Sky Sports Scholarship boss Tony Lester reflects on lively, challenging and amazing first year
Sunday 23 September 2018 17:45, UK
"Be true to yourself and leave no stone unturned. Things can change very quickly for an athlete so you have to be ready for anything. You have to be proactive and engaged in your sport and learn.
"This will keep you ahead and stop you from stagnating and becoming average. There are lots of good athletes, very few great ones. Don't accept being good, always try to be great."
This is the mantra that burns deep inside Tony Lester, Head of Sky Scholarships and former GB athletics coach.
It is one year since the latest batch of 12 Scholars, including a German tennis player and Italian skier, started benefitting from developmental, mentoring and financial support by Sky.
How does Tony feel about the progress of the new Scholars, what are his golden moments over the last 12 months and his hopes in the build-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics?
It has been a very interesting year with our new Scholars with very different personalities, dynamics and energies. It's been hard work with a younger group of athletes who are less confident about what Sky is and trying to get them to understand what the programme brings to them.
They are such an exciting group of people to be around though and you see the rawness of youth (they are aged 16-25).
Seeing somebody like swimmer Freya Anderson is a big stand-out for me. She was so quiet in the recruitment interview and all we had to go on was her stats.
We invested in her talent and seeing her knock it out of the park at the Commonwealth Games, the European Juniors, World Juniors and European Championships was wow! Seeing this shy, unassuming girl turn into a gladiator in the arena has been fascinating and has really gripped me.
There's also been gymnast Joe Fraser returning from injury to make the European and World team. It's been amazing to see this unassuming athlete come to life in his own domain with great tenacity and self-belief.
You're never quite sure on what athletes you're getting and we ended up with eight girls and four boys because the girls interviewed the best! But you have to look at the best people who will represent Sky and these 12 kids are doing just that.
It's really encouraging hearing the reports back from our communications coach on how they've grown over the year and how well they're engaging with the program. They're not just listening now, they're talking.
Look at hurdler Andrew Pozzi. He's had a tough year. He was world indoor champion, then crashed and burned at the Commonwealths and Europeans, got injured, was ill and he's learnt the power of humility. No day is the same in sport and to come back shows strength of character. All of these kids have got that.
I've been in sport for over 20 years and nothing surprises me. Armchair viewers may get shocked by some sporting performances but whether it's the boxing arena, running track or swimming pool, there are no guarantees.
The people you are up against are equally as good as you and on the day you have to be slightly better and these Scholars are realising that. It's disappointing when they don't get the results because you want them to do well but life isn't that simple.
It's like having kids at a school. Some are stand-out brilliant and they cruise. Some are not so good but work really hard. The potential of these Scholars is amazing and sometimes it's just a case of me having to be the bad cop! When I speak to them for one-on-ones I interrogate them on their actions and performances and explore why they did or didn't do certain things.
There have also been amazing achievements by some of the Scholars who have no academic background. They have to write a piece of work every three months reflecting on their development - we've based this on the criteria set by American colleges.
The Scholars are all doing this really well now and it's testament to the program. It keeps them accountable, helping their young minds to be stimulated and less sloppy. Doing work shadowing also gives them an insight into 'real life' experiences. Swimmer Max Litchfield spent a week with the Sky Cricket team and they get to see Sky is much more than just a TV company.
Something else I've enjoyed seeing is the development of relationships between the Scholars and their sporting mentor and business mentor we've paired them with.
This showcases the diversity and eclectic mix of people from our business that can help these athletes on their journey and equally gives them a wider range of perspective as to what Sky can offer them.
The Sky Sports Scholarship is all about transforming them into mature sports people who can take ownership of what they do - in and out of the arena. If you can instil those coaching ethics into their thinking then it's a job well done.
Winning medals is great but it's not a criteria of success on this scheme.
But it's always a work in progress. When they don't do so well you have to pick them up and get them to go again. Another one of our criteria is qualifying for the Olympics and if these guys can stay on track and healthy then there's a good chance most can make Tokyo which would be amazing.
