As we count down to the deadline for submitting nominations for the 2009 awards, lets take a look at the progress of a 2008 Young Achiever a year after receiving the award.
Since winning last year, Rikki Colgate has continued delivering free weekly sessions on the Townsend Estate for youths in his Community. He now delivers two sessions a week . Out of these sessions he has managed to enter the young people into local ASB diversionary football leagues held on Friday nights.
He has been invited to the Mayor’s Office for a select gathering of local Community Champions , he’s also made presentations to the Council Chamber on Bournemouthon Community Sport and its benefits.
He is now getting paid as a self employed Community coach thanks to support from local community grants and support from Anti Social Behaviour funding streams in the area. He’s the lead coach for Nacro on the estate and has under his tutelage 3 younger volunteers aged 16-18 who have seen the positive benefits of Rikki’s commitment to volunteering and are now involved themselves in giving back to their Community.
He is currently contemplating returning to Education to do a degree in a sports related discipline and is pondering travelling the world as a football coach – an idea that was alien to him before he won the award.
Rikki fully acknowledges that without the confidence of being nominated, never mind winning the award he would never be where he is today. He is blown away by how far a journey he has come on in such a short space of time and is thankful to all the help and encouragement he has received from the Young Achievers since winning last year.
We’re really proud of Rikki and look forward to more young people seeing their horizons expand through this awards scheme.
