Participate World & Accademia

Tom Williams and I are excited to announce the name of our new organisation – Participate World Ltd. Or simply Participate to our friends and colleagues.

I’ll post the link to our new website next week.

A few highlights this week.

Thank you to Dr Jo Clarke at Leeds Beckett University for her time and fascinating insights into the intersectional and broad impact of community sport. It was brilliant to link this with what we saw in practice last week at Brighton Table Tennis Club. On a personal note, it was great for Tom to return to Leeds Beckett after receiving an Honorary Doctorate from there last year.

Thank you so much to J Simon Rofe at the University of Leeds for our discussion on how sport sits within the international system and how sport can be a vehicle for diplomacy. It was a real privilege to sit down with a global thought-leader in sports diplomacy.

With Tom and I both living in Harrogate, it is exciting to know that just down the road in Leeds, there is a hotbed of expertise in community sport for development and diplomacy. It feels like we’re here at the right place and the right time to participate.

Special thanks as well to Vincent Pasquini for talking me through his amazing work to create a sporting legacy for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Onwards and upwards!

(picture: Tom on the left receiving his honorary doctorate)