National Talent Orientation Camp

Thursday, 8 January 2009

Our four-day National Talent Orientation Camp, which kicks off on Thursday 8 January, is for talented youngsters aged 14-18 years who are aiming to be part of their sport’s world-class talent confirmation phase of the Olympic and Paralympic pathways.

Each young athlete has been handpicked by their National Governing Body and will discover exactly what it takes to become the best. The sports are canoeing, sailing, rowing, cycling, hockey and wheelchair basketball.

The third annual camp makes use of Loughborough University’s leading sports facilities and aims to offer the youngsters a unique insight into the world of performance sport while preparing them for the different personal, sporting, academic and vocational challenges which lie ahead.

The camp combines high-quality training sessions with workshops delivered by former Olympic and Paralympic athletes. The camp includes keynote speeches on education and lifestyle planning, advice on drugs-free sport, a Higher Education Marketplace and the opportunity to quiz a panel of elite performers. There are also strands for parents and teachers to learn ways in which they can support the young athletes along their sporting and educational careers.

Seven out of ten of the 2008 World Junior Championships’ British team for canoeing attended a previous National Talent Orientation Camp, while 50% of the 2008 ISAF World Youth Championships’ British team for sailing also attended past Camps.

Former National Talent Orientation Camp attendees include canoeist Tom Brady who was shortlisted for the 2008 BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year Award and sailor Eifion Monn, who is on the British Olympic Association’s Olympic Ambition 2012 Programme.

More than 90 per cent of the young athletes who attended the 2008 National Talent Orientation Camp said they had a more positive attitude to their sport as a result, while nine out of ten had a more positive attitude towards training.