Power of Support
This week we were back at the UK Government hosted Sport Diplomacy Working Group. It was brilliant to hear that community sport organisations and foundations are being recognised for their huge impact within the UK and that there is appetite to explore mutually reinforcing partnerships with them and communities around the world. We’re excited to help develop this into a strategy, and then help to translate those words into practical, sustainable programmes and projects.
With that in mind, thank you to Peter Mackreth, the Dean of Carnegie School Of Sport at Leeds Beckett University and to his colleagues Dr James Musgrave and Dr Jo Clarke for their time on Monday to think creatively and ambitiously about what those practical next steps could look like, including how we might support each other into 2026 and beyond.
Tom Williams and I came away from Leeds Beckett University with that recuring feeling of support and encouragement that has buoyed us since we started working together in January. I hope (and think!) we have been able to reciprocate where we can.
With that in mind, special thanks as well this week to Louise James, Managing Director at Accenture Development Partnerships, and to Philip French for their time and insights into how to grow our organisation. And to Julie Smith at the Netball Development Trust for talking me through how netball can help girls and boys learn how to lead, to communicate, and to stay healthy including learning about menstruation, consent, gender equality, and more.
On a final personal note, when I took a break from the FCDO to work with Tom Williams, I had a hunch that working with him and with other brilliant people like him, we could find or create opportunities around the world for communities to come together through sport and physical activity. Nearly a year into that journey, the support and encouragement from so many incredible people who know how to crack on and do incredible things, has reassured me more than ever that the hunch wasn’t too crazy. It’s such an inspiring feeling to be part of a community that is actively wanting and able to make the world an even better place, one community sport step at a time.
