The Gold Young Ambassadors for Wrexham are Maciej Szukala from West Cheshire College and Vikki Courtman from Yale College.
Gold YA Maciej Szukala won the Junior Volunteer Award at the County's Annual Sports Awards held on Friday 19th November while 2 recently recruited adiStar YA's were also nominated.
Maciej, along with his fellow Gold YA Vikki Courtman presented to the 300 audience on what the Young Ambassador movement is all about and what the broad plans are for Wrexham.
16 adiStar YA's were also recognised at the awards and the following weeks will see the Gold YA's, adiStar YA's and the LA meeting to discuss their action plan for the year.
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The adiStars Young Ambassador induction day took place in April 2011 and was organised and led by Maciej and Vikki and was supported by the Mayor and Mayoress of Wrexham and Anna Jackson, a former member of Team GB Wheelchair Basketball team from the Sydney 2000 Games.
The Gold Young Ambassadors introduced the role of an Ambassador to the adiStars, held a quiz to increase knowledge of the Olympics and Paralympics and facilitated a session where the adiStars came up with ideas to take back to their schools.
The Gold Young Ambassador for Conwy is Arthur Jones from Ysgol Bryn Elian. Since the YA conference in Cardiff, Arthur has continued with his role as a leader within his school and the community.
The next step for Arthur is to meet with the Conwy Youth Council, to discuss how Arthur can work alongside them on one of their Core Aims, 'Inclusion in Sports, Leisure and Play'.
Arthur will also be meeting with PE departments in secondary schools who are not currently involved with the YA programme, to try and encourage them to get on board with YA!
The Gold Young Ambassadors for Anglesey are Sophie Roberts and Stuart Jeffries from Ysgol David Hughes and Leon Jones from Ysgol Syr Thomas Jones.
AdiStars Young Ambassador training
11 Adistar Young Ambassadors attended the Adistar training which was delivered by the 3 Gold Young Ambassadors on Anglesey on December 14th. The Adistar Young Ambassadors attended a 2 hour workshop and were made aware of the Olympic and Paralympic values and the importance of their role in promoting sport in their schools and local community. They were also given the opportunity to share their own ideas on how they already promote sport in their local schools.
Former weightlifter Ray Williams from Holyhead attended the evening as a guest speaker to inspire the Young Ambassadors. Ray is a former weightlifting Commonwealth Champion winning Gold in the featherweight class at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. These individuals will now play a key role in promoting sport in their schools and help to inspire and raise awareness and benefits of sport to their friends using the power of London 2012.
Young Ambassadors assist with swimming festival
Gold Young Ambassadors Sophie and Stuart recently assisted with the Snap, Crackle and Flop Swimming Festival at Bangor Swimming Pool where they offered encouragement and motivation for participants. The inclusive swimming festival for main stream disability school pupils took place at the end of November, and participants attended from schools all over North Wales. In addition, the YA's assisted local and national officials on the day through providing participants with information and offering a helping hand when pupils moved from one activity to the next. All Gold and Silver Young Ambassadors from Anglesey will continue to assist with festivals during 2011.
Scott Edwards and Megan Bolam from Ysgol Brynhyfryd are the Gold Young Ambassadors for Denbighshire and have been inspiring Year 7, 8 and 9 pupils to embrace the Olympic and Paralympic Values. They have:
Sam Parry from Holywell High School, Carys Williams from Hawarden High School and Lucy Byrne from Argoed High School are the current Gold Young Ambassadors for Flintshire who have also been supported by Steve Thomas a pilot Platinum Young Ambassador who attends Glyndwr University.
Together the Young Ambassadors are planning their own Flintshire Torch Relay that will visit every school in the County and inspire young people and their schools to embrace the power of London 2012. Schools that want to take part in the relay will have to sign up to the Get Set Network and to National School Sport Week.
Sam demonstrated excellence by winning the Volunteer of the Year Award at the County's Sports Awards while Carys is hoping her experience as a Young Ambassador will help her get a volunteer position at the 2012 Canoe event in London.
The Gold Young Ambassadors for Pembrokeshire are Lucy Griffiths from Milford Haven School and Haydon Mathias from Ysgol Y Preseli.
The Gold YA's are taking the lead role in the Media 4 Schools filming which is showcasing PESS, 5x60, Dragon Sport and Sport Development initiatives.
The Gold YA's will also be recognised for their selection as YA's at Pembrokeshire's Annual Sports Awards on November 26th.
The Gold Young Ambassadors for Swansea are former Gowerton Comprehensive School pupil Lewys Simmons and current pupils Corey Thomas from Birchgrove Comprehensive School, Ainsley Richards from Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr and Thomas Francis from Gowerton Comprehensive School.
Since the conference in October Lewys, Corey, Ainsley and Thomas have worked with the Active Swansea team to put on their first adiStars Young Ambassadors Induction session. The session was held at the Civic Centre on Friday 26th November between 4pm and 6pm and was attended by 32 adiStars Young Ambassadors from all secondary schools in Swansea.
