Commonwealth gold medal winning gymnast Steve Frew inspires Highland Olympic hopeful and fellow pupils
Commonwealth gold medal winning gymnast Steve Frew spend the day with pupils from Golspie High School, in Highland on Wednesday 15th June regaling the young people with stories of his journey to overcome personal issues and achieve sporting success.
Steve visited Golspie High School in his role as Athlete Mentor for Sky Sports Living for Sport, an initiative delivered in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust to harness the power of sport and encourage 11-16 year olds to be the best they can be across all areas of their lives.
Pupils selected by Golspie High School to participate in the initiative had the opportunity to show Steve the activities they have been involved in, encouraging him to join in and discuss what they get out of the sessions. Steve then took the class through his own experiences of overcoming difficulty to excel in gymnastics before explaining how the fundamental lessons a young person learns through sport can help them grow in other areas of their lives.
After an inspirational talk at a whole school assembly, he then held a two hour team building session with a group of twelve 13-15 year old girls. In the afternoon Steve will be with the higher PE and sports leader class where he hosted a question and answer session about his success in sport, his volunteering and coaching career.
During Steve’s time at Golspie High School he also spend time advising and inspiring a sporting star of the future. Iain Paton, a 16 year old pupil at Golspie High, is part of the Olympic Youth mountain biking squad. He is one of only six young people in this field working towards competing in the London 2012 Olympic Games and Steve passed on his own experiences and advice to assist Iain’s preparation.
Sky Sports Living for Sport is a free online initiative delivered in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust designed to encourage pupils to develop and apply life skills learned through participating in sport, such as confidence, respect, and a sense of achievement, helping them to believe in themselves and their ability to achieve their goals.
With the help of online planning tools, resources and a supply of free sports clothing, Sky Sports Living for Sport helps teachers to support young people across areas such as attainment and achievement, health and wellbeing, self-esteem, or by pushing them to reach their full potential.
Now in its eighth year, Sky Sports Living for Sport has enjoyed remarkable success with 96 per cent of projects judged by teachers polled in an Institute of Youth Sport survey during the 2009/10 academic year as either successful or very successful*.
The research also revealed that of those who had participated in Sky Sports Living for Sport, around three-quarters of pupils were perceived to have enjoyed the project and benefited from being involved, as well as showing improved attitudes towards others and increased engagement in school life.
As a highly respected gymnast, Steve joins 24 athletes enrolled as Athlete Mentors for Sky Sports Living for Sport, handpicked by the Youth Sport Trust because of their inspiring personal journeys to overcome personal issues and achieve success.
In his fourth year as a Sky Sports Living for Sport Athlete Mentor, Steve will use his story of struggle and success to support the staff at Golspie High School in their efforts to help pupils realise their full potential.
Steve comments: “I’m really excited to be part of Sky Sports Living for Sport and getting to visit pupils like those at Golspie High School. I know first-hand how much of a positive effect sport can have across all areas of an individual’s life – on both a personal level as well as a professional one. I hope that, by sharing my life story and the influences sport has had on me as a person, I can help these pupils see how lessons learnt from taking part, such as building the confidence to lead or developing the social skills required to become an effective team player, can help them fulfil their full potential.”
Wim Chalmet, PE Teacher at Golspie High School comments: “Steve will provide our pupils with a real life example of how, whatever their ambitions in life, lessons learned through sport can help them realise their dreams and reach their full potential. We are delighted to be welcoming such a high profile and inspiring figure to our school, and the pupils look forward to the day with immense pride and anticipation.”
To date, 30,000 young people in over 1,500 schools have benefited since the programme began in 2003, and over 400 schools have signed up for the current school year. The ambition of the project is for 2012 schools to register with Sky Sports Living for Sport by 2012 and to build the activities put in place as part of the initiative into curricular and extracurricular programmes
Schools seeking to learn more about how to become involved in Sky Sports Living for Sport are invited to register their school at http://livingforsport.skysports.com/.