Congratulations to the Swim England North East Region Youth Forum who have scooped the Swim England 2021 Inspirational Youth Champion Award which recognises those who champion the voice of young people under the age of 25 within aquatics, have clear passion for the sport and made a volunteering commitment or advocacy through campaigning, fundraising and committee work.Â
The forums Chairperson, Faye Rogers, together with Jack Naylor Dunn and Jay Manners, who are both part of the leadership group, attended the virtual ceremony which was hosted by former Olympic medallist, British Diver and BBC commentator Leon Taylor.
The award recognises the achievements of the forum over the past year which has helped to ensure that the voice of young adults can be expressed, represented to key individuals, committees and board members and have an influence on decisions being made. The group has achieved the following outcomes in the past 12 months:
- Attracted applications from representatives of those disciplines without any representation.
- Produced and agreed a terms of reference.
- Individually put themselves forward to take on specific roles by going through a presentation and voting process for chairperson and leadership positions. They were very expressive and creative in terms of how they did this either in person or via a video recording.
- Met on a regular basis as a forum and additionally in separate working groups.
- Learnt how to operate as a committee.
- Influenced the delivery of a Young Volunteer Development programme in terms of the module content, subject priorities, volunteer expectations/commitment and rewards.
- Gained financial support from the region to support the young volunteer development programme.
- Shared their experiences of lockdown, what they have learnt from the experience and the positives that they can take away to help make them a better person. They have produced a high quality short video which has been shared widely which represents the view points from different aquatic disciplines.
- Considered how they can raise their profile with other young people from the region, the region’s board and the Swim England national youth group.
- Identified two further projects that they will focus on in the coming months:
- Recording short videos to share what it’s like to train and be part of the different aquatic disciplines.
- Offer some training and opportunities to help better educate and understand what it’s like to participate in the sport with a physical, mental or visual impairment or learning difficulty.
The group have demonstrated great commitment to the sport and adaptability to the challenges which the pandemic has presented by remaining so positively engaged in a productive manner and being such positive role models for others to aspire to be like.
The full list of the the youth forum members are:
Orla      Cassidy               Halifax Synchronised Swimming Club
Zoe       Clark                   Durham City Swimming Club
Isobel   Coe                     Middlesbrough Amateur Swimming Club
Scarlet  Garland               Halifax Synchronised Swimming & City of Leeds Synchronised Swimming
Sarah    Craig                   City of Sheffield Water Polo
Caitlin  Crambrook         City of Sunderland
Jay        Manners             Derwentside
Lewis    Maxwell              Derwentside
Anna     Morris                Loftus
Jack      Naylor Dunn      Scarborough
Matthew Pomfrey          Sunderland Diving
Zoe       Price                   Gateshead & Wickham
Ben       Rogers               Richmond Dales
Faye      Rogers               Richmond Dales
If you are interested in being involved with the forum please email swimnortheast@swimming.org
