The latest in an occasional series profiling European Athletics Young Leaders features a Question-and-Answer session with Latvia’s Rebeka Ozolniece
Ozolniece, 22, is one of the youngest head of communications working in a European Athletics Member Federation.
She was the Latvian representative at the European Athletics Young Leaders Forum held in Munich during the European Athletics Championships in August.
What’s your current involvement in athletics?
It’s been a little bit more than a year since I started to work with the Latvian athletics federation as their head of communications. Before that, I spent almost 13 years as an athlete myself [she was a Latvian U20 combined events international], so this relatively new environment was not completely alien to me.
I just started to understand and explore the same people, groups, structures, rules and problems but from a different perspective. I want to believe that my involvement in athletics will be long-lasting, at least I’m doing my best to provide new ideas, solutions, and knowledge.
This past year I’ve been meeting people from other member federations, and people who are working for World or European Athletics because I believe learning and then later teaching is the key to making our sport better.
How did you become a European Athletics Young Leader?
My rollercoaster ride as a Young Leader started two years ago. At that time I was studying at university and in the student union, also in the role of head of communications.
During my last year in university, I started my current job in athletics, and from there I started my journey as a Young Leader in the context of sports.
What was the best experience you had at the Young Leaders Forum in Munich?
The opportunity to meet many people who are working in sports, not only in athletics, gives me hope that more and more people are starting to look at change as having a positive impact on the future.
I have experienced that people fear to change no matter their age but the Young Leaders Forum brought together people who believe in a better future, better solutions, in a better environment in sports so this is the best experience from this Forum.
Have you experience as a volunteer in the past?
I’m not very experienced as a volunteer in sports myself. I’ve done some small things while I was a young athlete like volunteering at competitions. Right now, volunteering is one of the things that I want to implement in my federation in order to give young people the opportunity be involved in sports events and understand that this is one of the choices they can make for their future.
I believe that all it takes is a little push from people who care and more young people will choose to being involved and stay in this area of our sport.
What did you take back to Latvia from the Forum?
Lots of ideas and the energy to continue my journey in sports.
Do you think that this kind of project is important?
it is because it’s not comparable with anything else. It is crucial to create a project like this so that young people can raise their voices, find their place and be like sponges, who are absorbing everything that comes their way.
If there were no such projects, then there will be far fewer people with a true passion for sport. It is very easy to lose people that are worthy, talented, and capable of big things but have not been in the right place with the right people.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Right now, I can’t give a clear answer, but I would not hide the fact that usually most people work for their national federation see that the next logical steps would be working for European Athletics or World Athletics. Even though I have only been working for my national federation for little more than a year, my commitment to make athletics stronger and better has risen.
I want to believe that in the next few years, I’ll have made some impact and can move forward with my next challenge. In other words, I believe that in 10 years I’ll be able to call myself an expert in my area and will be proud of the impact that I would have left on my country
You are one of the youngest people in a management role in a European Athletics Member Federation, how do you feel about it?
This is my favourite question. I won’t say that seems unusual or wrong to me because I don’t believe in judging people by their age if I’m speaking about roles, the only thing that matters is a person's commitment.
Of course, it is a little different path if you start your career this young, especially in a position where people usually expect to see someone a bit older, but then again is it a problem? Not for me, I feel confident about the things I have done and things I am doing, and if I ever have doubts about something because of lack of experience then I ask and I learn.