Young Ambassadors - Youth Sport Trust

Youth Sport Trust 

Young Ambassadors 

Using the Olympic 

and Paralympic Games 

to inspire schools 

and communities 

presented by adidas


influencing adults 


arrange an ‘Olympic’ event, 

to show headteachers how 

the Olympic and Paralympic 

Values can be used to 

inspire schools. 


promoting the Values 

Embedding the Values at 

The Mountbatten School 

in Hampshire, through a 

new rewards programme. 


increasing participation 

Natalie Davies explains 

how she has encouraged 

girls to get more active. 

Young Ambassador 

profile 

What it means to be a 

Young Ambassador for 

Emma Wicklen and 

Rhys Jones. 

The Youth Sport Trust would like to thank all 

the Young Ambassadors that have provided 

the inspirational stories for this resource. 


leading the future 

Gemma McAllister and 

Rory Brown mentor new 

Gold Young Ambassadors 

to grow the movement in 

Northern Ireland. 


using Get Set 

Using the Get Set network 

to be part of the London 

2012 Olympic and 

Paralympic Games. 


inspiring the world 

Young Ambassadors at 

Park House School, West 

Berkshire, talk about their 

international links, what 

they learn from them and 

the benefits they deliver to 

their school. 


promoting the Games 


discuss their ideas for 

ensuring all young people 

share in the excitement of 

London 2012. 


working with 

communities 

Four Young Ambassadors 

pitch for and secure funding 

for a new training initiative. 


and adidas 

adidas initiatives in support 

of the Young Ambassadors 

programme. 

This publication would not have been possible without the support of: 

Miriam Luke for her hard work in gathering and writing the stories, The UK 

Young Ambassador Steering Group for their guidance, London Organising 

Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, adidas, v, Department 

for Education, Department for Culture Arts and Leisure (Northern Ireland), 

Sport Wales, sportscotland 


at their best 

In 2005, Lord Coe announced 

to the world that the London 

2012 Olympic and Paralympic 

Games would be used to 

inspire a generation of young 

people to choose sport. 

The Young Ambassador 

movement was created by 

the Youth Sport Trust in 

2006 with the support of the 

London Organising Committee 

for the Olympic Games 

(LOCOG), the British Olympic 

Foundation, Home Countries 

Governments and in 2009 

adidas became the presenting 

partner of the programme. 

Young Ambassadors have 

three roles: 

• To promote London 2012 

in their schools and 

communities 

• To use the inspiration of 

London 2012 to increase 

participation in PE and 

sport amongst their peers 

• To promote and live 

out the Olympic and 

Paralympic Values. 

It is our ambition that by the 

Opening Ceremony of the 

Olympic Games on 27 July 

2012 there will be more 

than 10,000 Young Ambassadors 

in schools across the UK. 

What follows are the amazing 

stories of young people who 

have taken the inspiration 

of London 2012 into their 

schools and communities: 

bringing the Olympic and 

Paralympic Values to life. 

Working in partnership 

adidas, official partner of the 

London 2012 Olympic and 

Paralympic Games, are proud 

to work in partnership with 

Young Ambassadors and the 

Youth Sport Trust, promoting 


Values and sharing the 

inspiration of the Games. 

As Chair of the UK Young 

Ambassador Steering Group 

for the last two years, I have 

been privileged to be at the 

heart of the development of 

the movement. 


programme is driven by 

young people both nationally 

and locally. I have seen 

first hand how we have 

the power to influence our 

friends, adults and initiate 

change in our schools and 

communities using the 

inspiration of London 2012. 


movement aims to give 

young people new and 

different opportunities and 

responsibilities. Recently I 

have seen Young Ambassadors 

make speeches at conferences, 

have meetings with Members 

of Parliament and lead other 

young people in organising 

fantastic Olympic and 

Paralympic themed events. 

I urge all those involved 

with the Young Ambassador 

movement to use London 

2012 as a chance to give 

responsibility to your young 

people. This is a once in 

a lifetime opportunity to 

inspire a generation to 

choose sport, and there are 

no better people to do that 

than other young people. 


movement is full of very 

special young people. 

I hope this publication will 

give you an insight into 

the amazing work they 

are doing. 

Debbie Foote 

Chair 

UK Young Ambassador 

Steering Group 

Young Ambassadors at their best 01


influencing 

adults 

An Evening with 


A group of new Young 

Ambassadors in Bexley 

agreed their first task 

would be to talk to their 

headteachers to inform them 

of the Young Ambassador 

role, and how the Olympic 

and Paralympic Values 

could be used across 

school. Rather than having 

individual conversations, 

they felt getting all 

headteachers in one room 

would be more powerful. 

From this, the idea of 

‘An Evening with 

Young Ambassadors’ 

was born. Platinum Young 

Ambassadors Beth Holmans 

and Olivia Blatch tell us 

what happened. 

