Paul Casey inspires future GB stars

Earlier this week, English professional golfer Paul Casey joined 18 youngsters from Archbishop Lanfranc School, Croydon, Harris Academy, Merton, and Woodcote High School, Coulsdon to celebrate the sporting successes of the young athletes at the end of their school year.  These young people are amongst 22 exceptionally talented young athletes currently taking part in a STARS programme funded by The Paul Casey Foundation.

Paul, who has had a succession of injuries over the past few years, led a discussion at Mitcham Golf Club with the young athletes, aged between 12-15 years old, on injury prevention, rehabilitation and coping with setbacks. The athletes also had the opportunity to quiz Paul on all aspects of his sporting journey, aims and aspirations, and the pressures and requirements of becoming an elite sports performer.

Since 2010, the Paul Casey Foundation has been working with the Youth Sport Trust to support the STARS programme, which works with schools that have four or more exceptionally talented young sports people. The programme is designed to enable young athletes to achieve their academic and sporting potential and help their school build a culture of aspiration and success for all its pupils. The Foundation is also supporting the Trust to provide thousands of Primary School children throughout the South West London andSurreyarea with opportunities to develop skills in a range of sports through a programme of Multi-Skills Festivals.

"The evening was a great opportunity for me to catch up with the young athletes from the STARS schools, and hear how their year had progressed. We discussed how tough it was being injured and how best to approach your recovery in order to return to competition quickly and safely. Recounting my own experiences of the past few years hopefully provided them with some insight and understanding of the setbacks they might encounter along their sporting journey." said Paul

Guin Batten, STARS Project Manager at the Youth Sport Trust said: "It's great that these young people have the opportunity to meet a professional athlete and gain good insight and understanding around what it takes to really be at the top of their game. The aim of STARS is to help schools to better support their exceptionally talented young athletes, allowing them to balance their lives, so they can achieve their potential both in their sport and their studies."