Champion Ambassadors announced

Wednesday, 5 May 2010

Thirteen school-aged athletes have been appointed Champion Ambassadors for the 2010 Sainsbury's UK School Games which will be held in North East England from 2 to 5 September.

The Champion Ambassadors programme honours the outstanding performers from the 2009 UK School Games which were held in Wales. The 13 selected Ambassadors, which include at least one representative from each sport, will play an active role in contributing to the future development of the event. Alongside this, the ambassadors will contribute across varying other platforms including media activities associated with the Games, supporting peers in the athlete village and raising the profile of the Sainsbury's UK School Games.

Sainsbury's UK School Games President, Rt. Hon Richard Caborn MP, said:

"As President of the UK School Games, I have the great privilege and pleasure not only to see the benefit of the event's unique multi-sport environment for the elite young sports people each year, but also to personally work with a select group of Champion Ambassadors.

"Through the Champion Ambassador programme it is our aim to develop a group of young athletes who are not only able to be role models to their peers, but also to articulate the athletes' own perspective on their sporting experiences across a variety of sports to influence the future."

Alongside the newly elected Champion Ambassadors, the Youth Sport Trust also has Alumni Champion Ambassadors who have been through the programme at previous games. These include double swimming gold medallist at the Beijing Paralympics Eleanor Simmonds MBE, track star Ashlee Nelson who was part of the sprint squad in Beijing and Welsh Judo star Brandon Dodge. The role of the Alumni is shaped by their feedback, but in the past has included working with elite athlete mentors, supporting the VIP programme and providing leadership in the athletes village.

The 2010 Sainsbury's UK School Games Champion Ambassadors are:

Greg Louden - Athletics
Beth Woodward - Athletics
Kirsty Gilmour - Badminton
John Paul - Cycling
Soji Aiyenuro - Fencing
Courtney Tulloch - Gymnastics
Rhys Gowman - Hockey
Lewis Keeble - Judo
Jacob Laybourne - Swimming
James Clegg - Swimming
Paul McCreery - Table Tennis
Aaron McKibben - Table Tennis
Roman Neveykin - Volleyball