Young athletes meet MPs to highlight the challenges they face

Some of Britain’s most promising young athletes got to meet their MPs at the House of Commons this week at a special reception with SportsAid partner MyLotto24.

The event was attended by around 20 Peers and Members of Parliament and drew further support from former Olympic champion swimmer Duncan Goodhew, former world champion rower Annie Vernon and former Paralympic athletics champions Tanni Grey-Thompson and Danny Crates.

Host John Leech MP said the athletes made a big impression on him.

“You can’t be anything other than impressed,” he said. “These athletes get up at five in the morning, do the equivalent of a full day’s work in training and then do all of the other things they have to do in their lives as well, it’s amazing. When I was 18 years old the thought of doing a full day’s training and a full day’s school work was never on the agenda, so I’m very, very impressed.”

One of those athletes is 15-year-old Olympic hopeful Charlotte Hayward from Newent in Gloucestershire who competes in speed skating. During the event she said her SportsAid Award from MyLotto24 has been a particular help with her equipment costs, enabling her to buy a new handmade pair of boots “which help me to skate better and ultimately to progress.”

She added, “And because I travel 70 miles every week just to get to training and then competitions as well, I wouldn’t have been able to do all this without the money that MyLotto24 have given me through SportsAid.

“To know MPs are backing us will help promote our sports and hopefully bring new people into them. On a personal level, it’s great to know your community is behind you too.”

Like Charlotte, Paralympic gold medallist Danny Crates received support from SportsAid early in his career and said, “Support from companies like MyLotto24 is hugely important to SportsAid because it says to the young athletes ‘we believe in you so much we’re going to give you some money’ and that is a big incentive to them to keep going.

“When a big company says we think you’ve got a chance to be someone, that is huge for a young athlete at a stage when, as teenagers, life itself is becoming more interesting and their friends are starting to go out more, but sport is pulling them away from all that. We’ve all been there as young athletes and it’s a really tough time. This is where SportsAid has always stepped in and SportsAid can’t do that without brands like MyLotto24.”

John Leech MP added, “You only have to look at the success of all the athletes who have won medals at the Olympics and other big sporting events who have actually had the support from SportsAid, and how successful it’s been, that getting more companies involved in financially supporting SportsAid will no doubt have an impact on sport in the UK. I think it’s really important that we do our bit.”