Keeping the volunteering flame burning - Sue Maughan

In our final Olympic blog, before we ratchet up the excitemnt levels for the Paralympic Games, Sport Wales Senior Officer, Sue Maughan, recounts her highlights as a Games Maker official for athletics at the Olympics. 

  

Sue (centre) at Olympic Park with fellow sport Wales Games
Makers Rich Dando and Claire Knowles

The Olympic flame may have been extinguished, but the passion and fire for sport thankfully lives on… you can feel it in the air and we need to make that feeling last. We who work in sport have a responsibility to make sure this happens.

Personally I’ve been extremely privileged to have played a role in what was from an athletics point of view, officially recorded as the Best Olympics ever (I have the emails from the IAAF and LOCOG’s Athletics  team to prove it). 

I’m sure the same can be said of the Games as a whole. It was two weeks of my life which gave me amazing experiences and memories that I will cherish for ever.

At our first field event briefing meeting the field referee recounted his personal account of his affinity with the Olympics and the challenges he personally faced to be there, bringing a tear to the eyes of even the most hard hearted person in the room…and that’s the power of sport. 

We laughed, we cheered, we cried. We heard stories of personal battles to achieve amazing things. We saw genuine talent on show and wherever you walked in the park you saw happy, smiling people, living every minute, loving every minute, soaking it in and enjoying! If only we could bottle this up and sell it!

I’ve been asked what was my highlight of the Games, but  just one is impossible to pin down, so here’s a selection.

Sue officiating at the discus inside the Olympic Stadium

• Having the privilege of walking into the stadium everyday and then play a part in someone achieving their lifetime dream s and goals.
• Standing in the middle of the discus sector trying to concentrate whilst Jess Ennis runs her 200m and the wall of sound follows her around the stadium.
• That sound...Turning from a cheer to a roar which almost hits you on the back of the neck when you’re in the centre of the arena.
• Witnessing that 100m men’s final.
• Seeing close hand what success meant to the German Discus thrower winning gold…he was the one who ripped his shirt open and then jumped the hurdles!
• The crowd doing the YMCA before the men’s decathlon Pole Vault got underway…and what a competition that was!
• Watching the closing ceremony.
• I could go on and on...

The 220 track and field National Technical Officials

Away from the frontline athletics there were also the experiences of the workforce of volunteers who made the event happen. Just from a track and field point of view there were over 220 National Technical Officials required to put the event on. The camaraderie amongst us all was something else that will stay with me – the atmosphere in the hotel bar on Super Saturday was ‘bouncing!’ 

Volunteers are vital to make sport happen and hopefully the Olympics will not only inspire future generations of champions but encourage others to get involved behind the scenes. 

As I said in my first blog, I never imagined my involvement as an athletics official would result in me being part of the greatest show on earth.  But fortunately my journey isn’t over yet as next week sees me returning to officiate at the Paralympics…my bag is packed and ready to go. I can’t wait!

Celebrate the volunteers and coaches who keep community sport alive in your area by nominating your local heroes today for one of our Coach of the Year awards.

Keep track of all our Welsh athletes at London 2012 and follow @sport_wales on Twitter for all the latest news. Remember to use the #2012cymruwales hash tag!

Back the background team by Paul Thorburn

Welsh ruby legend Paul Thorburn kicked Wales to their best ever finish in the Rugby World Cup.

He kicked the conversion for Wales when they pipped Australia 22-21 to take third place at the 1987 tournament, and now the Sport Wales Board Member is calling for the public to recognise the importance of coaches and volunteers to Welsh sport.

What a summer of sport we have had so far. And there is more to come, not least with the Paralympic Games now upon us.

One of the things that struck me during the Olympics was how often during their media interviews the athletes spoke so positively to recognise their coaching and support staff. And even their parents and people close to them who had helped them reach their dream of competing at the Games.

Looking back on my own career, I think all my coaches played a fundamental role in my development.

Having good quality coaching and support in the early stages of development is important for any youngster. I had my parents who encouraged me, particularly my dad who played rugby.

I am full of admiration for the people who give their time to volunteer in sport. Volunteers and coaches are key to the continued success of Welsh sport.

