Lesley reports back from her basketball session

“I attended a great Sportivate session (Time 2 Ball) on Wednesday at Oak Park High school aimed at 14-18 year old young women. It was a fantastic session and one of my very best visits . The young people were full of energy, enthusiasm and engagement. I delivered a talk to the young people about my journey in sports followed by an intense Q and A session. The students were very prepared and organised for my visit. The students asked me a range of thoughtful and tough questions from my diet to the daily challenges of being an athlete; the number of hours I train; drugs in sports; and my goals for the future. I provided them with a snapshot of a day in the life of an elite athlete and what it takes to be a successful athlete. With over 20 years of experience competing at international level I explained to them the importance of dedication, determination, hard work, self belief and mental drive.

 After my talk we all warmed up with a light stretch followed by a 30 minute training session where I demonstrated a range of technical drills and short runs. The participants made steady progress always trying to improve their previous performance and perfect their drills. Some of the girls had an opportunity to race me and pushed me all the way to the finish line!

 I later fully immersed myself with the basketball warm up and drills with a focus on foot movement and teamwork. I really enjoyed it as I haven’t played basketball for many years. The participants also taught me a few tricks of the trade and we had a mini shooting contest. The session ended with a friendly match with the girls of different ability levels playing a short game. Interestingly, 3 teams played in the match and all had to use their skills to work as a team and score.”

What’s great about the Sportivate programme at Nines is that not only has it been getting young people into sport, their coach said they will have 15 young people joining the club at the end of the programme, but it’s also helping to rebuild the Club’s junior department.

Last Sunday, I gave a talk to the rowers, coaches and parents on my career covering the roller coaster ride of emotions and experiences that go with being an elite performer, followed by a Q&A, I then took four of the boys out in a quad. The coaches said they found it beneficial to see how I approached coaching the session with novices.

The Sunday just gone, I went back to the club and took out four girls in a quad and then stayed for a end-of-programme celebration lunch. Next week they will all be racing in a Plum Puds fancy dress race in Cambridge.
 
Lianne Stanford, the lead on the programme, said that the Sporting Champions had made a great difference to the Sportivate programme; inspiring the young people, adding authority to the programme, and showing the young people that their involvement merited recognition.

In order to truly appreciate the power of the Olympics and what that the legacy will do for generations to come I am very proud to be a Sporting Champion  to promote the importance of sport and  promote well being for young people. It is vital that we encourage more and more young people to get involved in sport and help them to appreciate the tremendous benefits that an involvement in sport can bring.

 I was delighted to attend as a judge at the Saracens Cheerleading Festival on November 7^th in Watford. This event really highlighted the tremendous impact the Sportivate programme has had so far. The young participants had completed a six week course on Cheerleading which culminated in a final competition where they all demonstrated their new skills and talents. For most of the participants they had never imagined that they had the ability to do cheerleading and it was their first time engaged in such a sport. Through the programme many of the girls I spoke to had developed new skills, formed new friendships and challenged themselves to go outside their comfort zones and try and experiment with something completely new.

I felt like a judge on ‘Strictly Come Cheerleading’ as I judged the many versatile and dynamic routines. The focus and examination was on the cheers and chants, stunting, tumbling, team work, synchronisation, choreography, presentation, appearance and the overall performance.

It was a pleasure to witness a range of different styles and genres in their chosen themes. The groups showed positive energy, enthusiasm and excitement. What pleased me the most was the happy smiles on the participants faces which demonstrated their confidence and enjoyment. The stunts were performed at all levels and executed well by most teams.

Meridian School were the overall champions, with Knight Templar as runner ups and Highfields school in third place. All of the girls were amazing and achieved their own personal best and achievement. A massive congratulations to all the young girls who took part in the cheerleading competition. They should all be very proud of their incredible achievements.

I will look forward to attending more Sportivate events and inspiring young people about the endless benefits and rewards of sports. I encourage all the girls to continue with cheerleading as it is a great sport that deserves more recognition and respect. The sport requires strength, power, agility and athleticism just like any other sport. Perhaps Great Britain should embrace this sport like they do in the USA and generate more awareness and interest to young people, parents and the public.

 Keep cheering!

Thinking about what helped me to take this path or even become aware it existed, I have to recognise the importance of having had the opportunity at school to be introduced to and take part in a wide variety of sports and activities. Furthermore, the opportunity to compete in any or all of these sports against other pupils and in regular fixtures against nearby schools is also credited. But even more shaping was the encouragement and acknowledgement that I received over the course of competition when I achieved a small success or demonstrated a little spark of potential, as well as the lessons I learnt from these competitive experiences.

