A teenager has become the 100th young person in Denbighshire, to be awarded an MV50 Sport Certificate. Sixteen year old Connor O'Rourke of Prestatyn is a tennis coach at Prestatyn
Tennis Club, and has earned the certificate for completing 50 hours of volunteering in a
sporting environment. At a special presentation event at Prestatyn Tennis Club, Connor was
presented his certificate by Mr Peter Drew the Chief Executive of Tennis Wales, Matt
Hilliker from Denbighshire County Council, and Gerry Frobisher from Denbighshire Voluntary Services.
Gerry Frobisher, Denbighshire Voluntary Services Council's volunteer development officer
said
‘The Millennium Volunteer scheme encourages and supports young people from 14 years of age up to the age of 25, and certificates are awarded when 50, 100 and 200 hours of volunteering have been reached. In October 2010, the MV50 Sport certificate was
introduced by Gwirvol (administrated by WCVA) and spent a lot of work bringing the partnership between Sport Wales, Sports Leaders UK, and Street Games and together with LOCOG approval after the London 2012 Olympics, and recognises the commitment to volunteering made by young people through sport. Up to the end of September 2012, 300 MV50 Sport Certificates had been awarded throughout Wales, one hundred of which being in Denbighshire alone.’
Matt Hilliker, volunteer co-ordinator for CML in Denbighshire County Council said..
‘Connor attended a sport leaders and tennis leaders course with us last year, so its great that he’s using these skills to volunteer at his local sport club, this is special as he's our 100th MV50, which equates to 5,000 volunteer hours in sport in Denbighshire provided by young people this last year. There was only 300 MV50 awarded across the whole of Wales last year, which is our target this year in Denbighshire!’
Peter Drew, Chief Executive of Tennis Wales said...
‘It’s great to see young volunteers like Connor getting involved in supporting the development of tennis in the area. Volunteers are the backbone of our sport and young volunteer programmes like this are playing a vital role for the future of tennis in Wales. Tennis Wales would like to congratulate and thank Connor for all his efforts and also congratulate Gerry and the team at Denbighshire Voluntary Services Council for such an incredible achievement to get so many young volunteers coming through for the future of Welsh Sport.’
Chair of Sport Wales, Laura McAllister said
‘The Welsh Government and Sport Wales are committed to getting more people more active in sport. We believe that it is essential to empower and inspire young people in Wales to become role models and leaders. With the right opportunities they can encourage and reward their peers to take part in sport and physical recreation. Central to this programme is the principle that young people drive opportunity and change for other young people.’
'MV Sport is great way of recognising and rewarding these committed young people for volunteering 50 hours in school and community sport.'