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Elite Athletes Support Young Talent

Latest Backing the Best workshop gives talented youngsters insight into life of an elite athlete.

Backing the Best Workshop
Olympic silver medallist Keri-anne Payne, Team GB weightlifter Zoe Smith and ironman John McAvoy starred at the latest Backing the Best workshop. 

The trio provided specialist advice to the 115 recipients of the National Lottery-funded programme at a special event at Loughborough University.

Backing the Best, which is managed by SportsAid for Sport England, financially supports young athletes who would otherwise face difficulties progressing through their sport’s talent development system.

Youngsters that are put forward by their national governing body receive an award of £5,000 that goes towards essential costs, such as travel, accommodation, kit, nutrition and medical bills.

All Backing the Best athletes must demonstrate outstanding ability, as well as their family’s financial situation, to be eligible for the funding.

This year, 59 new athletes have joined the programme and they, along with 56 from the 2017 intake have been who have been renominated, benefitted from the experience of the panel at the event.

“Every child should be given an opportunity in life to be successful,” said John. “There is no greater waste than being able to do something but not being able to access the pathways to do it because of money. That’s not fair.

“These athletes have all got aspirations, they want to do it and Backing The Best is allowing them to go off and achieve their dreams, go forward and be very successful people."

Commonwealth Games gold medallist Zoe, who benefitted from Backing the Best funding at the start of her career herself, said the programme provided key support to the athletes at a vital stage of their lives.

“It’s totally overwhelming at 17 as you don’t know which way your career is going to go,” she added. 

"You start needing to make the best decisions for yourself and your career and outside of sport too. You’re a baby still in most sports, still starting out, and you’ve got lots of other life choices to make like university, education, career, relationships, friendships, family – there’s so much to think about.

“To have the right kind of guidance and a person that can point you in the right direction, and to know who you can ask these kind of questions to, is so important,”

Click here for full press release

 

Channel website: http://www.sportengland.org/

Original article link: https://www.sportengland.org/news-and-features/news/2018/may/15/young-athletes-benefit-from-backing-the-best-workshop/

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