Last week I had the privilege of being invited to attend the ‘School Games’ summit in Worcester, alongside Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport Jeremy Hunt. It was great to see the buzz surrounding this Sport England initiative which will help to establish the legacy of the London 2012 Olympics, by enabling every school and child to participate in competitive sport, ensuring that our hosting of the event is especially meaningful to young people. This new scheme draws upon many parallels which have helped me to achieve what I have to date, having only fallen into my sport during my late teens, so it was a pleasure to give my full support to it and I hope to be further involved with the project in the future.

On the day, I tested my skills in a demonstration of the Paralympic sport Blind Football with local school pupils, we were blind-folded and used footballs with rattles inside. This is a prime example of the all-inclusive opportunities that the ‘School Games’ present for young people of all ages and abilities to get involved in a wide number of sporting activities and benefit from the intrinsic values of sport such as teamwork, leadership and discipline. What was particularly pleasing to hear from Jeremy was how much emphasis there will be on the competitive element of the scheme. Not only will this help to unearth new talent in a wider number of sports and support pathways for youngsters who excel, but it will also help to impart the invaluable lesson of success through failure to our young people and how important it is to not to give up if at first you don’t succeed.    

The euphoria building up ahead of next year’s Olympics is evident just about everywhere now and with only 8 months to go my training is at its most intense, seeing me practice for six hours a day six days of the week, as I aim to secure my spot on Team GB. I’m currently searching for sponsorship to ensure that I am able to do everything possible to represent Great Britain next summer, and leave no stone unturned in preparation for the Olympic Trials come June.

 I have to admit, my determination to leave no stone unturned was further fuelled by a quote shared with the audience during the summit by a School Games Organiser: “If you think it’s too small to make a difference, then you’ve obviously never slept in the same room as a mosquito!” This sentiment typifies both the ethos of the ‘Schools Games’ and my train of thought as we move one month and one step closer to 2012!

follow Julz on twitter www.twitter.com/JulzAdeniran and visit www.julzadeniran.com to learn more about Julz’s Olympic quest and how you can support him.

After speaking for about 15mins, we moved straight into the sportivate boxing session and it was a great introduction for anyone wanting to take up the sport or participating for fun. The trainer was very good and clear with his instructions. It is a very good programme to get fit and meet new friends. I can see each week of the programme growing from strength to strength.

I finished my visit by speaking to a few of the students about diet and nutrition, training for speed. Overall a good visit and looking forward to my next visit with this group on 31^st October 2011!

It’s good to share new and different ideas and put these into practice. Workshops like the one on ‘inclusive activity’ help me prepare for my up and coming sportivate sessions as well as using some of the ideas into my daily job of coaching. I enjoy working alongside other sporting champions they all have so much passion for getting young people involved in sport, it’s a great learning environment to work in.

 We are all so passionate, not only about our own specialist sport, but also about getting young people involved in any sport. There are mix characters on the Sporting Champions team who are just great fun to work with and learn with.

I’m looking forward to delivering my first sportivate session on Friday 7^th October at Oxford Brookes University – it’s a rugby session so I will be in my element!

 How do they do this?  Well, there we were at National Training.. thinking that we were ‘cool athletes’..respected by the young basketballers on the neighbouring court… and then Tim ..the lead trainer.. got us to choreograph and perform an interpretive piece to demonstrate the Olympic values via the medium of dance. Think Ann Widecombe levels of dancing ability with biceps and a GB shirt and you’re about there!

 After we had performed our routines, we worked with Dr Pam Stevenson, an expert in inclusive activities. Pam teased out ideas with us to be able include young people of all abilities and how to adapt things for those who need a little more support.

 Our next challenge was to get in front of the camera and record some soundbites. Now…I don’t know how many people reading this are familiar with doing ‘pieces to camera’, however, it baffles me how the simple act of speaking – which I have been doing to reasonable effect for quite some years now – seems to evaporate as a very polite man sticks a camera in your face and says ‘in your own time’.  Thankfully the skills of the editor were still fully functioning and you can see the – wonderfully edited – results of our various utterances by clicking here

 Why were we doing this?  Well, around 50 athletes have been recruited as ‘Sporting Champions’ to support the sportivate programme. Over the next two years we will develop our skills through a series of training sessions co-ordinated by the DKH Legacy Trust. As athletes, we will work with County Sports Partnerships and their local sport delivery partners; get involved with the clubs; and add value to the coaching sessions as inspiring role models.

Sportivate aims to engage semi-sporty, 14-25 year olds in regular sport based activity. It is part of Sport England’s Places, People, Play London 2012 mass- participation legacy. To learn more about sportivate click here

Joel Enoch – Sporting Champion and Triathlete-North Region