the new working group, please email [javascript protected email address] by Friday 10 June.