The Mintridge Foundation CPD Day

The Mintridge Foundation consists of such an array of wonderful people that bring together and implement the great work we do as a charity. From our amazing Olympians, Paralympians, professional and retired sports stars, who make up our team of Ambassadors, to the trustees, supporters, funders and network of partners, the team really does encompass an inspirational bunch of people, that in one way or another enable the charity to perform at its best.

This is why it is so important for us to bring together these amazing people and give them all an opportunity to meet, discuss and celebrate their involvement with the charity through our CPD days. These days also offer the Ambassadors a chance to develop the skills they require now as inspirational Mintridge mentors, but also in their lives in and out of sport, for when they do reach that stage of transition.

In December 2021, despite the challenges that we have all faced over the last couple of years and the ever-changing environment, Team Mintridge got together at The Peterborough School, for a brilliant CPD day and celebration of the last couple of years. It was a great opportunity for everyone to meet face to face for the first time in a long time and learn from DOCIAsport and Ben Croucher from the BBC, through our partnership with the Switch the Play Foundation.

As inspirational role models, our Ambassadors are constantly thinking about how they can be the best versions of themselves, in order to inspire the next generation of young people on their own journeys. It is integral for them to receive the training that we provide for them through Switch the Play Foundation because we fully appreciate that not every great sportsperson is a positive role model. At Mintridge, we know that just because you have reached the top of your game in a particular sport, doesn’t mean you have learnt all the skills needed to be a great storyteller, mentor and role model for young people during that sporting journey, but we do realise the platforms they have. Therefore, we want to nurture and support our Ambassadors who want to utilise their platforms for social change and ensure that they have the most positive influence possible, as Mintridge Ambassadors. These bespoke workshops, designed for them, enable the Ambassadors to learn from each other and the lessons that can be drawn from the different sports our Ambassadors represent as well as develop their own communication and presentation skills at the same time.

DOCIAsport introduced our training day with their bespoke “Take and Give Care Workshop”, which covered so many different personal topics and got the Ambassadors and partners taking part to think more about themselves and how they can support other people’s mental health too. As DOCIAsport says, “How do you expect to support someone else, when you are not supporting and looking after yourself!”. At any stage in their lives or careers, the Ambassadors will face challenges that they cannot prepare for or come up against setbacks that they cannot control, so we are pleased that DOCIAsport joined us on this day to get the Ambassadors thinking, talking and really developing their own mental health toolkit.

How do you tell your story to make the most impact and inspire those around you? Well, this is exactly what Ben Croucher from the BBC, through Switch the Play Foundation was working on with our Mintridge team during the day. Not only was Ben sharing some top tips with the Ambassadors about how they can develop their storytelling skills he was also helping them to prepare for life outside of sport and their current or future transitions out of their professional careers. It was incredibly insightful for the Ambassadors to be able to learn more from Ben during this session and also share more with each other about how to be and portray the best version of themselves to inspire others. Something that is incredibly important for our school programmes and the young people we work with to be able to see.

Limitless

As part of our day, we were also pleased to invite Limitless kit and their Limitless Ambassadors to join us to meet our Mintridge family. During the day, they all had the opportunity to hear from and be coached by, Ben Smith – our cricket Ambassador and also meet the other members of the Mintridge team too. The Limitless Ambassadors are all budding young athletes and meeting our Mintridge Ambassadors, as part of this CPD day, is the perfect chance for them to learn what it takes to compete at the top of their game, by inspirational sporting role models who have excelled within their sports and careers and achieved extraordinary things during their sporting journeys.

After a busy morning, the Mintridge Ambassadors spent their lunch break chatting to the Limitless Ambassadors about their lives and journeys and gave them the opportunity to ask any questions they had about their sports in particular, or anything that could help them on their own journeys to success.

Awards

Not only do the Mintridge team work hard, but we also make sure we reward and celebrate the small and the big wins during the year, and the huge achievements that are gained by the people supporting our charity.

