GB ATHLETE Hannah England met students from schools across Wellingborough and East Northamptonshire earlier this month when she visited Irthlingborough’s Frontier Centre.
The World Championship Silver Medallist launched the new WEN Leadership Academy for Schools in Wellingborough & East Northants during her visit, organised by the School Sport Partnership.
Fresh from winning the British Indoor 1500m Title in Sheffield, Hannah has chosen to get back into training for the forthcoming Rio Olympic Games, instead of representing GB at the World Indoor Championships in Oregon, USA.
She travelled from her training base in Birmingham to meet local students and bring to life the two key themes of the launch – Communication and Resilience.
Seven schools from Wellingborough and East Northamptonshire have signed up to the Secondary Leadership Academy for students in Year 8 & 9. For the first session, 30 students attended from Rushden Academy, The Ferrers School, Wrenn Academy and Weavers Academy.
After an initial welcome and motivational speech from Hannah England, students were divided into groups to take part in climbing and high ropes activities, led by centre instructors. The students were challenged out of their comfort zones and worked together to develop their communication skills to complete the activities.
Hannah, former team captain at the 2014 European Championships, said: “It was great to be part of the Launch of the Leadership Academy, I really enjoyed meeting all the students at The Frontier Centre. Leadership training provides some brilliant opportunities for students to develop their leadership skills for sport and life.
“The themes of the day, Communication and Resilience, were skills that have been very important to me in my athletics career so far. I shared some of the stories of my journey to London 2012 when setbacks and injuries out of my control taught me some valuable lessons. I was fortunate to work with Dame Kelly Holmes through the ‘On Camp with Kelly’ project; the mentoring I received gave me a real boost to deal with challenges and improve my resilience and confidence to communicate well.”
School sport manager for Northamptonshire Sport (Wellingborough & East Northamptonshire), Hannah Hore, said: “It was a brilliant afternoon with the launch of our new leadership academy. We cannot underestimate the importance of developing young leaders and working on employability skills for life. The School Games provide us with a unique opportunity to engage and develop young leaders all year round with 60 primary and secondary level 2 competitions each year.”
The next session for the WEN Leadership Academy will take place on Friday April 15 at The Frontier Centre, Irthlingborough.
Pictured above – INSPIRATION: Hannah England meets the WEN students.