Members of the YPF meet Liz McColgan at our National Club Conference (photo by Bobby Gavin)
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 and Lindsay McMahon
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Young People’s Conference
Save the Date!
Following on from the success of the inaugural ATS YPF Conference in 2023, which was attended by 45 young athletes, coaches and Officials from 27 different clubs, Cohort two have started planning for the second Young People’s Conference which will be held on Saturday 8 March 2025 at the Emirates Arena, Glasgow.
To help with the planning and what workshops and focus groups will be delivered at the conference, the YPF members have produced four surveys that they would like scottishathletics members to complete:
Retaining Young People in Sport
Young people in athletics planning to go to university/college
Young people in athletics at university
These surveys are primarily aimed at athletes, coaches and Officials under the age of 23, nonetheless the YPF are keen to hear from other members of the athletics community to help direct and shape the work of the Forum as well as the Conference.
The closing date for the surveys is 5pm on Friday 20 December 2024.
We would like to thank the members and mentors of the ATS YPF for their hard work during this first year of Cohort Two and look forward to continuing to drive things forward for young people in sport in year two.
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Tags:
ATS Young People’s Forum, Eilidh Doyle, Liz McColgan, Young People’s Forum
