Ealaf's Story

I first got involved in the London Youth Games in competing as a rower in the indoor rowing event. And it was my first time competing in anything on a London-wide level. So I was really nervous when first getting involved, but since then, the London Games has really engaged me and I’ve been wanting to get involved more.

Before competing in the London Youth Games, I found that there weren’t many opportunities for me to compete within my sport.

However, after competing, I was able to meet lots of new people. I was really comfortable in being in the competitive environment with others and it encouraged me to continue my sport and gain lots of other opportunities.

Getting involved in the London Youth Games has been like getting involved in an amazing community. It’s for so many different people and there’s so many ways you can get involved from competing in the sport yourself to volunteering to being a part of LYG33, meeting new staff, coaches who are experts in the field and it’s just been a really amazing experience for me to get involved in.

I found out about LYG33, which is an opportunity for young people across London to represent their boroughs and advocate for young voices through sport. And since then, I’ve been a part of the leadership team for three years now, starting as the lead for West London, the impact lead, and then now becoming the Vice Chair of LYG33.

It’s been a really valuable experience where I’ve been able to develop up so many skills, meet so many people that I now call my closest friends and it’s been really meaningful to me.

Throughout my years of being involved in London Youth Games, I’ve been able to gain so many different opportunities to develop myself. For example, I gained my first taste at public speaking when speaking on a stage at Finals festival, which was really nerve racking for me, but since then, I’ve been able to progress to speaking for hundreds of people and representing young people in a way to advocate for them. It’s been really exciting.