Scottish Rugby help launch search for Young peoples sport panel

Nasi Manu and Andries Strauss from Edinburgh Rugby joined members of the Young people’s sport panel to launch the application process for the third panel, which opened on Monday 25th January. Scottish Rugby supports the YPSP, led by sportscotland in partnership with Young Scot, which is currently in its second two-year cycle and has made great strides in ensuring the voice of young people is part of the sporting conversation across Scotland.Rugby is joining a growing number of sports from across Scotland in setting up their own panel, following the trail blazed by the Young people’s sport panel (YPSP) in giving young people a voice to shape the future of Scottish sport. Colin Thomson, Scottish Rugby’s Head of Schools & Youth Rugby said: “The success of the Young people’s sport panel highlights just how important it is to make young people part of the process for the development of the game.They are the next generation that will take sport forward and are full of inspiration when it comes to the future of the game. In rugby, we have followed a similar model and put plans in place to introduce our own young people’s panel to help develop our game.”Rachel Law (pictured left), who is a regular rugby player with Penicuik Rugby Club, set up and runs the local School Sports Council and sits on the Penicuik Sport Hub as the Young People’s Representative.As part of the YPSP, Rachel has been heavily involved in the implementation of the School Sport Awards in her area.Launched nationally in 2014, Rachel and the rest of the panel were instrumental in the roll out of the programme, working closely with the Active School Coordinators and PE Lead Officers in their local areas.The current panel members, who are between 14 and 25 years old, were selected back in June 2014 from more than 200 applicants from across the country.Stewart Harris, Chief Executive of sportscotland said: “It has been a great experience working with the Young people’s sport panel. Their contributions have played an important role in shaping many of our national initiatives including the School Sport Awards.The panel’s work as ambassadors at a local level to represent young people and implement many of the policies has been really important. We are working with the decision makers of the future, giving sport in Scotland a solid foundation from which to success.Since the panel was formed in 2012, members have contributed to building a world class sporting system by attending sportscotland board meetings and contributing to national policy discussions.They have met influential politicians including the then Cabinet Secretary for the Commonwealth Games and Sport, Shona Robison MSP, and they’ve presented to national delegations, including the National Sports Development Conference in Glasgow. The panel also helped shape the Scottish Government’s Youth Sport Strategy, ‘Giving Children and Young People a Sporting Chance’, which was published in 2014.The Young people’s sport panel is now recruiting for the next set of panel members. There will be a month to apply with applications closing on the 22nd February 2016. There will then be interviews in March and May before the first panel meeting on 24th June.