Mintridge and Bowbridge Bronze Hockey Presentation Programme with Shona McCallin MBE
Team Mintridge ended a productive week with another Bronze Programme school visit, which was kindly donated by Bowbridge Homes. The Mintridge Team were joined again by the amazing Shona McCallin MBE as we visited Robert Smyth Academy for a day of inspirational presentations all about Shona’s journey to becoming an Olympic champion.
During the morning, Shona highlighted the importance of sticking to your core values. She explained how she had needed to find her love of hockey again, after she fell out of love with the game and wanted to give up, early on into her career. But by sticking to her core values, Shona remembered why she fell in love with hockey in the first place, which enabled her to re-evaluate her personal circumstances and slowly build a relationship back with the sport. This taught all the children a valuable lesson about stepping back and thinking about their “why” and what can be changed in their situations, rather than just giving up.
Shona also highlighted the importance of using your support network around you. In life, everyone faces tough times and Shona encouraged the children to always speak to those around you for advice and support, such as family, friends, or teachers. Shona’s key takeaway was for the students to, “talk to people around you for support and advice”, as “making big decisions requires communicating with your support network.”
As the sessions continued throughout the morning, an emerging theme from Shona’s presentation was to never give up. She asked the children what passions they had, and the students who answered spoke about football, basketball, rugby, and journalism and how they love playing with their friends, getting stuck in competitively and being creative. Shona then reminded them not to forget about how they feel and remember what they love about their passion, when everything gets tough. Shona wanted the students to have a growth mindset and not give up when faced with a challenge.
Shona said, “When times get tough, don’t give up!”
Shona explained in order to reach a goal in life, you must go through highs and lows as it is never a straightforward journey. By experiencing the lows, Shona believes that this makes you stronger and more resilient for when a tough time occurs again. Shona related this to the Great British Hockey Performance pathway and how some people make it smoothly to the top, whereas others climb the ladder and fall off the ladder further up. She indicated that this is an important life lesson to understand and with the support of your network around you, you should never give up.
The children were very engaged throughout the whole presentation and Shona gave some good examples that the children could relate to in their own lives. She also explained the sacrifices of winning a gold medal and how much she had to prioritise and how hard she had to work in order to win, showing the children that nothing comes easy in life unless you try.
Each session throughout the morning gave the students time to reflect and ask some amazing questions to our Olympic gold medallist.
A student asked “How do you overcome your nerves?”
Shona answered, “preparation is key and making mistakes is ok. You learn from them so you shouldn’t fight it, just relax and enjoy the opportunity.”
One student asked, “What motivates you the most?”
Shona answered, “I think when you find your “why” so why you fell in love with that sport / hobby and that motivates me to battle through the tough patches”
Another student asked,“How much is your medal worth?”
Shona replied, “About £800, but I’m never ever selling it, as this medal is worth more to me than any money!”
The visit was very inspirational, and Shona came along with her Rio 2016 Olympic gold medal, which the children’s jaws dropped at. Due to COVID the medal could not be passed around, but it obviously looked so impressive from afar!
Team Mintridge would like to say a big thank you to Robert Smyth Academy for inviting us into their school, and we would also like to say a big thank you to Bowbridge Homes for generously donating this Programme to the school.
Bowbridge Homes is a local house builder, who develop high specification properties, in and around Northamptonshire and have donated this programme because of the partnership that they have developed with The Mintridge Foundation.
Bowbridge Homes partner with the Mintridge Foundation because community is incredibly important to them and they want to create and develop the communities that they currently work with. For this reason, they fund at least one programme with the Mintridge Foundation at a school close to each of their developments, throughout the academic year. Having seen first-hand the positive impact that each of our visits creates, Bowbridge Homes hope to put something back into the community and inspire a future generation to chase after their goals.
We are very grateful to Bowbridge Homes for supporting this Programme today. Find out more about Bowbridge Homes and The Mintridge Foundation’s partnership via the link below.
https://www.mintridgefoundation.org.uk/mintridge-foundation/thankfulthursdaywithbowbridgeh
We are delighted to be featured in the Harborough Mail regarding our visit, visit their article here.
To find out more about our Mintridge Mentoring Programmes that can be delivered remotely, or if you are interested in a school or club visit from one of our Mintridge Ambassadors, then please get in touch with The Mintridge Foundation, via any of our social media channels, or send an email to katie@mintridge.org.uk