The session was led by the Gold YA's who inspired the adiStars by informing them of the Young Ambassador Movement and what the role is all about. They also highlighted the links to London 2012 and how the games and the resources like Get Set and adiStars can be used to inspire their friends to participate in sport.
At the annual Active Swansea Sports Awards on Friday 3rd December 2010 the four Gold YA's presented to over 400 people on what the Young Ambassador Movement is all about and how they plan to inspire young people in Swansea to participate in sport.
The adiStars Young Ambassadors were also present at the Awards and volunteered their time to the Active Swansea team by undertaking a variety of roles including meeting and greeting guests and handing out awards. All of Swansea's Young Ambassadors were invited on stage to receive a slate plaque from the Local Authority which recognised their selection as Young Ambassadors.
Swansea Young Ambassadors
The Gold Young Ambassadors for Carmarthen are Hope Russell from Queen Elizabeth High School, Emyr Jones from Ysgol Tregib and Stuart White from Ysgol Dyffryn Taf.
The adiStars training day was held in December and since then the YA's across Carmarthenshire have:
Carwen Richards from Lampeter Comprehensive School and Danielle Pryce from Ysgol Gyfun Penweddig are Ceredigion's Gold Young Ambassadors and along with support from the Active Young People team led their adiStars Young Ambassadors induction event in December 2010.
The Young Ambassador team in Ceredigion have set up a Facebook page so they can all share their ideas of what they've been up to in inspiring their friends to participate in sport and raising the awareness of London 2012. The group now meet on a regular basis to share their ideas and discuss how they can promote physical activity and London 2012.
The Gold Young Ambassadors have encouraged all secondary schools in the County to sign up to the Get Set Network so they can take advantage of the resources, competitions and prizes that are on offer.
Following an article in the Young Ambassador Newsletter Carwen successfully applied for a 3 day work experience opportunity at the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG). The work experience will take place in London during Carwen's Easter break and you can find out more by clicking here.
The Gold Young Ambassadors for Caerphilly are former Cwmcarn Comprehensive School pupil Abbey Gutteridge and current pupils Darryl Holdcroft from St Martin's Comprehensive School and Ffion Jones from Rhymney High School.
Gold YA's Abbey Gutteridge and Darryl Holdcroft helped run a workshop on Young Ambassadors and London 2012 at the 2010 Partnership Leaders Conference held at Sport Wales National Centre.
Abbey was also asked to present the lifetime achievement award to Betty Gray from Swansea at the 2010 Coach of the Year Awards on November 24th.
Abbey, Darryl and Ffion Jones are also taking lead roles at the Sports Leaders UK Employment Convention being held on Thursday November 26th.
The adiStars Young Ambassador induction event took place at the end of March 2011 at the Cardiff City Stadium and was led by the Gold Young Ambassadors. The adiStars were inspired with a tour of the stadium and a Q&A session with Paralympic sprinter John McFall and Commonwealth Games middle distance runner James Thie. They also came up with ideas on how to use London 2012 to inspire their schools to become more active.
The Gold Young Ambassadors for the Vale of Glamorgan are Will Thomas from Cowbridge Comprehensive School and Jessica Richards from Llantwit Major Comprehensive School.
In addition to the Gold Young Ambassadors, secondary schools across the Vale of Glamorgan have appointed a further 12 adiStar Young Ambassadors to act as role models and use the power of London 2012 to inspire more young people to participate in sport.
As part of a LAPA funded project the Young Ambassadors have received further training, mentoring and volunteering opportunities from the Council to help develop their skills.
Between September and December 2010 the Young Ambassadors in the Vale have:
Vale teens chosen as sporting ambassadors to inspire others in run up to London 2012 Olympics
The Gold Young Ambassadors for Bridgend are Natalie Davies from Maesteg Comprehensive School, Kieran Joynson from Ynysawdre Comprehensive School and Jamie Evans a former Brynteg Comprehensive School pupil.
Commonwealth Games swimming medallists Jazz Carlin, Georgia Davies and Gemma Lowe attended Maesteg School to try and encourage girls to participate more in sport. Natalie welcomed the swimmers to the school and introduced them to a group of school girls who don't participate in any sport outside of their PE lessons.
Natalie then facilitated a Q&A session between the swimmers and the school girls and then a workshop where the school girls identified the barriers they face in participating in sport. The event was covered by BBC Wales and ITV and a video of the event can be found by clicking here.
The Gold Young Ambassadors have also supported several events relating to the 'Follow the Flame' legacy project by inspiring younger pupils across the borough to live by the Olympic and Paralympic values and to participate in sport.
To view a video of Natalie explaining what she has done since becoming a Gold YA click here.
Cardiff's Gold Young Ambassadors are Holly Morris and Ali Amir from Cardiff High School, Nathan Williams and Steph Harris from Whitchurch High School and Lyn Seehaswith from Fitzalan High School.
