Hi Everyone, I’m Craig Smith and I am the new Young Person’s Sports Panel (YPSP) Administrator for four hours per week. I will be working with the YPSP to co-ordinate some of their activities, provide opportunities for the members and ensure everyone on the panel has a positive experience over the next three years. The YPSP is a great way to find out more about people with disabilities experience of sport and to encourage the voice of young people with disabilities to be recognised by the wider sporting community. The SDS panel is a key consultation group for SDS nationally and we hope to be able to influence partners across Scotland to be as inclusive as possible.
A bit about me:
I used to compete in Para Swimming until I was around 18 years old then I had a bit of a break from sport when I first went to university. I made a bit of a U-turn and decided to leave university early on to go and work for Scottish Water. At this time I also completed some coaching qualifications and started coaching part time at my local swimming club and from there I got involved with the SDS young start programme. Young start was a great way for me to build my coaching skills and reignited my passion for sport. Some of the projects I was involved with through Young Start was helping to write the Young Start application for funding and working with SAMH to build some new ideas for the Young Start programme to deliver mental health workshops which I have really enjoyed. Nowadays, I live in Glasgow and I am studying Audio Technology at Glasgow Caledonian University and work with SDS part time as the YPSP administrator. I am Looking forward to being a part of all the awesome things the panel can achieve over the next few years.