Athletics News

Learning curve: Busy first year for Young People Forum cohort two

Learning curve: Busy first year for Young People Forum cohort two

Monday 16th December 2024

Members of the YPF cohort two meet Liz McColgan at our National Club Conference (photo by Bobby Gavin) 

Busy start for new YPF cohort

Cohort two of the Athletics Trust Scotland Young People’s Forum (ATS YPF) has been up and running now for just under a year – and what a year it has been!

The cohort is made up of 15 members representing more than 13 different clubs and six mentors from cohort one.

At the first in-person meeting in January 2024, Jedidah Ajala and Danny Convery – both members of Edinburgh AC – were voted in as joint Chairs of the group.

Similar to the first cohort, the members decided on their aims for the next two years which are:

*Retaining Young People in Sport

*Athlete Health (covering mental health, eating disorders, periods and body image)

*Inclusion

*Transition from school to university. 

It has been a busy first year, and one which has seen the young people grow and develop both as individuals and together as a team.

Meetings have been both educational fun-filled – they have included a leadership session with James Stewart and a workshop with Active Advantage: Get Set, Lead programme which encourages the young people to be creative.

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Photo by Bobby Gavin

The new cohort have also been involved in a range of volunteering opportunities:

*Members have volunteered at scottishathletics track and field events, including announcing and interviewing athletes and team managers

*Members have volunteered at Regional Sportshall Finals

*Two members attended the Scottish ClubSport YPWG Development Day taking part in round table discussions

*16 members and mentors were Kit Carriers at the World Indoors in Glasgow

*The members took part in filming short videos clips for the scottishathletics Let’s Go Run, Jump, Throw, Push initiative

*One member was involved in the launch video for the scottishathletics Let’s Go Run, Jump, Throw, Push initiative, alongside Olympic athlete, Eilidh Doyle

*Six members/mentors attended the scottishathletics National Club Conference and led on round table discussions

*The joint Chairs were invited by Kyniska Advocacy to attend the ‘Light the Night’ event held in Edinburgh

*The Home Country Athletics Federations (HCAFs) are collaborating on a project to develop a vision for the future of track and field competition and members of the Forum were invited to apply.  Four have been selected to take part.

With thanks to Francesca Snitjer…

CLICK HERE to Read the Full Original Article at Scottish Athletics…