A Leadership Academy is a group of young people aged 11+ within a club who want to develop their leadership skills.
Academy members follow the MY Leadership Academy Programme. The leaders meet throughout the year to help plan events, complete training and socialise as a group.
Each Academy will elect an Academy Captain. This person is usually an older leader or a coach at the club. The Captain is responsible for organising meetings and keeping all members on track with their development. Some Academies have more than one captain to share this responsibility.
The Academy Captain is provided with a support pack to assist with running a successful academy and access to useful documents below. British Gymnastics are able to offer additional support and guidance throughout the programme.
We provide a Facebook group for leaders wanting to find volunteer opportunities: I am BG - I am a Volunteer.
The MY Leadership Academy Programme is designed to create a structure which young people can follow to help them develop as leaders within gymnastics environments (clubs). The programme encourages leaders to complete five different ‘topic’ areas:
MY Learning: Leaders are tasked with completing a number of different courses, both generic and sport specific.
MY Development: Leaders are tasked with identifying a mentor and learning from working alongside them.
MY Volunteering: Leaders are tasked with volunteering their time at events and meetings.
MY Future: Leaders are tasked with producing a development plan and working towards completing their goals.
MY Projects: Leaders are tasked with identifying appropriate needs, and running a project to add benefits to themselves and their club.
The programme introduces Young Leaders to the various roles and opportunities available within gymnastics, helps them to identify their strengths and the aspects of gymnastics they enjoy and encourages leaders to stay within the sport for longer, creating a larger and stronger workforce for the future.
The programme is specifically targeted at Young Leaders aged 11-17, but is equally open to anyone over the age of 17. The MY Leadership Academy booklet is available free to members of British Gymnastics.
The programme is structured, yet flexible in that it can be adapted to suit the needs of individuals and different environments. There are awards, rewards and recognition available at various stages of completion to encourage the leaders to continue to develop.
Below are all the Captain’s Support Documents to help you get set up efficiently with your Leadership Academy. These documents can only be accessed once your club has got a Leadership Academy and by the elected Captain with access to register the young leaders. The registered Captain must be logged into the website in order to access and download the below support documents.
British Gymnastics have worked with members of MY Leadership Academies and the wider gymnastic community to design introductory level courses which introduce Young Leaders to the exciting opportunities within our sport. The content has been designed to be informative and thought provoking and enable the attendee to gain a greater understanding and discover new interests in different areas of gymnastics.
There is currently one course in the Intro to... series: Intro to Judging. This course cost £26* and the minimum age to attend these courses is 11 years of age.
* this price is a guide and may vary depending on the set up and organisation of the course
Please note: The Intro to… courses are run online and available for clubs that offer the Leadership Academy. These are run at different times each year, depending on demand, and can be booked on to like other British Gymnastics courses. You can find intro to... Judging courses here.
Deployment opportunities
There are many different opportunities for volunteers to be involved, from National and Regional level events, to helping out local clubs.
Find out more about getting involved in Volunteering homepage.
To find out more about joining or setting up an academy at your club please complete the form below