Young Advisors are experienced volunteers who are actively involved with a community organisation in the StreetGames network. For StreetGames Summer Camp 2022, a team of 14 Young Advisors worked with StreetGames staff to take a lead on all aspects of the camp, from initial planning right through to the delivery of the event itself.
Harry is 21 and is currently studying for a degree in Sports Business & Coaching in Manchester. Having previously volunteered as a football coach at a local primary school in his hometown of York, he is now a volunteer coach with Manchester Young Community Champions, a local not-for-profit organisation that supports young people’s development through a variety of sports programmes. Harry gets “a kick out of teaching”, and particularly enjoys seeing young participants growing in confidence through sports. He has also learned how to support participants displaying challenging behaviour and finds it rewarding to help them resolve and overcome this.
Harry found out about the opportunity to become a Young Advisor at Summer Camp through the project leader at Manchester Young Community Champions and was immediately keen to be involved: “It was a different opportunity – it’s not something I’ve ever done before, 24/7 on a residential, so it’s a challenge, but I love that!”
Harry described his main role at Summer Camp as “mingling to make sure everyone was ok and happy”, as well as helping with a range of activities, and practical tasks such as coordinating lunches. His favourite moment came when helping on one of the outdoor activities on site, the fan descender: “One of the young people was petrified and up there for about 15 minutes – we helped him down, but encouraged him to go up a second time and he did it with a big smile on his face, each time going up an extra two steps”. He has also taken away learning to implement in his community volunteering role, including “the importance of energizers to get everyone up and involved.”
As a result of his Summer Camp experience, Harry is keen to work for StreetGames or a similar organisation in the future, and is proud of his time as a Young Advisor: “Being able to say I’ve been a part of StreetGames and the Commonwealth Games – I probably won’t get another opportunity like that!”
