Jessica Ennis-Hill: Confidence key to what young people's achieve in their lives
Last Updated: 25/09/15 9:31am
Sky Academy Ambassador Jessica Ennis-Hill says confidence can come in many forms but is key to what young people go on to achieve in their lives.
World champion heptathlete Ennis-Hill was speaking to Sky Sport News HQ on the launch of Sky Academy's Confidence Month, the first in a series of nationwide campaigns to help build a number of skills crucial in guiding young people to unlock their potential - confidence, communication, creativity, resilience, planning and teamwork.
Sky Academy surveyed young people about the pressures that undermine confidence and how that can affect success in life.
Of those interviewed, only 60% of girls said they felt confident, compared to 67% of boys.
Ennis-Hill, who was joined by a host of famous faces from sport and entertainment at Sky Studios to support the event, says the results are worrying.
She said: "It is really concerning that young girls especially, really lack confidence through that age group. It's about working out how we can make a difference and the different ways we can encourage girls to be more confident in themselves and firstly work out why they're lacking in confidence.
"Confidence is a really key part of what you go on to achieve in your life," added the 2012 Olympic gold medalist.
"Confidence comes in many different forms and you take confidence from many different things.
"For me personally in the world of sport, I take confidence from past experiences whether they're positive or negative you can draw things from those experiences.
"Everyone has set-backs, everyone has failures and it's about learning from those failures. Failing isn't necessarily a bad thing, you can take so many positive things from it and use them for the future. It is about talking about it and being open about it and just understanding why you might lack confidence."
For more information on Sky Academy's Confidence Month head to https://www.skyacademy.com/
