Athlete Mentors from Dame Kelly Holmes Trust shared the impact that mentoring has on young people through On Track to Achieve (OTTA) during a collaboration day in our Sheffield HQ.
Westfield Health are proud to be working alongside the Trust on our collective ambition to positively impact social inequality and transform the mental and physical wellbeing of young people in the region. Athlete mentors use their unique skills from the world of elite level sport to pass on their knowledge and inspiration to young people.
The athletes connect with mentees with a great deal of empathy and have a huge impact on increasing their resilience, self-esteem, and their confidence. With a growing number of people feeling as though their wellbeing is in decline, initiatives that focus on building resilience and wellbeing are more important than ever.
The Trust’s belief, founded in Dame Kelly’s own experiences as a young person, is: When someone believes in you, it’s incredible what you can do.
Building confidence in young people
The core skills that are the focus of the programme are: confidence, resilience, self-esteem, physical activity and wellbeing. Confidence empowers us to embrace opportunities and connect with others. Just like athletes perform at their best when they feel confident, prepared and assured in their training, young people can learn from them and thrive when equipped with the right skills and experiences.
“We aim to level the playing field and stack the odds in their favour—helping them develop confidence, resilience, and the belief that they can achieve their potential.”
Dame Kelly Holmes Trust
Henry Cookey, former Taekwondo Olympian and Athlete Mentor, emphasised that you don’t need a “superhuman trait” to be able to achieve. If young people are able to come out of their comfort zone and pursue their goals, then it’s possible to achieve anything.
On completing the programme last year, 90% of young people said they felt more confident about setting and achieving their goals.
The impact of having relatable mentors
Every young person deserves guidance, support, and someone who believes in them. With the right role model, the possibilities are endless. Young people in the On Track to Achieve programme are encouraged to start considering what they want their future to look like and what skills they want to focus on to help them get there.
Having an Athlete Mentor supports them in finding – or building on – their passions and taking steps to achieve their goals. Neil Danns, former British and European skateboarding champion and Athlete Mentor, shares how grateful he is to have found skateboarding as a sport:
When I was young, I didn’t have the greatest schooling. I fell off the rails a little bit [but] I found sport and [skateboarding] changed my life. There’s a lot of young kids we work with that don’t do great at school [and who] might have had adversity in their lives [like I did]. [Through the programme] I can pass on my knowledge of how I dealt with it and the skills I got from becoming an athlete [that I used to get through it].
Feedback from young people on the programme included: “Listening to Paul’s [Broadbent] story about his childhood, because he made me believe that if you put your mind to it you can do anything.”
The focus on wellbeing
In the last five years, there has been a 71% increase in young people being referred to mental health services.
Adam Whitehead, former European, Commonwealth and Olympic swimmer and Athlete Mentor, not only shares why the link between the On Track to Achieve programme and wellbeing is so meaningful, but how his own experiences have shaped his commitment to others.
Having faced his own mental health challenges, he understands the importance of providing young people with the right support and guidance:
“For me, the [most important part of the] On Track to Achieve programme, is that wellbeing focus. I think it’s amazing and something I wanted to be a part of because we’ve [all] experienced our own poor wellbeing or poor mental health challenges through our lives and, now [as Athlete Mentors we’re] in a place where we can support other people with that.”
Dame Kelly Homes Trust’s athlete mentors champion young people, providing personal, social and emotional support through the programme. The OTTA programme has made a profound impact on young people, especially those from deprived backgrounds. Last year we were delighted to see that young people reported a 70% increase in wellbeing.
“I’ve learnt that no matter how you grow up or who you grow up with, it is never an excuse to not go above and beyond.”
Young person, On Track to Achieve Programme
The impact of having mentors that care
Another inspiring thing we learned through speaking to the mentors is the dual benefit that this programme has. The athletes describe the programme as a deeply rewarding process where they can share their knowledge and skills to be able to inspire and support young people.
The Athlete Mentors have a passion for helping others and inspiring progress in young people. Seeing their growth, whether it’s overcoming challenges, developing new skills, or gaining self-belief, is both inspiring and fulfilling.
Adam Whitehead adds that being a mentor is like finding a sense of purpose; it’s “a reason to get up in the morning, so when you go to bed you know you’ve made an impact”.