The GDST Sports Scholars’ Day was created to inspire, develop and nurture the talented athletes within the Girls’ Day School Trust

What happens when you bring together Olympians, Paralympians and experts within different sporting contexts for a day of collaboration and inspirational workshops?

We are about to tell you right here…

Not only does this combination of incredible people create a magical day of excitement, fun, relentless energy and inspiration, but it also creates light bulb moments, opportunities to grow and the sharing of knowledge that cannot be found anywhere else.

The Mintridge Foundation has worked closely with the GDST to create a bespoke Sports Scholars’ Day programme for all of the athletes within the GDST network who are working their way to success within their sports and also balancing a life of challenges along the way.

We were delighted to bring together over 16 schools from the GDST from across the country and over 250 students to spend their day with our team of medal winning Olympians and Paralympians, award-winning MBEs, founders and highly acclaimed individuals in the world of sport.

Throughout the day we hosted 13 different workshops for the students, to help them on their own journeys in sport and provide them with the best possible advice and knowledge from our experts, so they can make choices that will help create success for them.

Keep scrolling to find out more about the workshops we delivered and who joined us on the day.

Our former England Netball captain, Pamela Cookey, followed the GDST welcome speech from Mrs Ceri Crawford, Director of Sport for the GDST with a welcome video encouraging the students to make the most of their day with the amazing Mintridge Ambassadors and all about how she balanced her ‘double life’ with the support of lots people like those that were in the room.

Sue Anstiss MBE

Sue is the author of Game On: the unstoppable rise of women’s sport, a host of the award-winning podcast The Game Changers and co-founder of the Women’s Sport Collective.
Sue opened our day with a keynote speech about the progress of women’s sport during recent years and what an exciting time it is to be involved in sport not only as a female athlete but wherever your path takes you in sport.
As part of the day, Sue delivered a workshop for the students titled ‘How to Be An Activist for Gender Equality in Sport’ and led discussions with the students about how they can promote their own stories, be a force for change in their sports and also how to gain support from wider sources on their path to success.

After our morning welcome, the students gathered at their first workshops and visited three different workshops throughout the day.

Shona Mccallin MBE

Rio Olympic hockey gold medallist, Shona McCallin MBE delivered hockey coaching sessions throughout our day to give the hockey scholars the opportunity to train like a GB women’s first team player. The students loved meeting Shona during this session and learnt a lot from their short time with her.

Marilyn Okoro OLY

Olympic Bronze Medallist, Marilyn Okoro OLY, worked with the sports scholars during the day to deliver her ‘Athletics and Fundamental Movement for Sports Fitness’ coaching session which the students loved being a part of and were able to take some top tips from Marilyn to use in their own sporting performances.

Jazz Carlin OLY

The swimmers who attended our day were very excited to meet double Olympic silver medallist Jazz Carlin OLY, for some expert swimming coaching in the pool. Jazz shared some of her top tips for improving your freestyle technique and challenged the girls in her session to do their best on each length.

Danielle Brown MBE

You don’t get to meet a double Paralympic champion everyday, so the GDST sports scholars relished their opportunity to meet Danielle Brown MBE and hear all of her advice on how to win under pressure and visualise the best possible result. Danielle shared some practical tools with the students that they could take away from the day and use in their own fields.

Jordan Jarrett-Bryan

Former GB Wheelchair Basketball player and current Channel 4 News presenter, Jordan Jarrett-Bryan, challenged the sports scholars to think more about how they portray themselves as an athlete during his workshop and put them to the test under pressure when acting as a journalist. Jordan shared his experiences as a journalist and his views on what makes a successful athlete in the spotlight, even during the toughest times.

JR Nutrition

JR Nutrition has lots of experience working with professional athletes on the GB pathway and also those already competing at the top of their game. During the day, JR Nutrition shared some brilliant insights with the students about what they should be fuelling their bodies with to gain the most from their performances in their sports.

