Introducing a new monthly columnist: The Mintridge Foundation

THE Mintridge Foundation is a registered charity dedicated to enhancing life skills in young people through sport. We provide a support network for young people by harnessing the power of positive sporting role models.

The Mintridge Foundation assists young people of all ages, abilities and physical capabilities to develop confidence and resilience, and creates awareness of the importance of mental and physical wellbeing through sport. 

Our team of Ambassadors – Olympians, Paralympians and other professional sports stars from over 20 sports, both team and individual – work with young people in schools, clubs and academies across the UK. Starting with visits including assemblies, coaching clinics and classroom sessions tailored to each organisation’s requirements, our ambassadors can then provide one-on-one remote mentoring in a safeguarded environment, delivered via technology such as Skype and Playwaze to build a lasting legacy for individuals.

The Mintridge Foundation’s successes demonstrate the incredible power of sport, from a mentee’s selection to represent Great Britain in their chosen field to enabling disabled children to find confidence and happiness just through participation. Understanding life after sport, we also support our Ambassadors in their transition from active sport to the next stage of their careers.

As a charity, all funding and donations we receive will help provide more Mintridge Foundation programmes across the UK, and support training for the Ambassadors who deliver our objectives.

To date, The Mintridge Foundation has managed to help inspire and positively impact the lives of 39,092 students, across the 148 programmes we have delivered so far. As part of those programmes, there have been 76 mentees who have received one-on-one mentoring from their own inspirational athlete.

Following on from the remote mentoring, The Mintridge Foundation has had numerous success stories, including our most recent mentee, Clemmie from Ampleforth School. This particular mentee has thrived in the last year with continued support from The Mintridge Foundation and her Ambassador Heather Fell. At only 18 years of age, Clemmie was ranked 9th for Great Britain in the modern pentathlon, competing against junior and senior athletes to gain her ranking. With successes in national and international competitions, our mentee has also excelled as part of her university team and is working incredibly hard on her degree, as well has her training at Loughborough University. Throughout the six months of mentoring she received from Heather Fell, Clemmie gained valuable advice and support. Our mentee said that Heather had helped her to gain confidence when competing, understand the importance of a work and training life balance and encouraged her to enjoy her sporting journey, wherever it may lead. We are so excited to hear what else she can achieve on her successful sporting journey.

It is not just the young people we have been working with who have had their own personal success stories. Some of our fantastic Ambassadors have recently been demonstrating why they are some of the best in their own sports and disciplines. In the recent Commonwealth Games our very own Eboni Beckford-Chambers won a gold medal as part of the England Roses netball squad, out on the Gold Coast in April. A long-awaited Beijing bronze medal was finally awarded to our wonderful athletics Ambassador Marilyn Okoro, who has waited ten years to be recognised for her achievements in the Beijing Olympics. Laura Sugar our para athlete is set to compete in the European Championships in Berlin, where she has already seen multiple medal wins in the T44 sprint races. We have our fingers crossed for some more new additions to the medal tally after Berlin. Most recently we are sad to say that our footballer and Deaflympian Fil Kamps has had to retire from his beloved football. Although we are sad injury has stopped his football journey, we look forward to him having more time to spend coaching and inspiring more young people, as part of the excellent programmes we run across the country. 

Finally, our most recent Gold Programme took place on the last week of the school term with Laura Bassett. As part of the England ‘Lionesses’ national football team, Laura delivered an incredibly motivational and inspiring speech, along with an afternoon of coaching sessions for both boys and girls at Wootton Park School. We are looking forward to seeing how her two mentees develop over the next six months, with the guidance and support of Laura as their Ambassador.

The Mintridge Foundation

Charity no. 1177831

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