Volunteering with the Brownlee Foundation

It’s great to be able to make the case for the impact and potential of community sport to make societies even better and as a way to bridge communities, as we did at this week’s UK Government Sport Diplomacy Working Group, but it never beats actually experiencing it, being part of it and helping in some way to deliver it.T

hank you very much to the The Brownlee Foundation for offering Tom Williams and me the chance to volunteer at one of their events in Hull week. It was brilliant to help 1,000 primary school kids experience triathlon, including children that had never been in a pool before or couldn’t / haven’t ridden bikes. It was also lovely to see how kids from different schools cheered each other on, how the youth leaders grew into their roles over the day and generally how the kids came away just that little bit bigger in terms of self-belief and pride.

Talking about community sport impact, Tim Holtam from the Brighton Table Tennis Club was this week’s guest on Track Radio to discuss the impact of table tennis in and around Brighton and how it can save the world (check out his Ted Talk). Definitely worth a listen if you’re interested in community sport for diplomacy. If you’re near Brighton on Monday 25 May, check out the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange from 2pm – 7pm where there will be open access tables, young DJs, refreshments and great music to bring Brighton Festival to a close. Plus Guinness World Records will be there as a few table tennis world records will hopefully be smashed!

Finally, thank you as ever for all the amazing conversations, insights and support this week including Harriet Hoffler at the University of Oxford, Julie Smith at the Netball Development Trust, colleagues at the FCDO Women and Girls’ Team, and Louise James.