On that very note, I hope the public can help recognise and celebrate the people in their communities who help drive participation and success in Wales.

In my role as Board Member at Sport Wales, we are on the lookout for the nation’s sporting heroes – the coaches and volunteers at the heart of what we do.

Nominations for our annual Sport Wales Coach of the Year Awards are now open to the public. Until 21^st September, we are asking for people to nominate coaches or volunteers who really make a difference to individuals, clubs or groups involved in sport.

There are a number of different categories for nominations covering grassroots sport, young leaders and volunteers, to those invovled in elite sport.

This is the public’s chance to show their appreciation for the people who put in hours and hours of work across Wales.

I would urge people to take some time to nominate their local hero.

For a nomination form visit www.sportwales.org.uk/coachoftheyear or phone 0845 045 0904.

Yours in Sport.

Paul Thorburn

Sport Wales Board Member

"Where's the Talking?!" - Part II

Last January, Football Clichés detailed ten of the most mindless Sunday league phrases heard week-in-week-out in public parks up and down the country. Attempting to cash in on Inspired by today's prolifically trending #sundayleagueshouts, here's ten more Sunday league trademarks for the 2012/13 season...

1) "Who's got tape?"

The gold-dust of amateur football, despite being available in any hardware shop. As the sole provider of tape, once you declare and dispense it, you will never see it again.

2) Injury Prevention

The warm-up routine of the typical Sunday league team is a complex one, drawing on the game's modern obsession with sports science:

- Jog from one touchline to the other
- Run back again - knees up at the front
- And again - heels up at the back
- And again, "picking it up a little bit"
- Sprint to the line, having left around 70% of the team by the wayside

The substitutes, should your team be fortunate enough to have any, are spared this tedium. They have the important task of firing the ball at the goalkeeper from the six-yard line as part of his carefully-tailored warm-up programme.

3) "Ref! Ref!! How long?"

Usually asked by an overexcited player from the leading team, with surprising desperation. Whatever the answer, the player will always add about 10% on before relaying the revised figure to his teammates. 

4) "Watch the short!"

It is considered a cardinal sin to let an opposing Sunday league team pass a goal-kick out to a full-back. Precisely what sort of devastating attack an average Sunday league team are expected to be capable of, deep in their own half, with the ball at the feet of statistically the least capable player in their ranks, is anyone's guess.

Traditional goal-kicks, thumped aimlessly as far down the pitch as possible, aren't often the task of the goalkeeper. As the designated goal-kick taker for my side, I can confirm that fetching the ball in preparation for this moment is one of the more soul-destroying aspects of life at around 11am on every Sunday between September and May.

5) "They're fighting amongst themselves!"
An extension of "All day! All day!" from Part One, this is the ultimate psychological blow you can land on the opponents, so gleefully is it delivered. 

6) "One of you!"
When a Sunday league midfield is so often instructed to "get a [insert team's shirt colour] head on this", you often witness an unsightly clash of [insert team's shirt colour]-clad bodies as they attempt to perform their primary duty. It is left to a team-mate to helpfully point out that only one of them was required on the scene.

7) How to Insult a Sunday League Opponent - a 3-Step Guide

The Respect campaign is yet to trickle down the grassroots, it seems. Sunday league pitches can be horrible places, as devoid of joy as they are of any real wit. With that in mind, it seems pertinent to document the standard procedure for unpleasantries. When angry adversaries clash, the following hierarchy of verbals should ensue:

1. Appearance - Latch on to anything you legally can. Having ginger hair or (in my case) no hair puts one at a significant disadvantage here. Should you be on the receiving end of this, though, my advice is to act genuinely horrified and heartbroken - no-one's prepared for that.
2. Presumed social status - neither big, nor clever, but this is barrel-scraping territory.
3. Footballing ability - Surprisingly, the last bastion of offence in any on-pitch exchange. A simple "you're shit" often seems to suffice.

