2021 was undoubtedly a fantastic year for the Access Sport Youth Board. Despite the continued challenges for community sport surrounding Covid-19, the Youth Board recognised this and provided valuable feedback and ideas to support Access Sport across its Programmes.

 

March

At the start of 2021, new members Eniola, Ruby (Vice-Chair) and Dren (Chair) joined the Board. The Board now comprises of 9 members who are each passionate about sport and physical activity, sharing and creating new ideas to support the charity’s deliver. You can find out more about the Board on the Youth Board homepage.

 

August

As the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics took place, the group recognised and appreciated how important it was to see different groups inspired by the variety of sports on show and keeping active. Discussions also included how to support D/deaf and disabled people to return to activity following the pandemic and sharing different ways to engage these groups.

 

September

In September, the Youth Board attended a British Cycling workshop to explore the existing barriers preventing young people from cycling. The Board shared different ideas to engage young people and discussed methods to increase the use of bicycles. Examples included marketing campaigns and increased grassroots provision of cycling competitions.

The Youth Board’s Chair, Dren also attended Access Sport’s Cycling Influencer Dinner and shared the Youth Board’s vision and current projects with various attendees.

(l-r) Dren, Michael Pusey MBE, Greg Searle MBE, Charlotte Worthington MBE, Kye Whyte, Tre Whyte

Looking ahead for 2022

The Youth Board have a variety of initiatives that they’re excited to plan and share for the next year. The Board are feeding in to Access Sport’s Volunteering Inclusion work with a focus on supporting underrepresented groups and young leaders to volunteer. After attending a workshop with Boing Kids, the Board are excited to explore how this course can support more D/deaf and disabled young leaders.

The Board are also sharing their expertise in social media and how Access Sport can continue to engage with different audiences and highlight their work. This includes a ‘meet the team’ feature, a Q&A with the Youth Board and a ‘day in the life of a volunteer’.  

The Board are also looking forward to recommending new sports to engage community clubs with and are very excited to be taking part in a fundraising campaign to empower more young people to participate in different activities to raise money for Access Sport.

The Youth Board are certainly excited for the year ahead and look forward to continuing to support Access Sport!

Written by: Dren and Ruby, Access Sport Youth Board Chair and Vice Chair