Young athletes across Buckinghamshire are set to benefit from a decade-old talent development programme backed by big names in British sport.<\/p>\n
Everyone Active\u2019s Sporting Champions scheme, now in its 10th year, has already helped more than 6,000 athletes nationwide by offering free access to training facilities at over 250 leisure centres, including Chesham Leisure Centre, Chalfont Leisure Centre and the Chilterns Lifestyle Centre.<\/p>\n
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This year, a record 1,700 athletes have joined the scheme, including Buckinghamshire\u2019s Emma Savage, a 23-year-old lacrosse player for Team GB and England.<\/p>\n
Mari Durward-Akhurst, Sporting Champion in Buckinghamshire (Image: Everyone Active)<\/p>\n
She said: “Lacrosse is now in the Olympics in 2028 and my 2026\/2027 aspiration would be to qualify for the Olympics at the European championships in Spain with team GB.”<\/p>\n
Also among the cohort is 32-year-old Paralympic dressage medallist Mari Durward-Akhurst, who trains at the Chilterns Lifestyle Centre.<\/p>\n
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She said: “Being part of the Sporting Champions scheme has helped me to be able to perform at my best when it matters and has contributed to my recent medal success.<\/p>\n
“Using the gym on a regular basis and also the hand bike and SkiErg for fitness as helped me to stay strong despite a degenerative condition and also to improve my stamina when I am in the saddle. Having a gym so local that is easy to access means that I can go there often even when I have a busy training schedule.”<\/p>\n
The scheme also offers athletes expert mentoring from an elite panel of Olympians and Paralympians, including Lauren Steadman, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, Emma Finucane, Maisie Summers-Newton and Richard Kilty.<\/p>\n
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Emma Savage, Sporting Champion in Buckinghamshire (Image: Everyone’s Active)<\/p>\n
Workshops cover topics such as mental wellbeing, nutrition, managing finances, social media and media training, with additional webinars delivered in partnership with national governing bodies.<\/p>\n
Olympic silver medallist and former world record holder Colin Jackson CBE remains the scheme\u2019s ambassador.<\/p>\n
Mr Jackson said: “I am incredibly passionate about nurturing young talent and the Sporting Champions scheme goes above and beyond in this mission.<\/p>\n
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“My role is to pass my knowledge, experience and expertise on to the next generation of super-talented athletes.<\/p>\n
“Seeing these future champions flourish throughout each year as they gain confidence fuels my excitement for what’s to come.”<\/p>\n
The scheme has invested more than \u00a32 million into supporting young athletes over the past nine years.<\/p>\n
Twenty-six Sporting Champions competed in the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, earning nine gold, six silver and eight bronze medals.<\/p>\n
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Steve Salwa, area contract manager at Everyone Active, praised the programme\u2019s impact in Buckinghamshire.<\/p>\n
He said: “The profound impact Sporting Champions has on emerging talent from Buckinghamshire each year is always amazing to see, and we are excited to be supporting more athletes than ever on their journey to sporting success.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Young athletes across Buckinghamshire are set to benefit from a decade-old talent development programme backed by big names…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[28724,209454,209456,6647,102,34981,209455,56,54,55,190664],"class_list":["post-615549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-buckinghamshire","tag-chalfont-leisure-centre","tag-emma-savage","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-scheme","tag-sporting-champion","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-young-athletes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}