European Athletics is pleased to announce the launch of the full version of its Young Leaders Community website www.athleticscommunity.org.
The free-to-join social network aims to promote volunteer work and help community members make friends, develop their skills and make contributions to athletics and their local communities.
A beta version of the site introduced in July 2010 has been upgraded to make it possible for members to get valuable recognition from European Athletics for the time and effort they contribute to the sport.
The new feature added today allows community members to register volunteer hours worked and have these count against bronze, silver and gold recognition certificates from European Athletics, which can be used as support for applications for jobs or places in higher education.
Organisations working in the sport, including major events, athletics meetings, road races and clubs, can become community partners and offer their volunteers the ability to count hours towards the European Athletics recognition.
The first group of partners includes all 50 European Athletics Member Federations and the local organising committees of forthcoming European Athletics events.
European Athletics President Hansjörg Wirz said, “We believe the European Athletics Young Leaders Community and the new features on the website offer real value to both young people looking to develop their skills and make friends through our sport and to the events, clubs and schools that work with volunteers.”
More about the European Athletics Young Leaders Community
The aim of the Young Leaders Community is to use modern communications and social network tools to encourage activity that helps promote athletics and prepare the sports next generation of leaders.
The main forms of activity are volunteer work for organisations in the sport (clubs, events, schools, etc.) and projects designed and implemented by members with support from the community’s partners.
Recognition
All European Athletics Young Leaders Community members are able register the hours they work for the sport, either as a volunteer or working on their own projects. As hours are collected they will be shown on the member's personal profile page and they will count for recognition diplomas presented by European Athletics and UNESCO.
Join now
Do you volunteer for a club or a race or an athletics meeting or some other way related to the sport? Then you will want to join the community, register your hours and get recognised. It could help you in your academic or professional career.
Are you a leader of an organisation or event that uses volunteers for work related to athletics? Then you will want to join the community and sign up your organisations as a partner so that those who give their time for your activities can get valuable recognition.
To join, simply go to www.athleticscommunity.org.