A LYG33 Member’s Reflection on the LYG33 Residential 2026
Written by LYG33 Member, Ruby P
Between Friday 30th January to Sunday 1st February the members of LYG33 were on a residential trip at YHA London Lee Valley. It was a great chance to bond with each other and share our ideas as we approach the upcoming season.
On Friday, it was just the leadership team who attended in order to prepare for the team members’ arrival the following morning. We were honoured to have a meeting with Prof. Geoff Thompson MBE, who provided us with life lessons and advice for us as young people, which was truly inspiring. Later on in the day, we discussed our co-production objectives to plan for how we deliver these ideas when sharing them with the rest of the team on Sunday. We also made a start on our bronze/silver awards and finished the day with fun games, such as Mafia and Imposter.
On Saturday some of us started with a morning energiser to help prepare us for the day. Then after a few final preparations, we awaited the arrival of the team members. Not long after, we had a talk from the Alpine Run project, followed by a run altogether, which was extremely refreshing as we all cheered each other on. After lunch, we worked on creating our environment, followed by a media task. This was really fun as we created LYG events to film and then share with everyone, our group chose yoga. It was a great introduction to learning vital filming and editing skills. Then, we were lucky enough to hear directly from LYG33 graduates during a Q&A panel, where alumni shared their stories on how the programme has helped them, whether that being career wise or personally by growing their confidence. Hearing from these role models gave us all motivation, because hearing how this programme can truly impact our lives as well as other young people across London was inspiring. As the day was drawing to a close, our programme passports were explained, saying how we earn stamps to show our progress and growth throughout the programme and then we reflected in our journal. After dinner, we enjoyed a quiz night in teams of our co-production groups so we were aware of who we would be working with for the next day. It was great fun and as well as this, in our free time before bed, the team bonded really well as most of us were outside playing football together, which was joyous to watch and play.
On our final day together, Sunday, some of us started with a morning energiser again to make us feel ready for the day ahead. After breakfast, we had an interactive carousal, made up of media, public speaking, networking and life after LYG workshops. Each session was beneficial, whether gaining confidence and stepping outside of our comfort zones or having guidance for professions, which all helped to develop employability skills that will aid our futures. Then each co-production group took part in a Dragon’s Den merchandise initiative challenge as we each designed and thought about how we would market a hoodie for the 50th year of London Youth Games next year. It involved the teams developing and pitching creative ideas under time pressure, building commercial awareness, teamwork and confidence in a real-world style setting. After lunch, we discussed our action plan to help us achieve our co-production objectives to leave our legacy as a part of LYG and to change sport in the London boroughs. This co-production session reinforced the idea that this will all be youth led so we feel we are making a difference to people our age by sharing our experiences instead of being tokenistic.
Overall, I had so much fun across the weekend, from making new friends to working on our similar goals. It was so nice to meet like-minded people, who all want to help make a difference so sport is more accessible and inclusive for everyone. Personally, I think I definitely developed my leadership skills when I helped guide my team during the session and all of us most certainly learnt employability skills that we can carry forward into our futures to aid our careers. As well as this, I think being a part of this programme will help me to grow as a person, and gain confidence and responsibility along the way to hopefully make a significant impact, which is what LYG33 are striving to do this year.
You can find out more about LYG33 here.