Commonwealth Games bronze medallist in cycling, James McCallum, joined young leaders at Hampden today to launch this year’s Lead 2014 programme with a call for action to young people to be involved in the build-up to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Lead 2014 – a partnership between sportscotland, Youth Sport Trust and Glasgow 2014 – is designed to develop the skills of youth leaders and the programme will be rolled out across seven University conference dates in March 2013.

The intention is to use sport as a springboard to hone and develop leadership ability among young people and, in turn, provide an opportunity for children across the region to engage with the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

This year’s Lead 2014 will see a greater emphasis on social media during the conferences with those attending encouraged to use Twitter and Facebook to enhance their experience of the day.

At each of the conferences, secondary school young leaders, will be mentored by university student tutors, in how to plan, organise and manage a Commonwealth Games themed sports festival.

The pupils then take their new skills and knowledge back to their communities to organise a sports festival for their local primary and secondary schools.

Using Glasgow 2014 as the catalyst, Lead 2014 will capture young people’s energy and enthusiasm for sport and enable them to become leadership ambassadors.

It will also help to motivate them to play a significant part in the huge volunteering effort around the Commonwealth Games and become volunteers in sport in the future.