Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean. Here, he tells about the work of the team to engage the local media in this summer major multi-sport event.
Several months ago, an idea was born within Sport Pembrokeshire�s Commonwealth Games Legacy Group which would involve promoting the fact that Pembrokeshire could proudly boast 16 of the 17 Commonwealth Sports as easily accessible to the public within the county. The only one which would require interested parties to travel outside of Pembrokeshire was Wrestling!
The success of the project would largely come down to the support of two local journalists - Fraser Watson and Bill Carne - both of whom write for the Western Telegraph newspaper. I met with both reporters back in February to pitch the idea of Fraser embarking on a Commonwealth Games Challenge, in which he would try his hand at all 17 of the Commonwealth sports at the clubs and venues available to the public within Pembrokeshire.
Fortunately for us Fraser, as a talented sportsman himself, was keen to participate, and Bill as the locally renowned �Voice of Pembrokeshire Sport� was also eager to be involved. The journey involved mapping a 19 week programme of activities and press releases sharing Fraser�s experiences, highlighting the intricacies of each activity as well as the hard work and dedication of both performers and coaches who spend countless hours perfecting their chosen disciplines.
As well as the engagement of the local press, we have been particularly fortunate to have Bill Carne�s full support in the project. As well as writing for his own sports website (www.pembrokeshiresport.co.uk) Bill co-hosts a Friday night sports show on the local radio station, Radio Pembrokeshire, and has spent the last 19 weeks travelling with Fraser to each session - interviewing not only Fraser on his experiences, but also local coaches, performers, development officers and volunteers, all of whom are involved within their specific sports. This has proved to be been invaluable coverage for both the clubs and sports alike!
As a sports development department, our involvement with the project has been to share the articles on a weekly basis via our website and social media outlets, as well as promoting the opportunities available to people young and old within their community through the many sports clubs and settings on offer in Pembrokeshire. Active Young People Officers actively promoted the sports and clubs available on weekly basis, utilising the press coverage for their own local gains.
The project also offered our officers the opportunity to attend Frasers training sessions to meet with local community club representatives and engage in useful development dialogue, which in many cases has led to improved partnership working between the department and local clubs.
The Western Telegraph has been extremely generous in terms of editorial space offered for the project, providing a full page spread with photographs for a 19 week period!
Week one was a generic introductory article promoting the Commonwealth Games and its history, and weeks two to 18 covered Fraser�s sporting experiences in alphabetical order (from Aquatics to Wrestling). The final week, week 19, summarised Fraser�s highlights and an opportunity to thank the clubs and volunteers involved, as well as promoting the key dates related to the Games itself. Each article ended with a strap line which referred interested parties back to our Sport Pembrokeshire Facebook page which would provide the public with additional information about opportunities to participate locally.
As a positive �spin off� of the initiative, several other sports clubs have since requested Fraser�s attendance at their training sessions to experience and promote even more opportunities available to the people of Pembrokeshire.
The articles have been extremely well received both locally and nationally, and provided us with a fantastic opportunity to promote our Community Sports Clubs in a way never done before. The project has successfully highlighted what is great about Pembrokeshire�s community sports scene.
To read more about Fraser's individual Commonwealth Games challenges over the last 17 weeks please click on the following link;
http://www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/content.asp?nav=107,928,1096&id=29596&language=
Finally, Brian Davies (Chef de Mission for Team Wales) recently tweeted �Great effort from Fraser Watson. See you on the team @GC2018�.
Ben Field
Manager, Sport Pembrokeshire
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