Birth of an idea 

All the Young Ambassadors in 

our area had the wonderful 

opportunity to go to 

Weymouth to stay at the 

Olympic and Paralympic 

Sailing venue, where we 

would meet Paralympian 

John Robertson and Triple 

Olympic Gold Medallist Ben 

Ainslie and link up with a 

local school. It was inspiring 

to be sailing at an Olympic 

and Paralympic venue and 

helped us understand what 

an amazing event the London 


Games is going to be. 


planning session 

We had a planning day at 

the sailing venue, and Beth 

and I ran a session about the 


Values with the 14 Young 

Ambassadors from our area, 

where we talked about what 

we would like to do back in 

our schools. Working as a team 

we thought we would have 

more impact in persuading our 

headteachers to support our 

plans, so we came up with 

the idea of ‘An Evening with 

Young Ambassadors’. 

Invitations 

Our group organised the 

whole event. We wrote to our 

...Very inspiring and thought 

provoking, thank you and 

well done 

own headteachers and 

governors inviting them to 

the evening. We also wrote 

to every primary school 

headteacher and other 

important people in our 

borough. We recruited Steve 

Smith, Olympic high jumper, 

to be guest speaker and to 

encourage attendance. 

We all played a part 

During the evening we each 

had roles: from meeting and 

greeting guests to organising 

the IT. We opened the 

evening with an introduction 

to the key facts about the 


Games. We then explored 

the meaning of the Olympic 

and Paralympic Values and 

how these related to the whole 

school curriculum and every 

young person and adult. 

We introduced Jon Rye from 

the London 2012 Education 

Team who spoke of the 

benefits to schools of joining 

the Get Set network. Finally 

our guest speaker Steve Smith 

inspired us with a speech 

about his Olympic experiences. 

In all, seven of us stood up 

and spoke during the event. 

The impact 

By going to Weymouth we 

felt like a real team of Young 

Ambassadors and we have 

continued to work together, 

communicating regularly and 

sharing our ideas across our 

schools. We have supported 

each other at events and 

assemblies and have become 

a true team working towards 

a goal. We have all grown in 

confidence as we have seen 

the impact we can make on 

adults in our borough. Many 

more schools in our borough 

have signed up to the Get Set 

network; it has increased from 

3 schools to more than 15. 

The headteachers are much 

more aware of what Young 

Ambassadors are about and 

the benefits of the Games, 

and they are really supportive 

of what we are doing. 

Final word 

“The Young Ambassadors have taken real ownership 

of their role. They came up with the idea of 

‘An Olympic Evening’ and worked very hard to 

make the event happen, they wrote and delivered 

their speeches to a room full of headteachers, 

governors and other invited VIPs. Their 

confidence grew throughout the evening as 

they realised what a tool their knowledge 

was and how they could benefit other 

young people in their schools.” 

Jody Specht, Partnership Development 

Manager 

“I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. 

The Young Ambassadors were all so brave 

standing up and leading the evening 

– well done to them.” 

Headteacher, Normandy School 

“My congratulations and thanks for 

a superb presentation. Very inspiring 

and thought provoking, thank you 

and well done.” 

Governor, Lessness Heath 

Primary School 

02 Young Ambassadors at their best 03


increasing 

participation 

Getting Girls Active 

Natalie Davies is from 

Maesteg Comprehensive 

in Bridgend, Wales. She 

disliked sport at school 

and did no activity outside 

of school. However two 

years ago she discovered 

dance at 5x60 Club. She 

was soon hooked, dancing 

at the club every week. 

She loved it so much she 

started to help out with 

sessions. This year she has 

taken some qualifications 

and has started her own 

club, Funk Force, with 20 

young people in her local 

community. 

04 Young Ambassadors at their best 

I was selected as a Young 

Ambassador over a year ago 

because of my ‘conversion’ 

to getting active and the work 

I do in coaching dance. In 

Bridgend we have many girls 

who do no activity outside of 

school. I wanted to find out 

why, and with the support of 

my local authority we put on 

a Girls Participation event. 

I invited some great local 

role models, including 

Commonwealth Games 

swimming medallists Jazz 

Carlin, Gemma Lowe and 

Georgia Davies, who train at 

the High Performance Centre 

in Swansea. We also invited 

a group of non-participating 

Year 11 girls from my school 

and asked them why they 

dislike sport. 

We split into small groups 

and Jazz, Gemma and 

Georgia worked with the 

groups to talk about the 

benefits of being active and 

what the barriers are. The 

most common reasons were: 

feeling too shy, friends don’t 

do sport, don’t like doing 

sport with the boys, don’t 

like being competitive and 

just want to have fun. 