8) How to Befriend a Sunday League Opponent - a 2-Step Guide

Amid the snarling testosterone-toting, the hand of friendship can still be extended. Exchanging cheerful words with your opposite number can seem a little odd, and the moment is fleeting, usually because of the sheer banality:

Ask them "how they're doing in the league" - an answer he is unlikely to be able to accurately provide, which is fortunate since you don't actually care.

Ask them if that's their regular goalkeeper - Often squarely to blame for all eleven goals that have sailed past him, the goalkeeper is a worthy spectacle to discuss with his striker. Sharing in his resigned despair at a floundering teammate is a tenuous kinship, which borders on patronising.

9) "Don't let it bounce!"

A rare example of a phenomenon that afflicts a Premier League side just as much as it does your Sunday league rabble. Letting the ball bounce, especially there, is (like raising your hands to an opponent) traditionally asking for trouble.

10) "See it out!" vs "Leave it!"
The former is perfectly acceptable, the latter an absurd taboo. Physical and verbal abuse is dished out in spades but no-one's ever conceded a free-kick for shouting "L**ve it!" after the age of about thirteen. 

Thanks to Twitter for providing the occasional few #sundayleagueshouts that weren't about being "pissed from the night before" and which helped compile this.

Making volunteering 'cool' again - Richard Dando

The dust has barely settled on a memorable London 2012 Olympics and already excitement is building for the Paralympic Games. Much deserved praise has been heaped on the army of volunteers who are so instrumental in making the Games run so seamlessly.

One such person is Sport Wales Senior Officer, Richard Dando, who was chosen as a Games Maker official with the Event Services team based at the Olympic Stadium. Here he sums up his experience of pitching in at the Olympics.

The Olympics may have ended and the Paralympics may be about to start but the experiences and memories I have of being a Games Maker will live on for a long time.

Following the opening ceremony I had ten days before my next Games Maker shift at the Olympic Stadium so I managed to cram in a few days in my ‘real job’ at Sport Wales and some of the free sporting events like the cycling road race, the cycling time trials and watching Wales’ triathlon champ Helen Jenkins. 



The atmosphere wherever you went was incredible.

The Olympic Stadium: Richard's 'office' during the Games

Sunday 5 August soon came around and a run of six shifts in seven days was about to begin, the fact it coincided with the men’s 100m final only added to the excitement! 

The Stadium Events Services team role was to ‘host’ spectators visiting the stadium by answering their questions, pointing them in the right direction, checking their tickets, directing them to their seats, taking pictures for them and directing them to Stratford station when it was time to go home. 

It might not have been the most glamorous of roles but I enjoyed meeting spectators, athletes and coaches from all over the world and making sure that however trivial the role seemed, I had helped to make their London 2012 experience an enjoyable one. 

Each night I had a different role, with new people, in a different part of the stadium which provided too many highlights and memories to write about them all in a blog!

My final shift was Saturday 11 August and I was back on pushchair and wheelchair storage duties where it all started three weeks previous! It had its perks; I was on the 100m start line so when all pushchairs and wheelchairs were safely stored I was in the perfect position to cheer Mo Farah down the home straight in the 5000m and watch Johan Blake hand the baton to Usain Bolt in the 4x100m relay!

I was lucky, I had a Games Maker role in a sporting venue so I combined volunteering with watching some of the sporting action. Many more thousands of Games Makers were not so lucky and were positioned in the Olympic Park or on transport links or behind desks and didn’t see any sport. 

To me these were the ‘star’ Games Makers as their spirits didn’t dampen as they revelled in their roles knowing they were contributing to the positive image of the Games.

Perks of the job: Watching Mo Farah win his second gold

Most of us working in sport know that community sport doesn’t happen without volunteers. After the glowing publicity across the world around the contributions of the Games Makers to London 2012, a lot more people are aware that sport, even on the grandest scale doesn’t happen without volunteers. 

How do we capture this enthusiasm for volunteering in our local communities alongside the increase in sports participation that we are all hoping will take place? 

Games Makers has become a well-known brand for sports volunteering and has made volunteering ‘cool’ again! Should we continue with this brand in community sport? 

Games Makers have been made to feel part of the Olympics, whether that’s a thank you email, a pin badge for every shift turned up for, positive media coverage, a pat on the back, a personal thanks – they are all things that can be implemented in community sport to value the contribution of the volunteers to ensure they come back again.



