UK Sport

Fighting Chance Final Five Meet the Media

The Fighting Chance final five with coach Paul Green and mentor Sarah Stevenson
UK Sport

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UK Sport 09 September 2010

Six weeks after beginning full time training with the British Elite Taekwondo Academy, the five newest recruits to the squad, selected through the talent transfer campaign ‘Fighting Chance’, faced the media for the first time at their training academy in Manchester.

The ‘Fighting Chance’ initiative, launched last October by Sport Taekwondo UK and the UK Talent Team (UK Sport and English Institute of Sport), is hoping to harness transferable talents from athletes from other martial arts, who have not had the opportunity to compete in the Olympic code of the sport, with the ultimate aim a podium place in 2012.

“I’ve been watching this crop of athletes closely for the last six weeks and they’re learning really quickly."
Gary Hall, Performance Director, Sport Taekwondo UK

Yesterday was the first opportunity members of the media had the chance to watch the three men and two women, selected from over 1000 initial applicants, train under the expert eye of former Olympian Paul Green. It also gave the five new recruits Ruebyn Richards, Andrew Deer, Damon Sansum, Sophie Dickson and Lauren Price the opportunity to experience life in the media spotlight, a worthwhile experience as media attention increases in the build up to 2012.

Watching the new recruits train yesterday was Sport Taekwondo UK Performance Director Gary Hall, who said: “I’ve been watching this crop of athletes closely for the last six weeks and they’re learning really quickly. It’s too early to predict the success or failure of the project but it is certainly very exciting because these guys are picking up things quickly and moving forward.”

Paul Mullan, EIS Talent ID Scientist

The day was also an opportunity to speak to the athletes about the support they receive on top of their coaching such as on hand physiotherapy support from the English Institute of Sport. Speaking at the media training day yesterday, Paul Mullen, Senior Talent Identification Scientist for the UK Talent Team, said: “The programme wouldn’t be effective without funding, sport science and medical support. As important as identifying the talent is, the environment that they are immersed into to accelerate their development is essential. Given the times frames we’re dealing with it’s vital they have the strength and conditioning, physiotherapy and performance analysis support.

Keep your eye on the UK Sport website over the coming weeks for interviews with each of the chosen athletes about how they felt when they were selected, how their life has changed since becoming a full time academy member and what their hopes and ambitions are for the future.

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