After the workshop we 

persuaded them to try some 

activities. We ran a gym 

session in the fitness suite 

showing them how to use the 

weights and cardio equipment. 

Finally my dance team 

performed our Olympic Flame 

dance which includes many 

different sports. Dance is a 

great thing to do with your 

friends; it’s not competitive 

and great fun. 

I was very busy throughout 

the event briefing our guests, 

introducing the event and 

speaking in front of the 

audience as well as talking to 

the camera. My organisation 

and communication skills 

have improved and I have 

really enjoyed being a Young 

Ambassador. Being a Young 

Ambassador has changed 

my life; now I have found 

something that I love doing. 

The day has raised the 

profile of the work we Young 

Ambassadors do. Sport Wales 

made a film of the day, which 

highlights the importance of 

young people inspiring other 

young people. 

Have a look at our 

film and see what fun 

you can have doing 

something to get your 

students more active



leading 

the future 

Mentoring Young 

Ambassadors 

Supporting and mentoring 

future Young Ambassadors 

is a key part of being 

a Platinum Young 

Ambassador. Gemma 

McAllister and Rory Brown 

from Antrim Grammar in 

Northern Ireland were the 

first Young Ambassadors in 

their school. This year they 

have been helping new 

Gold Young Ambassadors to 

learn from their experiences 

and to grow the Young 

Ambassador movement in 

their area. Gemma tells us 

about what they did. 

The first year as Gold 


Rory and I were really inspired 

by the amazing Olympic and 

Paralympic athletes we met 

at the Young Ambassador 

Conference, and by the 

fantastic ideas that everyone 

had. As the first ever Young 

Ambassadors at our school, 

we wanted to share the 

inspiration of the London 


Games with everyone. We 

ran school assemblies about 


Values to try and share the 

Olympic spirit that had 

captured us and try and 

spread it around our school 

community. We ran a mini 

Games for 100 primary 

school children to share 

the spirit with the younger 

generation in our local 

community and encourage 

them to choose sport. 

Mentoring the new Gold 


Before we knew it a whole year 

had passed and it was time 

to add two new recruits. 

Our choice was made easy 

as two people clearly stood 

out, to both us and our 

teacher. They both had shown 

a lot of enthusiasm for Young 

Ambassadors from the moment 

we did our first assembly and it 

was clear that they were willing 

to learn and dream big. Gayle 

McCoubrey is good at speaking 

and Ross McIvor is a very keen 

hockey player. As another year 

of Young Ambassadors started 

for me and Rory, top of our list 

was to mentor our Gold Young 

Ambassadors and pass on as 

much knowledge to them as 

we possibly could. To mentor 

and support the Gold Young 

Ambassadors, Rory and I meet 

with Gayle and Ross for an 

hour every fortnight instead of 

our learn life session at school. 

To constantly stretch our Gold 

Young Ambassadors to their 

full potential, I have coached 

and encouraged them in how 

to use PowerPoint and how to 

speak at assemblies. Rory has 

shown them what needs doing 

to organise events, such 

as filling in the paperwork. 

We catch up regularly on 

the phone in the evenings 

as we don’t often see each 

other at school. 

Learning to organise 

and speak in public 

As Young Ambassadors, 

we have developed some 

amazing skills. I never knew 

I could stand up and speak 

in front of people and Rory 

has become very good at 

organising. My public 

speaking has really helped my 

English orals scores improve 

and I recently won a Rotary 

speaking competition. I have 

realised how much I enjoy 

helping people learn and 

that I would like work in that 

area for a career when I finish 

school. I would never have 

realised this early in my life 

if it wasn’t for Young 

Ambassadors. 

Stretching ourselves 

Being a mentor has taught 

us many things including 

how to work in a team, 

how to organise meetings, 

develop our leadership skills 

and really stretch ourselves to 

do new things that we never 

thought we could do. None 

of this would be possible 

without the strong and 

continuous support we receive 

from Young Ambassadors 

and everyone involved 

within it. 

We will never forget the opportunity 

that has been given to us to be part 

of something so special 

07


inspiring 

the world 

Find out more at the BBC World 

Olympic Dreams site 

Watch a film about the visit from 

Mongolian School No. 79 

Watch a film about the Young Ambassador 

movement in South Africa 

Raising the profile of 


internationally 

Park House School, West 

Berkshire, has wholly 

embraced the London 

2012 Olympic and 

Paralympic Games. 

The Young Ambassadors 

have started some unique 

international work with 

a South African School 

in Durban. On several 

occasions, Young 

Ambassadors from West 

Berkshire have gone on 

tour to Sithengile School 

and shared their knowledge 

of sport and the Olympic 

and Paralympic Values 

to create a Young 

Ambassador movement 

in South Africa and a 

worldwide legacy for the 

future. The school is part 

of the London 2012 Get Set 

network, and because of 

their international work 

they were invited by the 

BBC to apply to take part 

in the World Olympic 

Dreams programme. 


