Committed to influencing change across Scotland, meet the new Young Person’s Sports Panel Administrator: Hollie Fullerton.
By William Moncrieff, Communications Coordinator
Hollie Fullerton joins the Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) team, taking up the role as the new Young Person’s Sports Pannel (YPSP) Administrator. This is an exciting opportunity for Hollie – who is a current member of the YPSP – who is committed to influencing disability sport across Scotland. They said: “It’s been something I’ve always been passionate about but it’s only been really recently that I’ve been like, this is what I am here to do, this is what I want to do.”
Hollie starts their new role with lots of knowledge of what it is like to be a panel member, which gives them a real appreciation of the strengths and benefits of the panel. “I feel like I have gained so much from being around the panel, hearing everybody’s stories and their experiences in sport they have great knowledge and experience, it’s such a great place to be.”
Furthermore, they said: “My main goal for the panel is to really keep everyone engaged and to make sure that everyone is getting the most out of it, making sure that it is really led by them and directed by them.”
Something else that Hollie is keen to keep the panel engaged with is Euan’s Guide. Euan’s Guide is an organisation which helps promote accessible facilities, through individuals leaving reviews once they have visited and used them. This is something that Hollie and the rest of the YPSP are incredibly keen to promote with the hope that more knowledge and awareness of inclusive and accessible sport and leisure facilities will result in more individuals being able to become physically active.
“I think it is the kind of thing that we could all be doing. It’s nice to have done the process myself so I can say that it’s not difficult.”
Hollie continued to say, “I think there are so many things that would make things more accessible for everybody and so many little changes that would make everybody feel more included.”
Euan’s Guide can help individuals know about the accessibility of various areas and aspects of a facility. “It’s really good for people who have physical adaptations and are needing to know if there are certain requirements.”
Hollie joins SDS with lots of experience of working in disability sport, through several volunteering and coaching events.
“Before I knew I had autism, I was involved with disability sports as a coach, at a grass roots level called All Stars.” For Hollie, this formed the basis of their learning and coaching philosophy.
“It totally shaped me. It was my first coaching job”, Hollie said. The organisational values and purposes of Beeslack All Stars Disabled Sports Club helped Hollie understand what is important about sports and how it can be such a social network for members. “The main thing with All Stars that made it so infectious was that it had whole families involved. Parents and siblings would get to come along as well. It just had a really nice feel to it. Everybody was welcome, it was all hands-on deck.”
As well as their role with the YPSP, Hollie works for LEAP Sports Scotland as a Training and Development Officer. This has resulted with Hollie joining SDS with a wealth of knowledge, including delivering LGBTQIA+ active inclusion training/information sessions. These sessions provide best practice guidance for including LGBTQIA+ people in sport, as well as helpful terminology to understand and explain the barriers to sport many LGBTQIA+ people can experience.
This is something that Hollie feels passionate about and something they feel like they can add with their own personal experience. “Being non-binary, I found it quite hard to find my place in sport which is so often unnecessarily gender-segregated and so it feels really important to me to be able, and trusted by LEAP, to educate others on trans-inclusive sport in particular. Since I have had personal experience of making some big inclusivity changes in student sport already, I think that set me up well to speak about how easy it can sometimes be to make an environment not just accepting but properly welcoming”, said Hollie.
This role with LEAP Sport is something that Hollie feels can positively impact their role with the SDS YPSP.
If you would be interested in finding out more about Euan’s Guide and how to leave a review, you can do so by visiting their website.
If you are looking for an adventure this summer, registration is now open for SDS’s annual Summer Camp: participant form and volunteer form.
To keep up-to-date on all of SDS’s ongoing work. Make sure to follow Scottish Disability Sport on Facebook, Instagram andX.
Kirsty became involved in disability sport towards the end of her time in high school, where there was an opportunity for senior pupils to volunteer in the attached ASN school. Throughout this time, Kirsty had opportunities to help in physical education classes. It was here that she saw firsthand the benefits of sport. 
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