Frequently Asked Question

Why should I join?

You are interested in sport, especially athletics; you want to develop skills, meet new people, exchange knowledge, network, give something to athletics and your local community, get recognized for your work, and become a leader.... the European Athletics Young Leaders Community is the right place for you.

Community members can:
• Create a free profile
• Get support for volunteer work and projects
• Get recognition for their efforts that could help them further their education and career
• Be eligible for awards for outstanding achievements
• Get recognized for their efforts
• Have access to a social network of young people who share your interests and ambition

What benefits does this community offer compared to other online communities?

The European Athletics Young Leaders Community is a niche community connecting active, responsible and innovative young people interested in Athletics. It is a small family of like-minded young people from all over Europe.

A key differentiator is that this community focuses on encourage members to take action either by doing volunteer work for an athletics event, club or other organisation or by designing and delivering their own athletics-related projects. Becoming a community member will give you access to various forms of support and make you eligible for recognition and awards for your efforts.

Do I have to pay for membership?

No, membership and access to all community sections is free.

What is the role of my national athletics federation?

National Federations are key partners with the community. Their tasks will include finding and approving the contact organisations for volunteer work in their respective countries. They will also assist with and validate community member projects.

We aim to have a Young Leaders Community Coordinator within each of the 50 European Athletics Member Federations by the end of 2010. If your federation does not have a coordinator you can contact it and let us know so that we can work on it.

How can I start a project?

You first have to join the community. Once you are a community member, you will have access to out project support section and you can tap into the community for help with your project.

If you already know the type of project you want to start, you can use the community’s project tools and add information about your project, invite others to join your project team, document your progress by uploading photos, videos, files and project updates/comment. If you do not have a specific project idea yet, you can start browsing the list of current and past projects listed on the community and let yourself get inspired.

What type of project can I start?

You are free to choose any type of project, as long as the project is related to Athletics and of need to your target community. The possibilities are practically limitless. Check out our project database for ideas.

Should a project be local or international?

There is no geographic scope requirement for your projects and location is not a criteria for recognition or awards. For further details look at the project recognition guidelines

Can someone help me with my project?

We are in the process of building up a mentoring system. We will update the site as soon as we have selected the first mentors. If you are interested in becoming a project mentor, please contact us.

How can I get recognised for my project?

Once you are done with the development and implementation of your project and you are ready to submit your project to be considered for recognition, you can click on the Create End Report link on the left side menu bar of your project page. This will take you to the end report that you need to complete. Once the end report form is completed and all questions are answered you can submit the report to European Athletics. Your National Athletics Federation will validate your project and European Athletics will evaluate it for recognition.