Each team leader was individually selected to join the team and went through 1-2-1 mentoring during smaller events before embarking on a senior role in the delivery of events at the London Youth Games.
Team Leaders took on roles such as
Cultural Programme: this was made up three themes (performance, art and FanFest) and offered 26 workshops to over 2,000 primary and secondary school aged children. The FanFest programme gave opportunities for young people to sample sport that wouldn't have otherwise happened, providing an entry point into regular participation in sport. The team leaders bought together these workshops and liaised with project leads to offer these opportunities.
Hospitality: this included multiple days of brunch and lunch hospitality with representatives from sport, London Boroughs and sponsors. The team leader coordinated the logistics around each day and helped to position young people through GamesForce and London Youth Games at the heart of this.
Sports Programme: team leaders worked across the site, ensuring the smooth running of competitions and ultimately a quality experience for both competitors and volunteers.
Many since gone on to get jobs because of this programme, such as:
-Badminton England, Regional Development Coordinator
-Breast Cancer Care, Sports Event Officer
-Brentford FC, Football Coach
-Limelight Sports, Project Officer
For more information on the Mayor's Sports Legacy Programme click here.
22/3/12
The Bursary provides paid and un-paid individuals working within the sports and active leisure sector with up to £2,000 to improve their skills through an innovative training programme - one which is often considered outside the scope of regular training.
Suki Kalirai, interim CEO of SkillsActive, says: “SkillsActive is committed to improving the skills of individuals working in our sector and we understand that some of the best learning opportunities take place outside the classroom – and sometimes, outside of the UK.
“The Nancy Ovens bursary is a fantastic opportunity for people to access financial support for unconventional training that will help them in their current or future roles in the sector. I’m excited to see what this year’s applicants have planned.”
Applicants are expected to create their own training experience, allowing them to develop new and improved skills, which they can then implement and use within their current or future roles in the sector.
Sport Scotland shotgun coach Iain MacGregor, 58, used his £600 bursary in 2011 to work on his trap shooting technique with his idol, former GB coach Marcello Dradi, in Italy.
Iain, whose clients include elite athletes vying for spots at the Commonwealth Games, says: “Marcello gave me the confidence to work more closely with my students on smaller details that could affect the outcome of their trap shooting, such as moving somebody’s feet a micron, or bringing their gun back in their shoulder.
“My learners are now benefitting from my time with Marcello and, if I keep improving my skills and helping elite athletes, hopefully I’ll be using his advice to train athletes as GB coach at the next Olympic Games!”
For keen rower and PHD student Natalie Campbell, a £600 grant from Nancy Ovens helped forge a working relationship with the US rowing team.
Natalie used her fund to pay for a two week trip to America last May to help with an online talent drive to find new members for US Rowing team’s adaptive rowing corps.
“After the two weeks were over I was invited to stay for a six-week training course to bring suitable candidates up to speed; an incredible honour. Three of the athletes chosen made it to the World Championships – Tony Davies, a former Navy Seal, Jaqui Kapinowski, who was already a long-distance wheelchair racer, and Trisha Downing, a competitive cyclist who was paralysed in an accident and wanted to carry on competing.
“My work finding them and then with their training led to me being invited to travel with US Rowing to the World Championships. I’m now going back to America in March to help the Paralympic team train and will hopefully be working with Team US when they come to England in the summer for the 2012 Games.
“I can’t believe what an incredible opportunity this has turned out to be for me, and it’s all thanks to the Nancy Ovens Bursary. I don’t think I could have gone without it, as a PHD student I don’t have access to that kind of money!”
The Bursary is named after the late Nancy Ovens who was a former board member of SkillsActive’s predecessor organisation SPRITO and championed the development of work-based skills in the sector.
Applications for this year’s Bursary close on 11 May 2012.
For more information and to apply online see www.skillsactive.com/nancyovens
Grace Clayton, 20, began training as a dancer at age 13 and at 18 coached two Street Cheer squads to victory in regional competitions. She has received several accolades for her work with young people, including being awarded Warwickshire Young Leader of the Year in 2010.
“I love teaching and working with kids. I find it both challenging and rewarding,” she says.
In the summer of 2010, Grace worked as a mentor on a careers awareness project for underprivileged young people in New York.
When she was invited to return in 2011, she decided to make the most of her time in the 'Big Apple', which is home to several world-class dance schools. She applied to the Nancy Ovens bursary for financial assistance to attend training at Merce Cunnigham Studios, Alvin Ailey and Broadway Dance Centre.
The bursary, which is sponsored by SkillsActive, the sector skills council for sport and active leisure, provides individuals with up to £2000 to improve their skills through an innovative training programme that is outside the scope of regular training.
Grace received £250 through the bursary and, at the end of the summer programme in 2011, spent four weeks attending a variety of dance classes, workshops and Performances in New York.
