"Sport is something you do, it does not define who you are." - Grace Harrison delivers a live presentation and Q&A to the Sport Scholars at Howell's School.
“Sport is something you do it does not define who you are.”
We were delighted to spend the evening at Howells School with the wonderful former Commonwealth Games gymnastics competitor Grace Harrison, as part of their Talented Athlete Programme.
The Sport Scholars at Howell’s School spent the evening listening to Grace relay her story about her journey through Gymnastics so far, and what it took for her to make it to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Starting her gymnastics career at 3 years old, Grace has been on an incredible journey that is jam packed full of life lessons and advice that she could share with the students at Howell’s school.
With the students at Howell’s competing in numerous different sports, they could all listen and learn so much from Grace’s journey along with taking away some new body management tools, goal setting tools and other tips and tricks that Grace has learnt along the way, that they can also use to keep them in their sport as long as possible.
Throughout this wonderful presentation, Grace shared some of her brilliant lessons with the students including talking about how much the negatives and the set backs in her career, really helped her appreciate and work towards the positives and make them even better! She said;
“You do not realise how much you enjoy something until you cannot do it anymore”.
Grace is a fantastic role model to so many young people, including the students on this virtual programme as she is resilient and has perservered during her elite career, especially when times got tough. On her journey to elite success, Grace set out her own pathway and that when she was thrown a curve ball and the plan didn’t work out, she had to accept it, be resilient and go again. Grace also highlighted to the students on the call the importance of having role models and someone to look up to on this journey, so you can have someone to follow or guide you in the right direction. Grace also reiterated to the students that they too are role models, and so many younger athletes will look up to them and what they are doing so the students always need to remember the influence they can have and set a good example for others to follow and learn from.
A relatable topic for the older students was how to balance sport and education. Grace did this by balancing her University degree whilst competing at an elite level and was able to speak to the students about the importance of being self driven and that she had to stay organised and reach out to her support network if she needed help. From this, Grace then spoke about how sport doesn’t define who you are and that you also need to think about who you are outside of sport and focus on building an individual holistic identity for yourself, as this improves all areas of your life.
Learning from your own journey is a reflective thing to do and Grace inspired the young talented students on the call by explaining to them the lessons she’s learnt on her own journey and what she would change if she could go back in time. Grace admitted that she was so serious and didn’t give herself the opportunity to step back and enjoy the moments when she was in them. Grace ended the call with an important message to the students about following your own individual journey and not comparing yourself to others but instead to…
“Use others as motivation to push you to do your best.”
The best questions from this wonderful evening at Howell’s School are below;
How did you find the Northern Europeans after the Commonwealth Games?
How did you plan for the Commonwealth Games?
If you are quite good at your sport in a smaller place, you get to go to big competitions and represent your country in your sport. What would you say is your favourite place to go to?
What did you eat and how often did you eat for your fuel?
What did you do to replace your hours of gym?
How did you cope with the body changes?
Did you enjoy competing or would you find competing terrifying?
What could gymnastics do to make gymnastics more appealing for athletes and enable them to stay in the sport for longer?
Thank you to the students and staff from Howell’s School for being on this fantastic call with Grace Harrison as part of your Talented Athlete Programme.
We hope you have taken something valuable away from Grace’s inspiring journey which you can implement into your own lives. Thank you to the staff for helping us to organise this programme, we are very grateful that we are able to inspire your students.
If you are interested in a virtual or physical Programme with Grace Harrison or any of our other inspirational Ambassadors, then please get in touch via the Mintridge website at www.mintridgefoundation.org.uk or with Katie at katie@mintridge.org.uk.
The Mintridge Foundation is a registered charity dedicated to enhancing life skills in young people through sport. We provide a support network for young people by harnessing the power of positive sporting role models. The Mintridge Foundation assists young people of all ages, abilities, and physical capabilities to develop confidence and resilience, and creates awareness of the importance of mental and physical wellbeing through sport.
Our team of Ambassadors - Olympians, Paralympians and other professional sports stars from over 20 sports, both team and individual - work with young people in schools, clubs and academies across the UK. Starting with visits including assemblies, coaching clinics and classroom sessions tailored to each organisation’s requirements, our ambassadors can then provide one- on- one remote mentoring in a safeguarded environment, delivered via technology such as FitSwarm and Playwaze to build a lasting legacy for individuals.
The Mintridge Foundation’s successes demonstrate the incredible power of sport; from a mentee’s selection to represent Great Britain in their chosen field to enabling disabled children to find confidence and happiness just through participation. Understanding life after sport, we also support our Ambassadors in their transition from active sport to the next stage of their careers.
To find out more about the Mintridge Foundation, please contact Alex Wallace.