The Well HQ

As a female athlete, there is so much that the students need to consider when trying to perform at the highest level. Dr Emma Ross shared some valuable insights with the students in her workshop ‘Sport in Her Shoes: Unlocking the Potential of the Female Body in Sport’ and discussed topics not regularly covered for these budding young women!

BelievePerform - The World’s Leading Sports Psychology Platform

As part of our day, the team from BelievePerform joined us to deliver a workshop on, ‘Becoming Performance Ready: Developing Your Mental Fitness and Resilience Toolkit’. As young athletes already performing at a high level across the sports they compete in, the sports scholars gained so much from the tips BelievePerform shared with them for being able to perform at their best every time they step onto their sporting stages.

Limitless Kit

Our partners, Limitless Kit joined us for the day to deliver a brilliant workshop for the students on ‘Creating the Sports Kit of the Future’ and gave the students the opportunity to learn more about what their kit should do for them and voice their opinions on their choice of kit moving forward. The students also left their workshop with a Limitless bra and leggings! Limitless Kit supported our day with drawstring bags for all of the students and have supplied excellent kit for the schools in the GDST and their sports teams for this academic year.

In addition to the workshops detailed above, we were also joined by a brilliant S&C and softball coach from the GDST, who delivered some really engaging and challenging workshops for the students that they learnt so much from and could apply to their own sporting contexts.

PerformanceTeq, who also set up a workshop on the day, put the students through their paces and introduced some exciting sports technology to the staff and students during the GDST Sports Scholar’s Day and even showed them a little bit of virtual reality too!

Before the end of the day, we were very excited to announce the winners of our competition that we had been running throughout the day for the teachers, which included gifts from our partners Pretty Athletic, Sterosport, Active Digital and Recovapro.

Throughout the day, the Ambassadors and workshop deliverers kept an eye out for the students in each session that really applied themselves to the workshops and made the most of the opportunities that were in front of them.

At the end of the day, all of the names of the students were placed into a Mintridge box and two names were pulled out at random. Those two students’ names were then awarded a very special mentoring programme with our amazing mentor Danielle Brown MBE, and will gain access to Danielle for the next six months to help support them on their own journeys.

We can’t wait to see how they progress with Danielle’s support!

To bring the day to a close, the GDST Sports Scholars gathered together in the main hall to listen to and take part in the live panel and Q&A with the Ambassadors and Sue Anstiss MBE, which was expertly delivered by our Ambassador and journalist, Jordan Jarrett-Bryan.

Jordan asked some thought-provoking questions to the panel about the development of women's sport and why it is so important for the young women in the room to challenge stereotypes and take on the world of sport and its many opportunities.

This was a great opportunity for the students in the room to listen to the opinions of our sporting stars and learn more about what it takes to be the best. There was also time for a few pictures and autographs on the selfie station with our Ambassadors!

Thank you to all of the staff and students that joined us for the GDST Sports Scholars’ Day, we are so pleased that during this day we were able to inspire over 250 pupils and guide them on their own path to sporting success or otherwise.

A special thanks to the staff at Sutton High School, who helped the GDST and Mintridge Foundation bring this day together and help coordinate the workshops through the day with their PE staff.

We are very grateful to Mrs Ceri Crawford and the whole of the GDST for supporting this GDST Sports Scholars’ Day and working with The Mintridge Foundation to bring it all together for a very inspirational event.

We look forward to hopefully welcoming all of the students back next year for another great event and we wish all of the sports scholars the best of luck for the rest of the academic and sporting calendars.

If you are interested in a virtual or physical mentoring Programme with any of the Mintridge Foundation Ambassadors, then please get in touch via the Mintridge website or with Katie. To access the photos from the event, please contact a member of the Mintridge team or if you attended the event, complete the feedback form via the link below.

Teacher Feedback Form

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.

To find out more about the Mintridge Foundation, please contact Alex Wallace.