Northumberland's Step into Sport Celebration
Step into Stop Celebration Winners
Former Olympic Gymnast and twice Commonwealth Gold medallist, Craig Heap, was recently guest of honour at Newcastle Race Course to help celebrate the achievements of Northumberland’s young sporting volunteers through the Step into Sport programme. Step into Sport is essentially a programme designed to engage young people aged 16-19 and encourage them to volunteer within quality community clubs in their county.
Organised and delivered by Northumberland Sport and funded by Sport England, young volunteers and club and school representatives were invited from across the county to celebrate the achievements of these young volunteers, which have helped make a real impact in their local communities in Northumberland.
Northumberland Sport chairman Steve Cram MBE and Newcastle Eagles Player Coach Fab Flournoy, both huge supporters of the Step into Sport programme sent messages of encouragement to the young volunteers at the award ceremony via a video link. Both explained how volunteers have played a key role in their own achievements and how volunteers are still the life blood for sport in Britain today. Steve also emphasised the significant part volunteers will play in delivering a successful London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games, in which some of these young volunteers may be fortunate to be selected to volunteer their support.
To help recognise just some of the magnificent achievements of these volunteers, many of which have provided in excess of 100 volunteer hours for their local clubs and to recognise the support provided by school mentors and local volunteer co-ordinators, awards were presented to them by Craig Heap.
Award Winners
Winners of these awards were Nathan May from Blyth Community College for Best Male Volunteer and Katy Metcalf from St Benet Biscop High School for Best Female Volunteer. Andy Blight the School Sport Co-ordinator for King Edward IV High School was presented with an award for Best School Mentor and Nicola Sanders from Blyth Junior Netball Club received an award for Best Volunteer Co-ordinator.
Event organiser Neville Duncan of Northumberland Sport said “Following the success of the event last year, we are delighted to have hosted this event, which recognises the tremendous success of the Step into Sport programme and the dedication, motivation and enthusiasm shown by young volunteers, clubs and School Sport Partnerships in Northumberland.
I would like to congratulate our award winners, which are all richly deserved for their efforts. Sporting Champion Craig Heap proved to be a real inspiration and hopefully will encourage these young volunteers to continue their volunteer activities, which will hopefully continue to provide the leadership and confidence skills required in later life.”
Craig Heap said, “It was terrific to be a part of such a wonderful event, which recognises the tremendous achievements of the Step into Sport scheme in Northumberland. Volunteers are so often the unsung heroes of sport, so it was great to see so many young volunteers being recognised for their outstanding achievements, which do make a significant impact at their local clubs.”