Amy Hooper found the 

experience incredibly 

moving and inspirational. 

The World Olympic Dreams 

Programme links schools from 

all over the world that have 

had an Olympic or Paralympic 

athlete as a student, with 

schools in the UK. We 

were invited to a weekend 

conference in London where 

we met the Head Girl, 

Headteacher and Deputy 

Headteacher from Mongolian 

School No. 79. Badar Uugan, 

Olympic Champion Boxer, 

was a student at their school 

and they are very proud of him. 

The Mongolian students then 

came to stay at our school 

for four days and shared their 

culture with us. The Head Girl, 

Amara, spoke impeccable 

English although she has only 

been learning for four years. 

They took assemblies and 

visited our link primary school. 

We became very good friends 

during the visit. I have learnt 

so much about our cultural 

differences and how to 

welcome people to our 

country. I assumed they were 

much poorer than us, although 

Amara lives in a yurt she has 

a laptop and was wearing a 

Ted Baker shirt. They are very 

religious and their main sports 

are wrestling, archery and 

They have given me inspiration 

and hope for the future of sport 

in this country 

horse racing. We took them to 

Newbury Races and they were 

very surprised at the size of the 

jockeys – in Mongolia they are 

much smaller. 

It was very moving to see 

their pride in their school, their 

culture and their country – 

something perhaps we have 

lost here in the UK. The family 

unit is very important and I 

was surprised that their families 

are roughly the same size as 

ours. Amara spoke often of her 

mother who is a seamstress 

and her father who owns the 

local post office, along with her 

younger brother and sister. 

Since they have returned to 

Mongolia we have continued 

the international link. Every 

month we focus on an 

Olympic or Paralympic Value. 

This month is Friendship 

and we have run assemblies 

together using the same 

PowerPoint presentation in 

both languages. Recently we 

were invited to the Mongolian 

Embassy – we took some of 

the students from younger 

year groups for for a weblink 

with School No. 79. We were 

able to talk with them and 

I noticed Amara was wearing 

the Values friendship bracelet 

I made for her. We have 

arranged to run our next 

assembly from our school 

weblinked live to them. 

The impact of the Young 

Ambassador movement 

Michael Randall works 

with Amy as a Young 

Ambassador at Park 

House School. He wanted 

to share with all Young 

Ambassadors what he has 

learnt from being a Young 

Ambassador and the 

benefits to his school. 

What I have got out of 

the experience of being 

a Young Ambassador 

• It has enabled me to be 

a role model to other 

students of all ages and 

to pass on skills that I have 

learnt throughout my 

school life to the next 

generation. 

• I have been able to visit 

new places, meet new 

people and make new 

friends from all walks of 

life, which I may not have 

had the opportunity of 

doing had I not become 

a Young Ambassador. 

• I have met elite sportsmen 

and women that I have 

previously watched and 

admired, such as Matthew 

Pinsent, Kelly Holmes, 

David Hemery and 

the Olympians and 

Paralympians at the Young 

Ambassador conferences. 

They have given me 

inspiration and hope for 

the future of sport in this 

country. 

• I have attended conferences 

which have given me an 

insight into sport across 

the country and how 

other Young Ambassadors 

get involved. 

How it has changed me 

• I have become more 

confident when speaking 

in front of large audiences, 

eg. teachers and children. 

• It has helped me in 

situations like leading 

team-building exercises 

to maximise group 

involvement and gain 

their full potential. 

• I have become more 

focused on my goals 

especially in my athletics 

career. Witnessing 

professionals reach their 

individual goals has made 

me more determined to 

achieve that high level 

of success. 

• It has helped with my 

commitment to my 

training regime. 

• It has changed my 

attitude towards all 

aspects of life. I am now 

willing to get involved in 

those things I would not 

necessarily have done in 

the past, such as doing 

my Level 1 Coaching 

Award, or socialising with 

people from different 

walks of life to my own. 

What Park House 

School has got out of 

the experience 

• The school has gained 

links with other schools 

across the world as well 

as in this country, which 

will hopefully have a long 

lasting legacy to be 

passed down to future 

generations. 

• It has gained two role 

models for the school 

in Amy and me. 

• It is good kudos for the 

school. 

• I believe it has relieved 

some of the pressures 

from our teachers, as they 

can rely on Amy and me 

to assist them in planning 

activities for primary 

schools in our local area 

as well as to lead school 

sports teams. 




working with 

communities 

10 

Young Ambassadors and 

the Dragons’ Den 

Four Young Ambassadors 

from the Welsh Rhonnda 

Cynon Taff valleys work 

together despite not 

being at the same school. 

