The Power of Youth
Friday update time, and with Chris Lomax MBE enjoying the World Cup in the Big Apple, it's all down to me this week.
As human beings we are hard wired to contribute to the world around us, working together for the benefit of all. Whilst it's well understood that without purpose our health can suffer terribly, modern society seems to have engineered out opportunities to roll our sleeves up and do actual things.
I was lucky enough to spend last Sunday in the company of the wonderful Ivo Gormley OBE, whose GoodGym organisation addresses exactly this issue as they provide people the opportunity to come together and be active, whilst also carrying out important community tasks. It's a fantastic movement that we can all learn huge amounts from when it comes to building positive and health societies.
Us humans are also hard wired to conserve energy and find the easiest path to getting things done. Thousands of years ago (and still today in some communities around the world) we had to work hard every day just to stay alive, and although that would have had a huge benefits in terms of community cohesion and overall physical and mental health, it also came with many challenges around discomfort, danger, and food scarcity.
Today, thankfully, most of us exist in relatively safe and comfortable environments, but without the immediate need to get-out-and-do-things we stay-in-and-don't-do-things. And that's a problem.
Well, community sport can make a contribution here!
When we started Woodhouse Moor parkrun back in 2007, one of our primary motivations we getting our Leeds University students engaged with their community, in a meaningful way and by doing real things. It was a great success, and 19 years later still is.
And one of the biggest learnings for us at the time, was that if you give young people the opportunity to contribute to their community they will. And not only will they do a fantastic job which benefits those around them, they will also benefit greatly themselves. A win win situation, with little cost, no downsides, and massive upsides.
Which takes me to this week's photo.
A couple of weeks ago, Aston (my eleven-year-old son) had a football tournament on the Sunday with his grassroots club, Harrogate Railway. There were also matches on the Saturday, and so we went along to volunteer, with him directing cars into the car park, and me charging them a fiver. We spent 90 minutes working as a team, with him taking on a pretty responsible role and managing several hundred adults as they arrived at the venue. He did brilliantly, really enjoyed it, contributed to his community and spent the rest of the day being thanked by parents and told how impressed they were.
We need to engineer in opportunities to get involved in the world around us, to contribute to society, and to experience a sense of purpose and value.
It really is the answer to so many of the challenges we face today, and it really isn't that hard.
Have a great weekend ☀️
