An Olympic silver medal winner and a sport and leisure brand are backing eleven up-and-coming athletes to help them reach their full potential.
The Everyone Active Sporting Champions scheme is sponsoring 11 Harrow-based athletes in getting the facilities and funds necessary to boost their professional careers with the help of Olympic silver medallist, Colin Jackson.
Among the emerging talent being supported are Harrow’s Leroy Cain, sprinter, Nathan Fox, triple jumper and Alexander Coyle, swimmer.
Nathan Fox
The scheme is now in its third year and receives the backing from Colin Jackson, an ambassador for the initiative.
Colin will help in providing one-to-one and group mentoring to the athletes.
Other athletes in the town have also been awarded the Sporting Champions bronze level sponsorship, proving free access to Harrow Leisure centre, operated by Everyone Active in partnership with Harrow Council.
The scheme enables athletes to achieve national and even international sporting success by offering gold, silver and bronze tiers of sponsorship.
These packages provide up to £5k in funding to help with training, equipment, travel and competition costs.
Athletes also have access to over 160 Everyone Active leisure centres nationwide.
Everyone Active contract manager, John Sewell, said: “It’s fantastic to see such a wealth of upcoming local sporting talent in the area and we are delighted to be supporting these athletes on their journey.
“Our Sporting Champions scheme has been very successful in providing exceptional support to emerging talent.
“It’s fantastic to see that the scheme has now expanded to provide 700 athletes nationwide with access to top-quality training facilities and support. Our aim was to support 500 athletes by the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics and to have achieved this two years early is just fantastic.
“As a leisure provider working in partnership with the council, we feel it is important to cater for all sectors of the community, including emerging talent by reducing the costs required to perform at the highest level.
“We hope to continue making a real difference to our athlete’s success.”
The Sporting Champions scheme has invested more than £500k to help over 700 athletes in their careers.
Scheme ambassador, Colin Jackson, said; “I’m proud to be involved with a scheme which is so dedicated to supporting athletic talent from grass roots up.
“It’s important that we drive sporting excellence in our country, and the Everyone Active Sporting Champions scheme is already supporting hundreds of our young prospects to achieve their sporting dreams.”
Olympic and Paralympic athletes will also be supported by the scheme as “gold sponsored athletes”, including gold medal gymnast, Max Whitlock, Team GB hockey captain, Alex Danson, and wheelchair racer, Jade Jones.
To find out more, visit www.easportingchampions.com
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here