Every other Games Maker or member of the public that asked me what I did for a living outside the ‘Olympic bubble’ responded with; ‘that sounds interesting,' ‘lucky you’ or ‘are there any jobs going?’ when I explained I worked for Sport Wales and that we want to get ‘Every Child hooked on Sport for Life.' 

So yes, I did have the Olympic blues coming back into work but knowing I was coming into work to help partners harness the impact of London 2012 in their local communities made it a whole lot easier!

Celebrate the volunteers and coaches who keep community sport alive in your area by nominating your local heroes today for one of our Coach of the Year awards.

Keep track of all our Welsh athletes at London 2012 and follow @sport_wales on Twitter for all the latest news. Remember to use the #2012cymruwales hash tag!

Sport and Schools together by Laura McAllister

With much tal of sport at school, Chair of Sport Wales Professor Laura McAllister talks about the importance of school sport and the work with the education sector.

Professor Laura McAllister, Chair of Sport Wales;

“Working with education on the important role of schools to sport in Wales has been high on our agenda for some time.

“I cannot overestimate the importance of education – it is absolutely crucial if Wales is to witness a significant increase in the numbers of young people playing sport. Schools play a fundamental role in developing and sustaining a child’s love of sport.

“Of course, education is a devolved responsibility in Wales and we have had ongoing discussions with the Welsh Government over how we can create a generation that is hooked on sport for life.

“Along with my colleagues, I have spoken regularly with Welsh Government Ministers with responsibility for sport and education, and I am very encouraged by their views towards sport in school.

“The Education Minister has even gone on record to talk about his commitment for physical literacy to be as important a developmental skill as reading and writing. This is reflected in the Programme for Government and a new task group has been set up to look at the continued development of this work.

“It is important that young people can develop the skills to take part in sport from a very young age and we see our role as supporting this alongside schools, clubs and community leisure venues.

“We have developed vital resources such as Play to Learn, designed to improve physical development and creative movement skills for 3-7 year olds.

“In September, we will be launching a new variation of our Primary School-aged Dragon Sport programme (to Dragon Multi-Skills and Sport) to focus on embedding basic skills - such as agility, balance and co-ordination – that give the essential building blocks, before moving on to playing a specific sport. We want the lasting legacy of these Games to be a generation of children and young people with the competence, confidence and motivation to participate in sport. This will not happen overnight, but through working together with our partners we believe that all children can reap the benefits that participating in sport brings.

“In secondary school, the 5x60 project is in place to complement curricular sport and PE.

“Looking specifically at schools, we see some excellent work being carried out in gyms and on playing fields across the country. But this is often happening in pockets and we must be sure that high quality is the norm and that good practice is shared across the board.

“We need to see every child accessing two hours of high quality PE every week. This needs to be supported by at least three hours of extracurricular or community sport.

“I believe the most important factor in all of this is that of the headteacher. Those that embrace the importance of vibrant school sport and are passionate about it place sport high on the agenda. They ensure that opportunities, designed by the pupils that meet their needs, are provided and that they link with the community and local clubs.

“This must be coupled with teachers who are trained and supported to provide engaging PE sessions within our schools. Sport Wales is a firm believer that greater priority should be given to the training of teachers in this area so that they are up-skilled and confident in the delivery of physical education. 

“We need to be ensuring that pupils are engaged with their sporting experience at schools, utilising Young Ambassadors to inspire and support their peers. Young Ambassadors can be at the top of a whole school workforce. Sports leaders and young people delivering activity really motivates their peers, giving them this responsibility is a win-win for us all here development in employment skills and us in having motivating volunteers.

“Last year we undertook the largest survey of school children in Wales. There were some pleasing results, including the sheer number of primary school pupils involved in school sport. But there are challenges as well, including addressing a drop-off by girls when they get into their teens and ensuring that pupils have a voice in their provision.

 “How we package sport will be important because we know that many young people love the competitive nature, where some are motivated by more participatory activities. We need to be able to cater for the demand.