The Anna Horrell Award

Our Founder, Alex Wallace, took to the stage after lunch to introduce the Anna Horrell award and present this alongside Anna’s family, who could join us on the day. In previous years we have had to present this award online, but this year we had the great pleasure of announcing this in person to the well-deserved winner. Anna Horrell attended The Peterborough School as a student when it was Westwood House and Jeanne Channell, Anna’s mother, taught at The Peterborough School, so this was a lovely way to celebrate the memory of Anna through this award.

Mrs Raitt from The Peterborough School joined the Mintridge team for the day and is photographed here with Jeanne Channell who used to teach at the school.

A huge congratulations goes to George Bryant-Nichols, a Limitless Kit Ambassador, who received this award for the excellent mentoring programme he gave his full attention to with our Ambassador, Ben Smith.

**George Bryant - Nichols**

**Anna Horrell Award Winner 2021**
As part of this award, George received his own Mintridge caricature and his name will be added to the Anna Horrell shield.

Ambassador Awards

The Mintridge Ambassadors always have a lot of fun throughout the year. This year we have challenged the team to a selfie competition, with numerous objects included in their selfies (which has become very competitive!). So we took this opportunity to award this year’s winner of the selfie competition, to our gymnastics Ambassador Grace Harrison. It was a close call between our new Ambassador Joe Harris and a cute entry from Jamie Cachia’s daughter, our future hockey Ambassador.

Selected by an anonymous panel, our Judo Ambassador, Nekoda Davis, also rose to glory winning this year's Christmas Jumper competition, beating Fil Kamps again for another year.

Ambassador Fundraiser of the Year Award

Without the support of some incredible fundraisers this year, The Mintridge Foundation would not be able to deliver as many of our school programmes, up and down the country. So, it was very important for us to congratulate and celebrate our Ambassador fundraiser of the year and our fundraiser/s of the year for everything they have done for Mintridge, even during a pandemic!

Well done and thank you to our Ambassador Fundraiser of the Year, Patrick Foster for raising £3,445 during the 2021 London Marathon in a brilliant time of 3 hours and 20 minutes!

Click here to read more about this brilliant fundraising effort from Patrick.

Fundraiser of the Year Award

Our next award went to the incredible 40B440 team, who completely blew us all away with their 29-hour cycle and Guinness World Record attempt, led by our trustee Jackie Scully! Our Ambassador Heather Fell and our Founder, Alex Wallace., with a team of 12 other cyclists, and lots of supporters, guest riders and strength and determination, managed to raise an incredible £42,405.48 for The Mintridge Foundation and three other charities, CoppaFeel, NHS Charities Together and Mind. We could not be prouder of everyone that got involved. We are delighted to award our trustee, Jackie Scully the Fundraiser of the Year award for leading the team forward… I don't think we will see that record broken for a very long time and it certainly was a party with a purpose. Thank you and well done Jackie and the 40B440 team!

If you would like to fundraise for The Mintridge Foundation, you can head to our support us page to find out more.

Like all good Mintridge days, we ended our CPD day and celebration with a big thank you, good luck and special goodbye in the form of a ‘Question of Mintridge’ quiz to round up another brilliant year for the Foundation. As a charity, we have worked hard this year to adapt and keep working to inspire the next generation, even when some of our programmes needed to be delivered online. We hope next year to be able to get even more of the team together to showcase another brilliant Mintridge year and celebrate the small and big wins from the individuals and teams behind this great charity.

Thank you again to everyone who joined us for this special day and we look forward to welcoming you back in 2022. Thank you also to The Peterborough School, Switch the Play Foundation and Limitless Kit for their support in delivering this special CPD day.

If you would like to understand more about our mentoring programmes, fundraising events or plans for 2022, please contact Katie Smith. We are also looking for a headline sponsor for our 2022 CPD day, please contact Alex Wallace should you wish to find out more.

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.

The Mintridge Foundation

Unit 4, Shieling Court

Northfolds Road

Corby

Northants

NN18 9QD

Tel: +44 (0) 1536 447106

info@mintridge.org.uk

www.mintridgefoundation.org.uk