Team Mintridge took a virtual trip to Corby Technical School today for an Inspirational Presentation Programme with Justine Lucas following the school’s Covid – 19 guidelines.

This programme has been kindly supported by the Wilson Foundation, a registered charity who give a helping hand to people in Northamptonshire by donating considerable funds to those who could benefit from it. We are very grateful to the Wilson Foundation for supporting this programme today, so we can continue our work supporting young people. Supporting the physical and mental wellbeing of our students has become more important than ever following the impact of the pandemic and the abrupt changes to school careers.

Justine Lucas, who is a former professional England Rugby player delivered a very inspirational presentation to students from year 10, 9, 8 and 7 throughout the programme. Our empowering Mintridge Ambassador started her presentation talking about the level of rugby she has played at; England, Wasps and Loughborough Lightning. As well as this she has also juggled a full-time job alongside her rugby career which showcased to the students the importance of a life balance and a life off the pitch – something that the Mintridge Foundation focuses on with their partners at Switch the Play.

Justine also spoke passionately about dealing with setbacks and how she learnt the importance of being resilient. The 2017 Six Nations Grand Slam Champion also spoke about dealing with an injury and how she did what she could to get back onto the pitch to continue to love what she does – playing rugby! She also taught the students about the importance of a support bubble around her and how her teammates picked her up and gave her the motivation to continue:

“It’s ok to have a blip but then you must try to re-set and aim towards your goals again”

Following this, Justine spoke about how to use these setbacks as your motivation and that it is so important to remember that sometimes not everything in life comes easy and that everyone has to deal with lows and setbacks in their life. A key message that showcases how the lessons learnt in sport are transferable into life as well, no matter your age, your background or your passion.

Justine’s journey to the World Cup Final with the Red Roses was not achieved by focusing solely on Rugby, when working with the Year 10 cohort, she stressed the importance of using sport as a release from studying for their GCSE’s and highlighted how you should have a balance between sport and studying. Justine inspired the year 10s by telling them how vital it is to plan and prioritise aspects in life in order to be successful and happy and that you have to work hard for what you want. 

Recently, in the media there has been a lot of attention centred on female rugby players in relation to challenging stereotypes. Justine sees her role as an ex elite athlete as a platform for change; she is at the forefront of pushing for equality between males and females in sport and emphasised to the students that:

“Just because we’re female does not mean we can’t play rugby”

With other year groups, Justine spoke to the students about topics that she has learnt throughout her illustrious career, such as dealing with external pressure and self-care. She has learnt to deal with the pressure and likes to switch off from her rugby bubble when she is not playing which helps to relax her. She also highlighted the added pressure that social media brings to her life and that at times, her coach tells the team to turn phones off to prevent a negative wellbeing and to avoid the external pressure. Justine spoke to the students about how important self-care is and how important it is to have another hobby outside of your chosen sport which enables you to focus on something else when you need to. 

The final presentation of the programme was with year 7 students, Justine talked about how she managed and organised her time by setting goals. She expressed about how she has missed out on a lot throughout her life as she had to make those sacrifices to put her rugby career first. She also taught the students that if you want to play at elite level, that comes first so therefore you have to plan around it but it is equally as important to make sure you have things to look forward to.

Justine finished off her presentations, speaking about her achievements in her rugby career and how challenging the experience of getting her first cap for England was, learning that she needed to be fitter and this motivated her to train harder for the next game. Justine wowed the students by showing a photo of herself at her 30th cap game playing alongside her childhood role model, nothing is impossible, set yourself goals which you can aim for.   

The students from Corby Technical School asked some great questions including:

“If you went back to when you were 15 years old what’s the biggest bit of advice you could give yourself?”

“What advice would you give students who must juggle school, a part time job and sport? “

“What advice would you give to a teenage girl who experiences barriers to sport in relation to confidence? “

“Why did you pick rugby over any other sports? “

“How did you deal with stereotypes? “

“Have you ever wanted to quit? “

“What meals do you have as part of your training plan? “

“What is the toughest game you’ve ever played? “

“What did you think about the unfairness of women’s rugby until 2017? “

“What is your second favourite sport? “

“At the height of your career how many hours did you have to train per week?“

Thank you to the teachers and students at Corby Technical School, for welcoming Team Mintridge to virtually visit your school today. We are extremely grateful to the Wilson Foundation for supporting this Programme and enabling us to support students across Northamptonshire, building on their incredible support in 2019. We are looking forward to working with more schools in the near future, thanks to the special support from all of the trustees at the Wilson Foundation.

If you are interested in a Programme with Justine Lucas or any of our other Mintridge Ambassadors, or you are interested in a Virtual or Physical Programme with one of our team of inspirational Ambassadors, then please get in touch via the Mintridge website at www.mintridgefoundation.org.uk or with Katie at katie@mintridge.org.uk.

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