Grace says the training regularly pushed her out of her comfort zone – culminating in her leading an outdoor group yoga session for over 100 people.
“I had to step out of what I had done before and teach and mentor in new unfamiliar situations. The teachers and leaders were amazing facilitators; inspiring and pushing their students but never overpowering them. They gave me guidance and showed me lots of different ways to approach my work.”
Grace is now completing a degree in dance performance at University College Falmouth and working with children and young adults on a variety of dance based projects, which she hopes to turn into a fulltime career.
“Without the bursary, I would never have had the chance to meet these astonishing people. The experience helped me develop into a better dancer, teacher, mentor and coach.”
15/3/12
Jaspaul Vilkhu, 30 (pictured), applied for the programme, which provides up to 75% off training for London sport and leisure volunteers, after learning about the opportunity through the UK’s leading disability sports coaching company, Disability Sports Coach, where he volunteers helping deliver sports to disabled people like himself.
Jaspaul used the 75% subsidy to complete his Boccia Leaders Award. The one day course enabled him to step up his responsibilities and assist other, more qualified coaches in delivering boccia coaching sessions to players of all ages and abilities.
Jaspaul says: “I’m really honoured to be the 10,000th Londoner to qualify through the Mayor’s Sport’s Legacy Fund. I’ve played boccia for three years but I enjoy being a leader and wanted to learn how to coach the sport.
“Thanks to the training, I now feel more confident going into different settings and coaching disabled participants for Disability Sports Coach and the other organisations I work for. I love seeing the smile on people’s faces when they get involved in sport. I’d like to keep gaining new skills and, eventually, find a paid job in sports.”
Managed by SkillsActive’s National Skills Academy for Sport and Active Leisure, the Fund is part of the Mayor's plan ‘A sporting future for London’. The plan ensures Londoners benefit from a genuine grass roots sporting legacy from the 2012 Games, by encouraging more people to become active and strengthen community sport facilities.
Mayor’s Sports Legacy Fund project manager Katie Couchman says: “The Mayor’s Sports Legacy Fund has created a pathway into coaching and volunteering in amateur sport that would not otherwise be there. London communities will benefit from this programme for years to come.”
Disability Sports Coach founder Peter Ackred says: “Funding training for staff and volunteers can be a challenge, especially in the current financial climate. Thanks to Mayor’s Legacy, we’ve upskilled 30 sports coaches, which is a huge boost for us and our clients.
“Each day, we deliver sport coaching services to people with disabilities all across London, some of whom we think will have a real chance of competing at future Paralympics. Through our work, the Fund is helping deliver a legacy at grassroots and elite sporting level. We’re really proud to be associated with this fantastic project.”
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “It is spot on that these extraordinary, selfless Londoners are being recognised for their contributions through volunteering in our capital. The commitment to helping those most in need should be an example to us all. Being able to recognise the 10,000th person to qualify through the Mayor’s Sport’s Legacy Fund is a wonderful milestone. Congraulations to all who grabbed this unique opportunity for funded training and are playing their part in the Games Legacy.”
Londoners can receive up to 75% off the cost of nationally recognised qualifications in areas such as coaching and officiating, community sport, volunteering, leisure and health, in exchange for volunteering hours.
To find out more about the Mayor’s Sports Legacy Fund and the range of discounted training on offer please visit www.skillsactive.com/mayorslegacy
Iain MacGregor, 58, from Perth in Scotland, is a shotgun coach with Sport Scotland and the only active ISSF A level qualified shotgun coach in Britain. Iain is responsible for training elite athletes - including some of those vying for spots at the Commonwealth Games - in Trap, Skeet and Double Trap shooting. However, he felt he could do with more experience with trap.
“I wanted to learn from the best, and that person is [former GB coach] Marcello Dradi from Italy,” Iain says. “He’s now responsible for training the national teams from India, Malaysia, Lebanon and Thailand.”
Fortunately, Iain heard about the Nancy Ovens Bursary. Sponsored by SkillsActive and named after the late Nancy Ovens, a former SPRITO board member, the bursary provides individuals with up to £2000 to improve their skills through an innovative training programme outside the scope of regular training.
Iain’s application for £600 was successful and in July 2011 he travelled to Bologna, Italy to shadow his idol for a week. There, he watched Marcello train Olympic shooters from the nations mentioned above, learned some of Marcello’s top trap secrets, and drafted a new trap training programme.
“As a coach, Marcello is much more aggressive than me and very focussed on technical details,” Iain says.
“He showed me how moving somebody’s feet a micron, correcting their posture, or bringing their gun back in their shoulder makes all the difference when you’re dealing with Olympic level shooters.”
Iain has no doubt the experience will benefit his learners – as well as his CV.
“Marcello gave me the confidence to work more closely with my students on smaller details that could affect the outcome of their trap shooting, as well as the importance of developing their focus so they can better predict the direction of their target.
