The final multiplier event for the Aspiring and Inspiring Youth Leaders (AIYL) project, co-funded by Erasmus+, was held last Thursday in Brussels.

The project aims to support the development of young people as leaders of the future and secure the long-term future of the sport. 

This project’s overall aim is to create national and European programmes that certify and validate the learning of youth leaders, promoting good governance, inspirational leadership and talented decision-makers by training and supporting the leaders of tomorrow.

It is one of a series of projects EuroHockey has been able to pursue over the past three years thanks to European Union Erasmus+ funding.

AIYL is a joint project with EuroHockey working in conjunction with the Czech, Welsh, Polish, Swedish, Danish and Ukrainian federations, Street Games, SportsinQ and Copenhagen University.

The programme concluded on Thursday with Gino Schilders (pictured above) – the project leader of AIYL from the Czech Hockey Federation – providing an overview on the objectives and intellectual outcomes.

Adam Evans – an associate professor from Copenhagen University – presented on what leadership is and why it matters. ENGSO’s Ugnė Chmeliauskaitė gave her personal reflections on why people should join the project and the value of youth leadership.

EuroHockey’s Cameron Findler spoke about the national grassroot programme and how to build youth networks and thus promote transnational knowledge-sharing and agreements.

SportsinQ’s Bartel Berkhout outlined how the programme was built to deliver an impact before EuroHockey’s Tom Pedersen-Smith presented how the EuroHockey Institute will sustain the two new programmes for Youth Leadership and how this will deliver future leaders for the sport.

** To find out more about the AIYL, click here: https://eurohockey.org/programme-session/aspiring-and-inspiring-youth-leadership-certificate-aiyl