The Swim England North West (SENW) Young Volunteer Award (YVA) is designed to provide young people, between the ages of 14 and 17 the opportunity to develop the necessary knowledge, skills and experience to prepare them as Volunteers within Aquatic Sport.  The Award has been designed to suit young people from any Aquatic Discipline, (Swimming, Water Polo, Synchronised Swimming and Diving).

Due to the current pandemic, the YVA has now been moved to an online format.

Young Volunteers (YV) must be available to attend the following 3 dates and will then have 12 months from the final session to complete the course (the course must be completed prior to the YV’s 18th Birthday). Failure to attend all 3 workshops, will mean that the Young Volunteer Award will be unable to be completed.

The Award aims to:

• Provide young individuals with an overview of the different volunteering pathways; coaching/teaching, events and officiating
• Provide information about the different roles which volunteers undertake to continue the development of aquatic sports
• Support and develop transferable skills, which can be used to enhance education and future job applications
• Provide young individuals with volunteering experience which can be evidenced and utilised in conjunction with The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

The YVA is comprised of a number of workshops and modules:

• Pre Course Knowledge and Introduction into Swim England and Swim England North West.
• Online Workshops:
  • Introduction
  • Skills for Volunteering in Aquatics
  • Volunteering in Aquatics
• Evidence – submitted on Google Classrooms
  • Introduction into Officiating
  • Shadowing Volunteers and Coaches
  • Mindsets
• Online Activities – submitted on Google Classrooms
  • Introduction into the Swim England Club Awards
  • Written Activity – ‘Which Volunteer Role I would like to do and Why’
  • Written Activity – ‘Aquatic Sport and why Volunteers are Important’
• Post Course Knowledge of Volunteering

SENW have been recognised by The DofE as a (DofE) centre which means that as an organisation we are able to offer the Volunteering, Physical and Skills sections of the DofE Awards.  Any person wishing to complete their DofE Awards will need to find another centre that can offer the Expedition Section of their Award.

Many students are fortunate enough to be able to take part in The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award via their Secondary School, however others may not be in a position to take part due to their school not participating.  There is a way you can still take part in this exciting opportunity, please contact SENW Regional Office for further information This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Criteria:

• Young Volunteers must be a minimum of 14 years of age on the day of the first Zoom session.
• Individuals must have completed the award before their 18th birthday.

Course requirements are:

• Young Volunteers MUST be available for all 3 dates of the online workshops.
• All work must be completed within 12 months post 3 Workshop Dates (i.e. 13th December 2021)
• Young Volunteers MUST inform their club they are taking part in the YVA
• Parent/Guardian AND Child email addresses must be provided in order to ensure course information is received and actioned where required

The award will use Google Classrooms – please ensure you have a gmail email address to access this.

Important Information:

Parent/Athlete Guidance Document

Code of Conduct

SENW Terms and Conditions

By signing up to this Young Volunteer Award, parents are giving consent for their child to be on Zoom sessions and also provide evidence via Google Classrooms.

To secure your place on the online workshops, you will need to provide your information and make payment.

There are currently three courses available, but they get full very quickly, you can use the links below for sign-up for for more information:-

Young Volunteers will be required to commit to 2 online sessions, and then complete all online work within 12 months.

November 2021 - click here to book your place

March 2022 - click here to book you place