Last year Josh & Nathan completed the Sports Leaders UK Level One Course. As part of this they also participated in a Youth Sport Trust leadership initiative called ‘Step into Sport’. The Youth Sport Trust is the UK’s leading charity improving every young person’s education and development through sport and play.

Step into Sport targets 11 – 19-year-olds by providing a simple framework of co-ordinated opportunities at a local level, to enable young people to begin and sustain an involvement in leadership and volunteering in sport.

The principles of Step into Sport are to develop leadership through sport and leadership in sport with the overall aims of the programme being to drive.

• ‘Personal change’ in young people by supporting the development of inter-personal skills, self-confidence, and a sense of responsibility; and
• ‘Structural change’ through our work with key agencies to offer broader opportunities for young people to make a formal and valued contribution to the delivery of sport

This year they have been chosen to be the Swindon & Wiltshire Young Athlete Role Models, which means they will attend this year’s Step into Sports days. They will also get the chance to speak to the new cohort of trainee leaders about their experiences. Former Paralympian Kate Ager joined them at Fairfield to help plan their session. Kate is a Paralympic swimmer and has represented Great Britain for a decade. She has competed at European Championships, World Championships and the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. They discussed their leadership journey, what they had found difficult and how they had over-come their challenges.