Adam Anzani-Jones 

and Oliver Smith work 

closely with Rhys Jones 

and Rachael Murphy, 

communicating by emails 

and text. They meet 

monthly at their local 

authority sports office 

to share out how they 

represent young people 

in their region and 

plan ideas for the rest 

of the year. They tell us 

about their experience 

of pitching for funding. 

Input to funding decisions 

Young Ambassadors in our 

area take turns to sit on 

our local area’s Community 

Chest panel. Local clubs can 

apply for small pots of funding 

for new projects. In the past, 

the panel was made up of 

more senior members of the 

community. Since we have 

sat on the panel there is more 

enthusiasm and energy and 

young people now have a 

voice in how funding is 

distributed. 

Our idea 

We then came up with the 

idea of pitching for funding 

for our own project. The 

Sports Leaders UK Convention 

was in Cardiff in November 

2010 and they were holding 

a Dragons’ Den style event. 

We had noticed that many 

young people were training 

up as Sports Leaders but then 

not using their new skills. 

Rhys has started training for 

athletics at a disability club 

but the clubs are spread out 

in our area and need more 

volunteers to help. Our idea 

was to provide disability 

training for Young Leaders 

and also to signpost them 

to these clubs and to set 

up more local accessible 

satellite clubs. 

Our own pitch for funding 

We spent several sessions 

planning our pitch, pulling 

together a PowerPoint 

presentation and practising 

our speech. Having never 

done anything like this before, 

we were given some help and 

advice by the disability officer, 

Shelley Jones, who has been 

a very helpful mentor. 

Success 

The pitch went very well to 

the ‘dragons’ and we were 

successful in securing £2,000 

to deliver the project. If you 

don’t ask you don’t get! 


promoting 

the Values 

Collecting Values Cards 

The Mountbatten School 

in Hampshire is a 

Language and Sports 

College. They had the 

idea of embedding the 


Values throughout the 

school by pupils collecting 

a series of postcards. 

Their Young Ambassador 

team, led by Felicity Shaw 

in year 10, launched the 

scheme and promoted it 

throughout the school. 

Praising the Values 

Our teachers award the 

cards to pupils when they 

demonstrate one of the 

Values. For example, if you 

show personal excellence by 

achieving a personal best in 

your work, your teacher will 

award you a postcard from 

that faculty. Each faculty in 

the school has a set of cards: 

the PE department has a 

series of great GB Olympians 

including Sir Seb Coe and 

Sir Steve Redgrave; Humanities 

has a series of Olympic and 

Paralympic host cities including 

Barcelona, Seoul and Atlanta. 

The aim is to try and collect 

the whole series of cards. 

Launching the idea 

We are a really big school 

with 1,400 pupils, so we 

organised ourselves into 

groups to work with each 

faculty and the teachers. 

We talked with the teachers 

about the scheme and how 

it works, and put up praise 

postcard displays with the 

full set of cards. We added 

the information about how 

to ‘win’ the postcards by 

demonstrating the Values 

in school. We all then ran 

assemblies to launch the 

scheme to our tutor groups. 

Determination 

We have had to work hard to 

keep the initial excitement 

going and chatting with 

teachers about making the 

awards. We have really 

improved our communication 

skills, especially by talking to 

teachers about the scheme and 

standing up and presenting in 

assemblies. We have worked 

well as a group to spread the 

message to all year groups, 

faculties and teachers, and 

we have all become much 

more confident. 

Awareness of the Values 

Our whole school now knows 

about the Olympic and 

Paralympic Values and how 

they apply to everyday life. 

Linking the Values to a 

collectable series of Olympic 

and Paralympic themed cards 

has made the process more 

exciting and fun. The Values 

are now things that are 

recognised every time a 

teacher praises a pupil by 

awarding a postcard. 

I really like the 

praise postcards 

because they 

make me feel 

like I’ve achieved 

something; 

they make me 

believe that 

I can do better 

in school 

Year 8 pupil, 

Mountbatten School, 

Hampshire 

Our whole 

school now 

knows about 

the Olympic 

and Paralympic 

Values 

Felicity Shaw, 

Young Ambassador, 

Mountbatten School, 

Hampshire 


Young Ambassador profile Young Ambassador profile 

emma 

wicklen 

Staffordshire based Young 

Ambassador Emma 

Wicklen spent a week 

on work experience for 

LOCOG in London. She 

shares with us how it came 

about, and what an eye 

opening experience it was. 

What is LOCOG? 

I was reading the December 

Young Ambassador newsletter 

and there was an invitation to 

Young Ambassadors to do some 

work experience for LOCOG. 

I was interested in work 

experience, but scarily enough, 

I hadn’t heard of LOCOG. 

I looked it up on the internet 

and found out that LOCOG 

stands for London Organising 

Committee of the Olympic 

and Paralympic Games. 

