A Note from the CEO: Nov 24
Martin shares his thoughts on our latest initiative for athletes
After a successful year as interim Chief Executive of Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, we’re delighted to announce Martin Talbot will be steering the Trust forward permanently as CEO.
In his first blog post as CEO, Martin discusses the important work that happens ‘behind the scenes’ to help elite athletes transition from the world of sport and become amazing youth mentors, and to highlight what we’re doing today in this area.
“Each year our athlete mentors support young people like Tyrone to become the best version of themselves.” Read more about Tyrone’s story here.
When Dame Kelly Holmes hung up her running shoes, she realised that for many of her friends and peers the transition from elite sport to ‘what next’ was going to be difficult. Kelly also rightly recognised that athletes possess an amazing set of skills, experiences and a mindset which sets them apart from others and that they had the potential to ‘give back’ through becoming mentors for vulnerable young people.
Just imagine having an Olympian in your corner, helping you to manage anxiety and stress? So powerful. And so, behind our youth work, Dame Kelly Holmes Trust has provided a safe space, full of compassion and peer support to help over 600 elite athletes, like triple Olympian Yona Knight Wisdom, transition from competitive sport into the next chapter of their lives, including as Trust Athlete Mentors for young people. Indeed, 92% of our current Athlete team agreed that ‘my role as an Athlete Mentor gives me a new purpose outside of my sporting career’.
“The Trust was a lifeline when I first transitioned out of sport. Being an athlete mentor and inspiring other young people made me realise that I could be successful in my life beyond sport” (Trust Athlete Mentor)
A lack of funding has reduced our capacity to provide this transition support in recent times. Fast forward to now, and I’m delighted to say we are going back to our roots thanks to funding from Jacobs Futura Foundation. In partnership with Switch the Play and Mintridge Foundation we have launched a new, enhanced transition programme for Olympic and Paralympic athletes which you can see here.
We are really excited to be doing more in this space again, which also enables us to support more vulnerable young people in our communities.
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