YSF welcome new Sport Welfare team

Yorkshire Sport Foundation has appointed Nicola Holmes as Senior Sport Welfare Officer, in addition to Measha Harris and Douglas Blackwood as Sport Welfare Officers.

The trio are part of a national network of 63 (sixty-three) Sport Welfare Officers, recruited by Active Partnerships, and funded by Sport Englandthrough an investment of National Lottery money.  

The Sport Welfare Officers are working with National Governing Bodies (NGBs) and partners such as the NSPCC’s Child Protection in Sport Unitand Ann Craft Trust. This will support the development of a new local approach to assisting and supporting club welfare officers, to create safer club environments and improved experiences for young people and adults.  

The aim of the network is to increase welfare capacity and expertise at a local and national level and share best practice to help prevent concerns, making sport safe for everyone. 

The programme contributes towards the Uniting the Movement strategy and is one of Sport England’s commitments in the policy response to the Whyte Review, published by Sport England and UK Sport. 

The Whyte Review questioned the level of responsibility and support given to volunteers at grassroots level. The network, in place until March 2027, will complement a sport’s existing NGB safeguarding services and provide additional local capacity to help support safeguarding compliance to become embedded in the culture. 

Nicola will lead the team across South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, having spent much of the last decade as a Designated Safeguarding Lead and Senior Mental Health Lead within secondary education. The role required collaboration with colleagues within health, social care, community organisations and the police.

Measha joins the team with a background in Child Protection and Wellbeing in a range of education settings. She also has experience within community development, working to eliminate barriers to social inclusion across communities in Bradford.

Measha has been a safeguarding officer at a cricket club in South Yorkshire, and in 2018 volunteered at a school for deaf and blind children in Columbo, Sri Lanka, where sport was a key part in engaging pupils.

Douglas worked as a Primary Care Link Worker for NHS England, and Health Coach for Primary Care Sheffield, helping to coordinate support and provide care and support for patients suffering from poor mental and/or physical health. These roles also involved networking and managing relationships with services and organisations within the community who could help provide support.

He has also spent time working with Sheffield Wednesday Community Programme and Newcastle United Foundation, helping to deliver physical and mental health programmes.

Nigel Harrison, Chief Executive Officer at Yorkshire Sport Foundation, commented: “It’s great to welcome both Measha and Douglas into our team, and more widely into the sport and physical activity network across South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire.

“It’s essential that sport is a safe and inclusive environment. These roles will provide additional support to those people who are already working and volunteering to make sure that is the case in clubs and venues across the two counties.”