Take a chance 

I didn’t think I would be 

accepted, but I thought this 

could be a once in a lifetime 

chance, so I filled in the 

application form answering 

four questions about what 

I do as a Young Ambassador. 

In January I got a phone call 

inviting me to London for 

three days in February to 

work at the LOCOG offices 

in Canary Wharf. 

Long journey 

At 06:30 one morning I found 

myself on a train to London, 

extremely nervous and rather 

overwhelmed. Luckily I was 

joined by another Young 

Ambassador, Amy Robinson 

from Surrey. We had an 

induction meeting along with 

many other people starting 

their first day of work for 

LOCOG. We found out about 

how London 2012 wants to 

deliver a sustainable games 

and to ensure equality and 

diversity are core values. 

Grand tour 

LOCOG is huge, and spread 

over three buildings. We had 

a grand tour of all the different 

functional groups: Sport, 

Legal, Promotions, Education, 

Transport and Human 

Resources amongst many 

others. I didn’t realise there 

would be so many areas. For 

instance, Transport isn’t just 

getting athletes from the 

village to their competition. 

Transport includes arranging 

movement of sports 

equipment, whole fleets of 

cars to move VIPs and heads 

of state around, checking the 

drivers have valid licenses, 

balancing budgets: every tiny 

detail needs to be covered. 

It is so much more complex 

than I realised. 

Sport 

One of my sports is boxing 

and we were lucky enough 

to spend some time with the 

team organising the boxing 

event that will be staged in 

the North Greenwich Arena. 

Again every detail needs 

to be planned, from where 

to place the boxing ring, to 

warm up areas, coaching 

areas and the visible parade 

walkways for the athletes to 

pass through the spectators 

to the competition ring. 

Work 

From left: Emma Wicklen and Amy Robinson 

Yes, we did actually do some 

work! We helped out in the 

Education department with 

some admin jobs and checking 

all the schools on the Get Set 

network. 

Stunning buildings 

We had a tour of the Olympic 

Park. The Athletes Village is a 

building site, but you could 

see the different architecturally 

designed buildings with 

landscaped courtyards. These 

will be converted to attractive 

housing after the London 

2012 Paralympic Games 

finish in September 2012. 

We viewed the stunning 

Aquatics Centre wave and the 

impressive Olympic stadium 

where the athletics will take 

place along with the Opening 

and Closing Ceremonies. 

What did I learn? 

Finally it was time to return 

home and back to school. 

The experience took me right 

out of my comfort zone, 

but I survived and have 

grown in confidence: in fact 

my parents are sick of me 

talking about it! The things 

I have learnt have really helped 

my Young Ambassador work 

and energised our plans for 

this year. The opportunity 

has opened my eyes to 

what is possible for me: 

I am interested in studying 

law after seeing the legal 

department at LOCOG. I can 

see now how a passion for 

sport can be combined with 

a career in law. 

The experience took me right out of 

my comfort zone, but I survived and 

have grown in confidence: in fact 

my parents are sick of me talking 

about it! 

rhys jones 

...when I play sport I try to demonstrate 

Determination, Inspiration, Courage, and 

Equality in all my competitions 

Rhys Jones (in red) is a Gold Young Ambassador 

for the Welsh Rhondda Cynon-Taff valleys. 

Gavin Bennett from the local authority has 

noticed a huge change in Rhys’ confidence 

since becoming a Young Ambassador and his 

mother has commented how the programme 

has completely changed her son; he is now 

outgoing, full of energy, putting his ideas into 

practice and really enjoying his sport. 

When I was two I developed 

encephalitis which has left me 

with paralysis on the left side 

of my body and problems with 

my sight. I have always loved 

sport but lacked the confidence 

to join a mainstream sports 

club. In March 2008, a school 

friend asked me if I would be 

interested in joining a disability 

football team, the RCT Tigers. 

Playing football has inspired 

me to take up other sports: 

I have now represented Wales 

in Badminton, winning a 

silver medal at the Great Britain 

Special Olympics in the Men’s 

Doubles, and Athletics – 

winning a total of 12 medals 

for Wales. For my age group 

I am currently ranked third in 

the world for the 200m and I 

am focussing on reaching the 

Paralympic Games in 2016. 

Promoting the Paralympic 

Values is important to me, and 

when I play sport I try to 

demonstrate Determination, 

Inspiration, Courage, and 

Equality in all my competitions. 

I was selected as a Young 

Ambassador as a result of 

my sporting achievements 

and because I have tried to 

encourage other young people 

to participate in physical 

activity through sharing my 

personal experiences with 

them. In my role as a Young 

Ambassador, I have worked 

hard to raise the profile of 

disability sport and the London 

2012 Paralympic Games to 

young people in the Rhondda 

Cynon-Taff valleys. 

