Bobsleigh's Nicola Minichiello reveals why she's jumped on board Sky Sports' Living for Sport initiative.
New ambassador promotes sport for all at bob-push track
World champion Nicola Minichiello is no stranger to bobsleigh success and now she's hoping to steer the next generation of talent to golden glory.
Minichiello and team-mate Gillian Cooke secured first place in the World Championships at Lake Placid and the pair are about to start their preparations for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010.
But she is also an ambassador for Sky Sports'
Living for Sport, a programme designed to inspire young people who are at risk of dropping out of school.
And as part of that role the golden girls took time out to host a master-class for pupils at Aireville School at Camp Hill in North Yorkshire - part of plans they hope will encourage more people to participate in bobsleigh.
"The Living for Sport programme is about getting people involved in sports, whatever their skill might be - just allowing them to be whatever they can be," Minichiello told Sky Sports News.
"With hard work, dedication, focus, goals and aspirations as well you can do it.
Minichiello and Cooke train on a bob-push track in a car park in North Yorkshire - a far cry from the breathtaking ice tracks around the world - but then nothing has been conventional about their partnership since the outset.
Minichiello, brake-woman for the GB 1 team in the inaugural women's race in the 2002 Winter Games, recalled: "Gillian had a fantastic reputation; she was an international athlete herself.
"I knew that I had to find a way to make contact with her and other people like her to get them involved in the sport and one of the ways I got in contact with Gillian was through Facebook."
Maximising
Britain's world champions will soon be back in full-time training as they target another gold in 2010 and Minichiello admitted: "With 11 months to go to the Olympics it's a really exciting time for us right now.
"We are coming together as a team, my driving is improving, our pushing is improving - now it's about maximising that and making sure we are crossing all of the t's and dotting the i's."
For now, though, Minichiello is keen to make the most of her new role as an athlete mentor for Sky Sports
Living for Sport.
The free scheme for 11 to 16 year olds was created by the Youth Sport Trust in partnership with Sky has enlisted the services of high-profile mentors led by Olympic gold medallist Darren Campbell, including Olympic badminton medallist Gail Emms and Paralympic rower Helene Raynsford.
"I am really looking forward to visiting schools and mentoring young people involved with the Sky Sports Living for Sport scheme," said Minichiello.
"I've been helped by a variety of people throughout my career without whom I wouldn't be where I am today. Sports mentoring has such a positive effect on young people and my bobsleigh masterclass in Yorkshire was a great introduction to the initiative for me."
So far 17,000 young people in over 600 schools have benefitted since the programme began in 2003 and over 250 schools have already signed up this year.
The ambition of the project is for 2,000 schools and 30,000 young people to register with Sky Sports Living for Sport by 2012 and to build the activities into curricular and extra curricular activities.
