Now is the time to help grassroots sports projects to tell their stories

By Jude Habib

I've got to be honest, I've been on an Olympic holiday and am still basking in the afterglow. I took a week off, guilt-free, to immerse myself in all things sport-related, which was met with some amusement by friends as I'm not particularly sporty. I was lucky to have got some tickets and managed to see some amazing events, from beach volleyball and hockey to diving and swimming.

As someone whose biggest sporting achievement was dedicating six months to training to run the London Marathon, I was in awe of the dedication the athletes had put into their training. Apart from the empty seats saga, I was impressed by practically everything that was delivered by the organisers, especially the wonderful volunteer Games Makers.

So what could I possibly be disappointed about? Although I seemed to be eating, sleeping, breathing the Olympics for two weeks, never missing an episode of Olympics Tonight with Gabby Logan, I also wondered how grassroots community sports projects, charities and social enterprises were capitalising on this fantastic Olympic opportunity to tell an engaged audience about the sporting work they do throughout the year.

I spent some time looking at the online presence of a selection of relevant organisations that I admire and I was surprised by the lack of any links to Olympic activity by many of them. In one instance I was so disappointed that I called to have a chat to the director to find out why they weren't getting involved and to suggest some quick win ideas. From our conversation it seemed that the organisation didn't know how to capitalise on this opportunity and to a certain extent were frightened by what would happen if they did do something - would lots of people bang on their doors to try and get involved?

I don't want to give the impression I did an analysis of lots of different organisations, but the ones I did look at were in sports where Team GB had huge successes. In one instance, one of the senior BBC commentators mentioned the organisation by name, yet their Facebook site is still dated July.

Although I know resources and funding are often blamed for a lack of communications activity, but there has been plenty of time to think about the Olympics so call me harsh but I honestly don't think that this is an excuse.

I think initiatives like the recent Join In Trust will work even more effectively if some of the funding finds its way to training and developing the digital storytelling skills of grassroots sports organisations through their staff, volunteers or the people who use their facilities, who are the best ambassadors for sport we have.

So roll on my next holiday - yes a Paralympic holiday. And I look forward to seeing how disability sports groups make the most of this opportunity to share their stories. If you're involved with a grassroots sports organisation it would also be great to hear how you got involved with the Olympics or are getting involved with the Paralympics - I would really love to hear your stories.