Being a Young Ambassador 

and playing sport has had an 

immense impact on me. I am 

now more independent and 

I have made some amazing 

friends. These are things that 

most people take for granted, 

but my sight had prevented me 

from going out on my own. 

Through the opportunities 

I have been given I have 

become more confident 

and self assured, and learnt 

many new skills that will help 

me when I enter a working 

environment. By experiencing 

both being interviewed and 

being part of a panel to find 

new Young Ambassadors I now 

understand how to prepare and 

conduct myself for interviews 

in the future. 


movement has shown me 

how effective communication 

and presentation skills can 

help me achieve my goals, 

the importance of being an 

effective team member and 

given me the opportunity to 

voice my opinion in a positive 

and constructive way. 

12 



using 

Get Set 

Teachers supporting 


Being part of the Get 

Set network is the best 

way for schools to be 

part of the London 2012 


Games. It is the direct 

link from LOCOG (the 

Organising Committee 

of the Olympic and 

Paralympic Games) to 

your school. Through 

blogging and entering 

competitions on the 

network, LOCOG can 

see what great things 

you are doing at 

your school and can 

recognise your efforts 

with rewards, such as 

access to tickets for 

the Games. 

Rosie Harris from 

Macclesfield has had 

amazing support from 

her team of Young 

Ambassadors, led 

by Zoe Perera and 

Peter Barron. With 

encouragement from 

Rosie and the Young 

Ambassadors, all the 

primary and secondary 

schools in the area 

have joined the Get 

Set network. 

On Your Marks, Get Set 

and GO 

We wanted to really make 

a difference with Young 

Ambassadors, by encouraging 

young people to get active 

and to increase participation 

across all our schools, both 

primary and secondary. We see 

it as a three year project and 

called it On Your Marks (raising 

awareness), Get Set (getting 

more involved) and GO (it’s our 

Games and we’re part of it). 

Our organising 

committee 

Our Young Ambassadors are 

central to this and we have 

a regional group that meets 

monthly and each school is 

represented. So that we 

really engage with the 

primary schools, we have 

gained the support of the 

primary headteachers and 

have also recruited primary 

school Young Ambassadors. 

Start blogging on the 

Get Set network 

Joining the network is much 

easier now. Once a school is 

registered on Get Set they 

can log on and can start 

blogging on the site. The 

blog is shared within the 

school and LOCOG can see 

what exciting things you are 

doing. We have produced a 

poster about how to blog to 

make it easier for everyone. 

We have run a training event 

on how to sign up online and 

we now have all of our schools 

on the network and blogging. 

2012 sticker packs 

To really encourage our schools 

we have produced a London 


Values Pack, which contains 

2012 stickers with all seven 

Values portrayed, as well as 

certificates and medals. We 

launched the packs in 

National School Sports Week 

and encouraged the young 

people to collect all seven 

Values stickers. The first to 

reach all seven was awarded 

a Values medal by the visiting 

Olympian at the end of the 

National School Sports Week. 

Milestone dates 

To help our Young 

Ambassadors with ideas and 

events we have produced a list 

of key dates from now until the 

Games start on 27 July 2012. 

Every highlighted day is marked 

out. For 500 days to go, we 

linked the event with Red Nose 

Day and schools could choose 

to celebrate both together. 

2012 bus 

This year we want to reach 

out to the community, and 

we have commissioned a 

bus for three days of National 

School Sports Week. We have 

invited Craig Heap and Tim 

Prendergast, both inspirational 

and successful athletes 

from the National Young 

Ambassador Conferences. 

We are going to perform the 

Young Ambassador dance 

and teach people in our town 

centre. We will also go to visit 

older people in sheltered 

housing and run presentations 

to show inspirational film clips. 

Find out more about 

the Get Set network 

We wanted to really make a 

difference with Young Ambassadors, 

by encouraging young people to get 

active and to increase participation 

across all our schools 



promoting 

the Games 

The Scottish Borders Young 

Ambassadors team work 

across the whole local 

authority. They have 

coordinated their efforts to 

ensure that young people 

of all ages experience the 

excitement of the Olympic 

and Paralympic Games. 

Some Young Ambassadors 

from the region tell us 

about what they’ve been 

doing. 

Promoting the Paralympics 

in Primary Schools 

We wanted to promote the 

Paralympic Games to raise the 

profile of the sports that are 

included. When we tried out 

the sports, we thought they 

would be good for primary 

age children and gave the 

responsibility to the adiStar 

Young Ambassadors to 

organise Paralympic festivals. 

adiStar Young Ambassadors 

from Gala Selkirk, Earlston, 

Berwickshire, Roxburghshire 

and Peebles introduced local 

primary school children to 

a range of sports including 

Boccia and Kurling and gave 

out certificates based around 


Values. 


