This summer the Rep London team put forward a team of 18 young guns who gave up their summer holidays to train in the niceties of the game and enjoy the privilege of volunteering at the London 2012 Beach Volleyball Test Event. The driven and dedicated young volunteers took on the role of Field of Play (FOP) team members during the event in mid-August, retrieving and distributing volleyballs and raking the sand.

The six-day women’s international competition was held at Horse Guards Parade, the location of next year’s Olympic matches. A sell-out crowd filled the 1,500 seats of a three sided centre court, constructed as a dry run for next year’s 15,000 capacity temporary Olympic venue. The young people taking part attend The John Roan sixth form in Greenwich and St Angela’s and St Bonaventure’s sixth form in Newham.

The atmosphere at the venue was light, celebratory and electric; between each point of the two-on-two player game, the DJ was blasting out beats: Beyonce and Dizzee Rascal’s Bonkers. The elite athletes were lithe and accomplished and the sun came out to signal that next year London could rival Rio.

None would have known that the success of the 2012 Test Event, and the reputation of London and the young people, could be overshadowed by a week of riots. Contrary to the stories about young thugs, broken Britain, underclass and cultural decay, these students stood firm. They took on a steely reserve and dug deep to show that the areas where they live, their peers and their families are at odds with what happened in our cities this summer. They carried on and volunteered because they had made a promise and a commitment to themselves, to the Games and to London. Their mantra was success: they wanted to present an alternative picture of youth in east London.

The Rep London programme worked with 265 dedicated, brilliant and aspirational young citizens last academic year and we will work with 225 more to support the success of 2012.

The Rep London team will be reapplying to take a group of young people to volunteer at the Beach Volleyball during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. They will also be applying to take teams of students from other schools and sixth forms to be volunteers at the Athletics and the Aquatics. If successful they will ensure that young people from east London will be right in the action, enjoying a once in a lifetime experience that will set them in good stead for the rest of their lives and will make them, London and their communities proud.