Have any of you heard of the Wells Sports Foundation?
We are a sporting charity which provides financial and motivational support to grassroots sports projects to inspire more young people to get active, contributing to a legacy of sport in the spirit of 2012.
We have 16 Sporting Ambassadors, all of whom are potential 2012 medallists and are personally sponsored by the Foundation’s Chairman, Barrie Wells, to take them one step closer to their Olympic dream.
4 of our Ambassadors are swimming stars, Lizzie Simmonds, Hannah Miley, Caitlin McClatchey and Anne Bochmann... 4 very inspirational young women who use Barrie’s funding in their own unique way to make a difference to their training and development.
Lizzie Simmonds, currently ranked world’s number 1 in the 200m backstroke, uses the funding to contribute to what she calls her ‘brain development for a backstroker’ ... private study that gives Lizzie intellectual stimulation, something she needs to keep her mind fresh and active away from the pool. Lizzie recently had a good Commonwealth Games (despite getting a spell of the dreaded Delhi belly) picking up a silver in the 200m backstroke and whilst out there kept us all entertained with her experiences of the competition. Read Lizzie’s Commonwealth journey blog below (you won’t be disappointed!):
http://www.wellssportsfoundation.org/blo...egins.aspx
Being a big believer in incentives, Barrie recently made a deal with Lizzie that if she won a gold at the European Championships, he would let her drive his Bentley Continental GT! Something I think he was beginning to regret in the days leading up to the drive... but fortunately, Lizzie was as reliable in the Bentley as she is in the pool and the day was a blast with the Sky News Olympic team also coming along for the ride. –This coverage will be coming soon!
Hannah Miley has also had a great year, winning gold medals at the European Championships and Commonwealth games and has now moved herself into pole position currently being ranked world’s number 1 in the 400m IM. Hannah lives in Aberdeen and is coached by her father Patrick Miley. Patrick is a highly innovative guy and also invented the ‘Aquapacer’ which for those of you that don’t know is a swim rate monitoring device that represented a breakthrough in training stroke maintenance! Hannah uses the funding to ensure that she is always in comfortable surroundings when away at training camps and competitions and is using this quarter’s funding for a unique trip to Perth, Australia, to spend some time with the likes of top class swimmers, Blair Evans and Jessica Pengelly, to strengthen some of her strokes and to also use some of the best equipment in the world to identify her weaknesses as well as opportunities to develop. Hannah will be keeping us up to date with her Aussie experience for the next 6 weeks and after day 5, we feel tired just reading about her regime! We would like to invite you all to read Hannah’s blog. If you are a keen swimmer or have a keen interest in swimming, you will definitely enjoy learning about Hannah’s activities.
http://www.wellssportsfoundation.org/blo...ience.aspx
Anne Bochmann is our force to be reckoned with... our just turned 17 year old powerhouse who is becoming ‘one to watch’ for 2012... especially after such an awe inspiring performance at the Commonwealths when she competed so brilliantly with some of our best (Rebecca Adlington, Jo Jackson, Jaz Carlin) during the 400m freestyle, just missing out on second place in the final seconds to finish 4th, getting commentator Mark Foster very excited in the BBC studio. In Anne’s case, the funding is used for taxis to and from the pool, morning and evening, with a normal school day allotted between. This has enabled Anne to relocate to Leeds to be closer to her coach, Dave Calleja. Anne is one of our star Ambassadors, having already done 5 grassroots events which have involved her conducting presentations to students older than her who sat in awe of her attitude, coaching a group of young non-swimming boys who were out to impress and lots and lots of small group sessions based around health and exercise.
Caitlin McClatchey is a name that has been at the top of British Swimming for a good few years now. She is a Commonwealth Games double gold medalist and, more recently, picked up a bronze medal at the Worlds as part of Team GBs 4x200m freestyle relay team. Caitlin has this year suffered from illness but is now putting plans in place to come back stronger than ever. Caitlin went along to a ‘Girls Active Life’ day along with Barrie to give a talk to a group of girls on the importance of being active and got them trying out lots of different activities... Barrie was also roped into trying out a bit of hula hooping!
Despite their demanding training schedules, Lizzie, Hannah, Anne and Caitlin have shown great commitment to their Ambassador roles, demonstrating their all round qualities as role models as they progress on their journeys to become the faces of 2012. The scheme has now been going for a year and has been extremely successful. See some of our case study events below:
http://www.wellssportsfoundation.org/gra...jects.aspx
Spread the word of our Ambassador scheme in which we have Ambassadors based in Aberdeen, Avon, Berkshire, Cambridgeshire, Greater Manchester, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Merseyside, Nottingham and Yorkshire
The Foundation is going from strength to strength and also provides sports grants of between £500 and £2,000 to sports clubs in the North West. We have also just taken on a 10 seater corporate box at Liverpool FC to take disadvantaged children to enjoy a Premiership match from the luxury of a box... something that usually players have for their families or only the likes of big brand companies are able to provide to their best clients! Barrie has now set off into wanting other Premiership clubs to find like minded individuals to do the same.
The Wells Sports Foundation is a unique concept which is growing all the time. It is so important that young people are inspired in the lead up to 2012 and beyond. So spread the word of the Wells Sports Foundation... keep up to date with our Ambassadors journeys and now we have introduced ourselves, we will update regularly with news about our swimmers and the Foundation’s activities.
Who knows where our road to 2012 will lead us to next!!
WELLS SPORTS FOUNDATION ïŠ