“There are also the opportunities through technology, which some schools have been leading the way in using, and the increasing popularity of different versions of sports and new emerging activities – like futsal - that we must all take advantage of.”

New This Week!

Wales and the Water by Robert James

Robert James is Chief Executive of Swim Wales and a Board Member of British Swimming.

Here he talks through Welsh performances in the Olympic pool and his hopes for the future.

Once again, the Olympic swimming has produced one of the toughest competitions of the Games. We have seen a mix of established stars, and some remarkable young talent, pick up medals and it is clear that swimming is at a standard above what we have seen in the past.

Make no mistake, this British Swimming squad was strong and it was a battle for our five Welsh swimmers to win a place to swim in London.

And I was encouraged by the performances we have seen.

Jemma Lowe finished sixth in the 200m butterfly final - an event in which she finished ninth in Beijing in 2008. Jemma is a gutsy performer who is proving consistent on the World stage.

Georgia Davies produced a personal best morning swim and qualified sixth fastest overall in the heats in the 100m backstroke. In the semi-final, after putting so much effort into the heats, she was unable to replicate the time and make the final. It was Georgia’s first Olympics and she will benefit greatly from the experience. Her heat time showed the improvements she is making as she looks towards future meets.

Ieuan Lloyd, just 19 and also at his first Olympics, swam the fastest leg for the British 4x200m relay team when they finished their final in sixth place.

Marco Loughran is another who has got valuable Games experience as we look at how we can improve on our four medals won in Delhi when the Commonwealth Game comes to Glasgow in 2014.

And finally David Davies. David is one of Wales’ greatest ever Olympians and has been mixing with the World’s best distance swimmers throughout his career.  A third Olympic medal was just a bridge too far, but we all appreciate the work and dedication he has put in and it was an honour to watch him swim at a home Games in London.

Now the major focus for us at Swim Wales is preparing and planning for Glasgow in two years’ time. In Delhi we were Team Wales’ most decorated sport and we want to win medals again. Everyone is back at the beginning of September and we’re straight into the hard work again.

The swimmers mentioned above will have big hopes after their London 2012 experience.

There are also swimmers like Jazz Carlin, a double medallist in Delhi, who has fought hard with illness recently and just missed out on a place in London, who will be looking to peak again in Scotland.

We have some great young talent coming through.

At the Commonwealth Youth Games last year we won nine swimming medals, including a big haul for Ieuan Lloyd that highlighted his growing potential. We also have a strong young men’s relay squad who took gold.

Fifteen year-old Chloe Tutton recently won two medals at the European Junior Championships in Belgium.

The structure for identifying talent is growing all the time. We recently had 4,000 entries for our Summer Nationals – our highest ever.

Away from the elite level, we are working hard on all other aspects of swimming in Wales.

We know that positive experiences at an early age through school swimming or at a local swimming pool will encourage young people to want to swim more.

With our partners we are working hard on new resources, technology and marketing to make swimming and learn-to-swim a consistent model across Wales.

Currently around 63% of children in Wales can swim by the age of 11, just under 11,000 swimmers are a member of a swimming club and just under 4 million social participation swims take place in the country each year.

But we want every child to be a swimmer by 2020, 100,000 aquatic members by 2020, and 6.5 million social participation swims by 2014.

It’s all about trying to engage better and make swimming as fun and appealing as possible. As a governing body we have to use things like technology and keep up with social and cultural trends. A new online tool for young people and families to chart their learn-to-swim progress is one thing on the horizon.

Currently there are around 80 swimming clubs in Wales with 65 being development clubs for competition, and other forms aquatics such as water polo, while for the more gifted swimmers Swim Wales has 10 performance clubs working to maximise potential at Commonwealth or Olympic level.

It’s our job to make sure that those opportunities are available to all young people in Wales. We want clubs to work together with local authorities and private providers so that those different stages are available for young swimmers to move along.

I’m looking forward to seeing how our Paralympic swimmers perform in just a few weeks’ time. They have won medals in the past and we now have a chance to cement our reputation in disability swimming. We will talk more about disability swimming developments in the coming weeks.

See the new Swim Wales website www.swimwales.org