SportsAid: Helping the stars of the future

IN the second in our series in association with SportsAid analysing the opportunities for the region’s businesses to benefit from the 2012 London Olympics, we look at how the charity has played a key role in many sports stars’ careers.

IN 1976 the charity SportsAid was established in Yorkshire.

The charity’s key focus is to provide support to talented athletes at the most important stage of their journey – when they’re starting out.

Within six months of inception two young men, a 12 year old swimmer from Bradford and a 13 year old runner from Rotherham, were amongst the first to receive an award to help them to take the next steps in their careers.

Those young men became two of Yorkshire’s most celebrated athletes and went on to represent the region on the international stage.

Both led outstanding careers littered with success and records culminating in two great performances at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, neither of which have been matched by a British athlete in their events since.

Both athletes faced their fair share of setbacks throughout their careers but each displayed the determination and grit indicative of the ‘Yorkshire spirit’ to deliver when it really mattered, dominating their sports in the mid to late 80s.

They are: Olympic Gold Medallist, Adrian Moorhouse MBE and Olympic Silver Medallist, Peter Elliott MBE.

Speaking of the support, some of which has been financial, he received from SportsAid as a teenager, Moorhouse, who since retiring from swimming has led a successful career in business as managing director of leading performance development consultancy Lane4, said: “SportsAid have occupied a very important place in my life, from the age of 12 through to the present day.

“As a young swimmer, and particularly in 1976, I was inspired by watching the Olympics on TV and the thought of emulating David Wilkie. Training had also started to become more challenging and demanded commitment.

“At that age I was no more than a ‘prospect’ having never even entered a county event. When Sports Aid recognised me with an award, it did more than help my parents with the training costs, it made me think that I was on the right track. I thought ‘I must be doing okay, someone has noticed me!’.

“In those early years, the recognition and support is all important. As I became more successful, the financial support became even more vital to enable me to access services that all contributed to my eventual success.

“Since retiring, I have kept my connection to Sports Aid, and have done all manner of personal challenges in order to raise money. This is so that other young people with a dream can benefit from being noticed, and being supported.”

Moorhouse will be SportsAid’s principal guest at the charity’s flagship Tribute to Sport Dinner on Friday, February 3, 2012 and is set to give a fascinating insight into the elite athlete’s world sharing the highs and lows of his remarkable career.

Elliott, who has also followed up his success as an athlete by moving into the commercial and sports industries since retirement, initially with Nova International and now as regional director for the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, said: ‘‘As a 13 year-old I dreamt of competing in the Olympic Games. When SportsAid came along and identified that I had talent and provided funding to support my dream, it was a massive boost to my confidence.

“Although it takes natural talent, hard work, excellent coaching, supportive parents and a little luck to win an Olympic medal I also believe the funding SportsAid provided was a catalyst to me winning one.

“In London we will bear witness to the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’ and all those athletes who will wear the GB uniform with pride will have benefitted from assistance through SportsAid on their journey to the top.

“SportsAid is there to help our talented youngsters on their pathway to Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth glory and I believe, without local  businesses supporting SportsAid the stars of tomorrow will find it more difficult to maximise their potential.”

It’s from these origins that SportsAid has gone on to make more than 6,000 awards in Yorkshire alone distributing around £2m to the region’s next generation of champions.

TheBusinessDesk.com has teamed up with SportsAid in Yorkshire to offer businesses a major opportunity to give a helping hand to Yorkshire’s rising stars and share in their success.

Next week we’ll be meeting some of Yorkshire’s top young performers from around the region and readers can find out more about how your business can benefit from helping the athletes of tomorrow, today.

More on this subject: The Olympic legacy: Helping the athletes of tomorrow, today