“My learners are now benefitting from my time with Marcello and, if I keep improving my skills and helping elite athletes, hopefully I’ll be using his advice to train athletes as GB coach at the next Olympic Games!”
23/2/12
The two day WorldHost customer service training is developed by NITB and People 1st, the sector skills council for hospitality, passenger transport, travel and tourism, and designed for people working in any industry where the quality of front-line customer service is key to business success.
If you are currently employed in a private organisation in Northern Ireland within the tourism sector, then the cost of WorldHost customer service package could be as little as £20. This is thanks to funding from the Department for Employment in Learning in Northern Ireland negotiated by SkillsActive Northern Ireland.
The programme includes:
The support is available to a limited number of applicants for training received until the end of March 2012.
For more information on the WorldHost programme please visit www.worldhostni.com or contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
6/2/12
As a timely boost to raising sports participation in the region ahead of London 2012, the Football League Trust (FLT) and the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) grasped the opportunities presented by SkillsActive in June last year, to benefit from the Skills Enhancement Fund.
SkillsActive is funded by Sport England to support national governing bodies of sport to deliver the workforce development commitments in their current plans, and the news represents one of the biggest regional success stories to kick start 2012.
The £50m Skills Enhancement Fund, available until June 2012, aims to engage employers in Yorkshire and Humber in skills development and increase the region’s skills base. It is co-financed through the Skills Funding Agency through the European Social Fund and Yorkshire Forward and managed by Calderdale College.
Steve Mitchell, Head of National Partnerships at SkillsActive says: “We are delighted that the funding has had such a terrific impact and developed new skills of so many individuals within the sports industry. We worked in partnership with Calderdale College to develop Coaching Tenders under the Framework Activity Route, which provides funding for qualifications that will have a direct and very significant impact in the sector.”
The FLT has now delivered almost 1,000 level one and two qualifications to approximately 500 staff in areas such as coaching, dance, disability awareness, and mental health awareness. 15 ASA staff have also gained their UKCC Level 1 Teaching Aquatics qualification and additional disability CPD modules, providing the participants with disability specific knowledge.
Angus Martin, The Football Leisure Trust’s Regional Community Manager for Yorkshire & the North East explains: “There was, and still is, a gap for our staff and volunteers to pick up new and additional qualifications due to the growing variety of work that our 72 community schemes get involved with across health, education, sports participation, social inclusion and the environment.
“The funding allowed us to offer an excellent range of CPD to our staff that wouldn’t otherwise have been possible. We would probably only have been able to deliver a tenth of the CPD on our own, so the funding has been a huge boost for us.”
Vicky Norman, ASA Aquatic Officer for the North East says: “Disability specific knowledge is crucial in learn-to-swim programmes to help integrate disabled children into mainstream schemes. These teachers will now have some insight into the needs and requirements of disabled people within a learn to swim setting.”
Clive Howarth, Head of Relationships at the Skills Funding Agency in Yorkshire and Humber, says: “This unique initiative, not available in any other English region, is designed to support skills training that isn’t usually funded, and to allow more individuals who wouldn’t normally get the chance to learn new skills and to achieve recognised qualifications. In the UK’s Olympic year the level of interest in sport has increased significantly and the Skills Funding Agency is delighted to have been able to help turn this interest into qualifications.”
Emily navigated her way unaided through the French Pyrenees and achieved her Gold Duke of Edinburgh award thanks to funding from the Nancy Ovens bursary. Read more
University student Grace Clayton complimented her summer teaching dance in the USA with a month of classes in New York. The bursary enabled her to learn from some of the most respected dance teachers in the business. Read more
Leading Scottish shotgun coach Iain is one step closer to his dream of coaching the GB team thanks to a rare training opportunity funded by the Nancy Ovens bursary. Read more
Scottish community and elite netball coach Kelda Rawlings secured the opportunity to attend the netball World Championships in Singapore in 2011. She used the bursary to access the coaching elite due to attend the event and learn lessons which can be applied back in to Scottish netball.
Natalie established the University of East London Boat Club, which serves high level athletes and coaches, and implemented a novice Learn to Row programme. Natalie has secured a fantastic opportunity to work within the U.S rowing set up. The bursary will contribute to her activities this summer which include the rowing World Cup and U23 Championships. Read more
Stephanie is a PHD student conducting research into the biomarkers of healthy ageing. Combining her studies with her love of Kata (a discipline of Karate) Stephanie used the bursary to travel to Japan to shadow one of the world’s top instructors. Read more
SkillsActive can help you discover how many of your staff could access funding through apprenticeships. We can offer employers a simple online form, designed to enable you to identify who in your organisation can receive funding for undertaking a qualification and helping you save £1000s on staff training.
Funded training options may cover training for roles such as Fitness Instructor, Coach or Outdoor Activity Leader, with the flexibility to include additional skills such as customer service, business administration and leading teams.
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