Becky Thomson and 

Gillian Black from Kelso 

High School ran events in 

primary and secondary 

schools to promote London 

2012 in their local area. 

Primary 2012 clubs 

Becky and I wanted to get 

the children in our local 

primary schools excited 

about the Games and teach 

them about the history of 

the Games and the Values. 

We delivered courses over five 

weeks where we talked to the 

children about the Games and 

got them playing a different 

Olympic sport each week. 

We really enjoyed the 

experience of working the 

young people. I learnt a lot 

about how to keep them 

interested and the importance 

of being enthusiastic – which 

was hard work! The clubs 

were a big success and we 

are now introducing them 

into other primary schools. 

Promoting the Games 

in secondary schools 

As the Platinum Young 

Ambassadors for Kelso, 

we were asked to organise 

an inter-school event that 

would increase participation 

and promote the Olympic 

and Paralympic Values. 

The Young Ambassador programme 

has challenged us to think 

differently – we now have to lead 

and manage people, which is a 

very new experience 

We decided that hockey 

would be a good sport to 

base the event around, as it 

is popular in the local area 

and can be played in mixed 

teams. This event would 

include a number of schools, 

so it was important that 

we worked closely with our 

adiStar Young Ambassadors, 

who we asked to get a squad 

of players and set up training 

sessions in their school in 

preparation for the event. 

On the day we had over 

100 young people attend 

and we are all very proud 

of the how successful it was. 

This event has taught us a 

lot about working with other 

Young Ambassadors. As we 

are all in different schools, 

we learnt about the need to 

be clear in our expectations 

and communicating clearly. 

adidas and Young Ambassadors 

working in 

partnership 

...going to an adidas 

photo shoot 

Emily Quimby is a Platinum 

Young Ambassador with a 

huge passion for sport. She 

has organised competitions 

and events, worked in the 

local community to promote 

sport, and now mentors the 

other Young Ambassadors. 

Due to her hard work, Emily 

was invited to meet top 

athletes at an adidas photo 

shoot. 

As a reward for my Young 

Ambassador work, I was invited 

to an adidas photo shoot in 

Sheffield with athletes Jessica 

Ennis, Laura Robson, Aaron 

Cooke and Chris Tomlinson. 

It was inspirational to meet 

them and talk about their 

preparations for London 2012. 

It really made me understand 

how exciting a home Games is 

going to be for our athletes. 

I learnt a lot by going behind 

the scenes of a photo shoot: 

from how many people 

are involved, to what hard 

work interviewing is, to how 

normal ‘superstar’ athletes 

actually are. 

...naming the adidas 

Olympic football 

Kathy is a Gold Young 

Ambassador from Bexley. 

As a reward for her great 

work, adidas asked Kathy 

to sit on the adidas judging 

panel to name the official 

Olympic football for 

London 2012. 

I couldn’t believe it when I 

was asked to be part of the 

judging panel to choose the 

name for the Olympic football 

for London 2012. With more 

than 12,000 entries, I knew it 

wasn’t going to be easy 

picking a name. 

When I arrived at the adidas 

offices I was introduced to 

Paul Deighton, the Chief 

Executive of LOCOG and 

three members of the adidas 

PR team who were also on 

the judging panel. We were 

shown a presentation 

explaining how the entries 

had been shortlisted. Each 

entry included an explanation 

of why the name had been 

suggested and its significance. 

Once we had our top three 

names we had to select our 

favourite entry which proved 

to be a very difficult decision. 

After much discussion we 

finally decided on the name 

for the official London 2012 

match ball. 

Being on the judging panel 

was a fantastic experience: 

I met some brilliant people 

involved in the London 2012 


Games and it has confirmed I 

would like a career in sport. 

... starring in the adidas 

‘all in’ commercial 

Young Ambassadors from 

West London Academy 

were chosen by adidas 

for a once in a lifetime 

experience: to take part 

in the filming of the new 

adidas ‘all in’ commercial. 

The opportunity to be part of 

a very cool adidas commercial 

was an incredible experience. 

The location was not a 

glamorous hotel or an iconic 

sporting venue, but a skate 

park underneath a motorway! 

When we arrived we were 

kitted out in adidas gear. The 

other stars of the commercial 

were the UK national 

skateboarding team and the 

MC J2K from Roll Deep. As we 

are both footballers, our job 

was to show our skills with 

the ball. We spent more than 

three hours filming, and that 

was to get the 20 seconds of 

footage that would become 

the commercial.

Youth Sport Trust 

SportPark 

3 Oakwood Avenue 

Loughborough 

Leicestershire LE11 3QF 

T: 01509 226600 

Registered Charity Number: 1040320 

www.youthsporttrust.org/ya

Young Ambassadors - Youth Sport Trust

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