Our Next Generation Athletes have recently recorded a string of fantastic individual achievements and personal milestones.
SSE’s Next Generation programme provides young athletes from Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland with vital support including financial aid and mentoring from elite athletes to help them achieve sporting excellence.
In November table tennis player Maria Tsaptsinos, from Reading, successfully retained the Junior National Titles for both singles and doubles for the second year in a row at the National Championships event in Preston.
Two promising swimming prospects also had a successful November.
Thomas Hamer, from Lancashire, was invited by the Brazilian Government to compete in the Jogos Escolares Brasileiros (Brazil School Games), giving him a taste of international competition and what it might be like to compete in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Fellow swimmer Oliver Carter, from Fife, tasted success in Manchester recently, achieving two silvers in the 100m backstroke and 100m freestyle, along with a bronze in the 200m individual medley.
October saw Glaswegian track cyclist Jack Carlin enter the Scottish Championships, competing in the Senior Open Sprint, Open Kierin and Junior Sprint. Jack was in direct competition with some of Team Scotland’s Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games athletes and was delighted to finish fourth in the Kierin, sixth in the Senior Open Sprint and fourth in the Junior Sprint.
Cyclists Lauren Booth and Lauren Bate-Low met six-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy at the Lee Valley Velopark, the scene of Hoy’s greatest triumph, in September. The event was also attended by 32 SSE customers and employees who had taken part in a prize draw to win a unique learning session on the track with the cycling legend.
Referring to SSE’s Next Generation Athletes programme, Sir Chris Hoy said: “For an energy company to put on an event like this is rare and shows they are serious about making a difference and maintaining their commitment to helping the next generation of sporting stars.
“It’s a special day for everyone involved including the family of those who came along to watch their loved ones, as well as the people who got to experience the velodrome for the first time and cycle - it was an amazing day.”
The Next Generation Athletes, aged between 13 and 25, have been identified as potential Commonwealth Games and Olympic medallists of the future.