The adiStar training day took place in November 2010 at the Village Hotel for 20 young people from 10 schools across the city. The adiStars Young Ambassadors learnt about their role as Young Ambassadors and came up with ideas to raise awareness of London 2012 and increase participation in their schools. Dawn Mitchell, fresh back from Delhi where she represented Wales in hockey provided an inspirational speech for the adiStars Young Ambassadors.
Holly is Wales's representative on the UK Young Ambassador Steering Group and has made several trips to London to meet with the group to discuss the future direction of Young Ambassadors in the UK. On her last visit the group met MP Tim Lawton to discuss the state of school sport and had a tour of the House of Lords.
At Whitchurch High School the Gold and adiStars Young Ambassadors have helped out at recent gymnastic and hockey festivals for younger pupils where they have taught them the Olympic and Paralympic Values.
At Fitzalan High School the Young Ambassadors have embraced the spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and are working on a project to encourage more KS4 pupils, and especially girls to become more physically active.
The adiStars induction day took place in April 2011 and was organised and delivered solely by the Gold Young Ambassadors Ollie Smith and Adam Anzani-Jones from Cardinal Newman School, Rachel Murphy from Mountain Ash Comprehensive School and Rhys Jones from St John the Baptist Church in Wales School.
The induction day included an ice breaker, an Olympic and Paralympic Quiz, a chance to action plan ideas for using the power of London 2012 across RCT and a number of team building events to encourage friendship amongst the group.
The Gold Young Ambassadors have successfully bid for funding via a Dragon's Den style pitch to set up a project where the adiStars and other young Sports Leaders will have the opportunity to attend the Disability Inclusion Training. Following training the adiStars and Sports Leaders will be deployed into community clubs to assist with inclusive delivery.
The Gold Young Ambassadors have been invited to deliver a lunchtime session at Sport Wales to demonstrate how young people can help get Every Child Hooked on Sport for Life.
Rhys Jones is also demonstrating excellence in his sporting career and is hoping to represent Team GB in the sprint events at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
Anglesey and Gwynedd The Gold YA's from both LA's have met to discuss plans for their role. The adiStar launch evening is scheduled for December 14th and the Gold YA's are also helping out at the Disability Swimming Event on the November 29th.
Blaenau Gwent The Gold YA's played an important role in the running of Blaenau Gwent's Sports Leaders event held during October half term. The YA's opened the conference, facilitated a debate with an adult panel. On November 25th the Gold YA's were involved in the Sports Leaders UK Employment Conference held at Spot Wales National Centre and took part in facilitating the event which was attended by 150 Community Sports Leaders and adults from organisations like General Electric, CO-OP, the Urdd, Cardiff City FC and Street Games.
Caerphilly Gold YA's Abbey Gutteridge and Darryl Holdcroft helped run a workshop on Young Ambassadors and London 2012 at the 2010 Partnership Leaders Conference held at Sport Wales National Centre. Abbey was also asked to present the lifetime achievement award to Betty Gray from Swansea at the 2010 Coach of the Year Awards on November 24th. Abbey, Darryl and Ffion Jones are also taking lead roles at the Sports Leaders UK Employment Convention being held on Thursday November 26th.
Cardiff Gold YA Holly Morris who is Wales' representative on the UK Steering Group is attending the next meeting in December being held at Youth Sport Trust's head office in Loughborough. On November 1st Cardiff held an induction event for 20 adiStar YA's and their 5x60 officers. Dawn Mitchell, Wales Commonwealth Games Hockey player provided an inspirational talk while cabinet members supported the event.
Ceredigion AdiStars training day is scheduled for Tuesday 2nd December in Aberaeron and will be delivered by the Gold YA's and the 5x60 team. Following the training day it is hoped that a Facebook page for Ceredigion's YA's will be set up, YA display boards will be placed in all 7 secondary schools and the YA's will start delivering assemblies to spread the YA message. Looking to the future they hope to promote the adiStars website and create 'Voice 4 Sport' forum's in each school.
Flintshire The Gold YA's have met and planned their activities for adiStar YA's. The county are deciding whether to pilot a Platinum YA with one of their volunteers who will mentor the Gold and adiStar YA's.
Pembrokeshire The Gold YA's are taking the lead role in the Media 4 Schools filming which is showcasing PESS, 5x60, Dragon Sport and Sport Development initiatives. The Gold YA's will also be recognised for their selection as YA's at Pembrokeshire's Annual Sports Awards on November 26th.
Swansea The adiStar YA's have been selected in all secondary schools by the 5x60 officers and will attend their induction day on November 26th. The Gold and adiStars YA's will also be involved and recognised in the County's Annual Sports Awards being held on Friday 3rd December.
Wrexham Gold YA Maciej Szukala won the Junior Volunteer Award at the County's Annual Sports Awards held on Friday 19th November while 2 recently recruited adiStar YA's were also nominated. Maciej, along with his fellow Gold YA Vikki Courtman presented to the 300 audience on what the Young Ambassador movement is all about and what the broad plans are for Wrexham. 16 adiStar YA's were also recognised at the awards and the following weeks will see the Gold YA's, adiStar YA's and the LA meeting to discuss their action plan for the year.