Meet Minty’s Squad with Shona McCallin MBE and Team Mintridge – November 2021

On Monday evening we hosted Episode Eight of Meet Minty’s Squad, with a number of our Ambassadors attended to hear from the wonderful Shona McCallin MBE!

As an all-rounded athlete from a young age, Shona made the decision to focus on one sport, choosing to dedicate herself to hockey rather than football. By the time that she was sitting her A-Levels, Shona had already made the England U18s and U21s hockey teams, requiring excellent time management skills so that she could balance demands of sport, academics, and socialising.

Following her time playing professionally in Holland, Shona experienced one of the lower points of her career, feeling tired and frustrated after experiencing persistent injuries. She began to question why she was playing hockey if she was unhappy, and so decided to find to root of her passion for the sport. This quote by Mia Hamm was a source of great inspiration for Shona as she rediscovered her love for the sport:

“Somewhere behind the Athlete you’ve become and the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back…

Play for her.”

(Mia Hamm)

Shona manged to push through these tough moments by overcoming setbacks, injuries, and the mental frustration that accompanied this.

By the time of the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Shona was part of the squad that took home Gold!

Team Mintridge’s Ambassadors asked some great questions, including:

How did you manage the impact of your work in terms of time on your family and friends, and how did you manage this over the course of your career?

How do you keep the team spirit going when you are all constantly competing with one another for you position on the pitch?

What advice would you give to someone, especially a young person, to get them to open up about their feelings and to feel comfortable expressing themselves to you?

How did you decide as a team to come off social media during the Olympic Games at Rio?

When you enter tournaments, do you worry about how your results will impact on funding for the sport?

 It was fantastic to hear about Shona’s journey, which many of the athletes in the audience could relate to. Thank you Shona for such an inspiring evening!

If you are interested in a virtual or physical Programme with Shona McCallin or any of our other inspirational Ambassadors, then please get in touch via the Mintridge website at www.mintridgefoundation.org.uk or with Katie at katie@mintridge.org.uk.

Team Mintridge

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.

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