Commonwealth Youth Games Chef de Mission announced

Commonwealth Games Wales announce Matt Cosgrove, Head of Games Operations as Chef de Mission for the youth games this summer.

Matt, who joined the Organisation in January 2022 and previously worked as Performance Director at Welsh Cycling, will work with the National Governing Bodies to ensure the sports and athletes are best supported leading into the Games.

The Commonwealth Youth Games will be held this August for the first time in history by the dual-island Caribbean nation Trinidad and Tobago, following the postponement of the Games in 2021 due to the pandemic.

The athletes, aged between 14 and 18 will compete across seven different sports – Fast5 Netball, Rugby Sevens, Triathlon, Swimming, Beach Volleyball, Cycling (Track and Road) and Athletics.

Another historical moment will be the inclusion of Para Athletics – the first para sport added to the Youth Games sports programme.

Matt Cosgrove commented

‘It is a great honour to be asked to lead Team Wales at Trinbago 2023. The CYG is a fantastic opportunity for young athletes to experience a multi-Games environment. We have some exciting young talent within the sports and I look forward to seeing how they perform on this stage. We will ensure that everything is in place to help them perform at their best’

Helen Phillips MBE, CGW Chair said

‘It’s great to have Matt on board as the Chef de Mission for the Commonwealth Youth Games this summer. Matt’s wealth of experience working in performance environment within cycling at multiple games coupled with the experience gained as deputy chef de mission in Birmingham 2022, makes him the ideal candidate to lead the team.

We look forward to taking a strong youth team to Trinbago to show the Commonwealth the talent we have here in Wales. We hope that competing at a Youth Games will provide invaluable development opportunity for these athletes who aspire to follow in the footsteps of former Youth Games Welsh athletes who have continued their journey into Commonwealth & Olympic Games”