5th October 2007
This year’s Young Ambassador Conferences drew to a close on Friday as the remaining 200 new recruits were inspired and challenged by Olympic and Paralympian greats at White Hart Lane stadium, home of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.
Over the past three weeks at six specially arranged conferences, nearly 1,000 young people and 13 Olympic and Paralympic champions, including athletics legends Dame Kelly Holmes and Darren Campbell have united to champion sport and celebrate London’s hosting of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in 2012.
The youngsters aged 14-18, some of the country’s most talented young athletes, leaders and volunteers, have been selected for the second year of the Young Ambassador programme. The programme is managed by the Youth Sport Trust on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Children, Schools and Families, which where represented at Tottenham by Kevin Brennan MP, Parliamentary Secretary of State for Children and Families.
Each year until 2012, School Sport Partnerships across England will recruit two young people to take on the role of Young Ambassador for two years. In their first year, they work in their local communities championing sport and the ethos and values of the Olympic and Paralympic movement. In the second year they take on a mentoring role with the new Young Ambassador intake.
Friday’s conference at Tottenham saw eight Olympic and Paralympic champions, who hold 47 World, European and Commonwealth medals between them, work with the new Young Ambassadors to help them become more aware of not only what the Olympic and Paralympic games stand for but how they could best communicate these ideals in their own communities.
Oliver Thompson, 17, from Chessington Sports College, who is embarking on his second year as a Young Ambassador joined Darren Campbell and Sue Campbell, Chair of the Youth Sport Trust, and Kevin Brennan MP, on stage to open Friday’s conference. Since Oliver joined the programme last year he has travelled to Malaysia and organised a sports festival for 300 local children.
Steve Grainger, Chief Executive of the Youth Sport Trust, said: “Who better to help us build on the excitement ahead of London 2012 then our next generation of talented athletes and future leaders and volunteers in sport. These Young Ambassadors will be able to use their passion, enthusiasm and commitment to sport to help motivate their friends and colleagues to seize the opportunities presented by the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. They will become role models to other young people and promote the benefits of sport and a healthy lifestyle.”