New Lead the Way group for young people

Over the last few months Scottish Hockey’s Domestic Game Team has been recruiting leaders from across our member clubs to take part in the second year of the Lead the Way programme.  Interest from younger applicants continues to be high with eight applicants, aged between 14 and 23, successfully applying to be part of the 2020-21 cohort.

As a result of this, and given the number of young people applying last year, an opportunity arose for Scottish Hockey to bring the young people from 2019-20 and 2020-21 groups together (initially in a social distanced way over zoom!).

The idea is to provide a more bespoke leadership offer, which could better cater for their needs while also providing Scottish Hockey with key insights on subjects that affect our youth membership.

The group of 12 was initially brought together after the main Lead the Way induction in Sept to briefly discuss the proposal, which also allowed two guest speakers from sportscotland’s Young Person’s Sport Panel (YPSP) to inspire the group through discussion about their own journey as part of a nationwide youth leadership programme.

The group were clearly enthused by the passion with which the YPSPs spoke, which led to a follow up meeting which took place last Friday.

The main focus of the meeting was to get opinions on how Scottish Hockey can increase the appeal of the sport to young people, whilst also sharing examples of how the sport has the potential to change lives – particularly given the current Covid-19 environment.

Discussions ranged from sharing kit programmes to mental health initiatives and inclusive / Flyers hockey, and it was great to hear the group engage with each other and talk with such enthusiasm across such a diverse range of topics.

We are looking to continue these positive discussions with a further meeting before the end of the year, allowing the group to set and drive the agenda and have full responsibility for developing projects within Scottish Hockey that are important to them. The group will continue to engage with the main Lead the Way programme, but will also be able to access other networking and training opportunities to support their leadership journey whilst also potentially adding qualifications to their CVs.

Exciting times ahead!

If you would like more information about the Youth Lead the Way group, please get in touch with Mark Pain or Susie Walker.

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