Sky Academy Sports Scholarships: A look at the first year of the programme

In September 2013, the Sky Academy Sports Scholarships programme was launched with the aim of supporting 12 of Britain and Ireland’s most promising young athletes as they worked towards the 2016 Olympics and enabling them to fulfil their undoubted potential.

In the year that has followed significant progress has been made by each of the Scholars with a whole host of medals and invaluable experience gained.

It has not all been plain sailing, however, and here we look back on some of the highs and lows of the past 12 months…

September

The Sky Academy Sports Scholarships scheme launched at the start of the month with 12 of Britain and Ireland’s most promising young athletes having been selected to join the programme. The new Scholars descended on Sky Studios for the announcement, each making an appearance on Sky Sports News throughout the day.

Following on from the launch, Lucy Garner earned her first call up to the senior Great Britain cycling squad for the UCI World Road Championships in Italy at the end of her debut season with the senior peloton.

October

The second month of the programme was one dominated by our boxing Scholars. Jason Quigley made history by becoming the first Irishman to reach a final at the AIBA World Championships in Kazakhstan, taking the middleweight silver medal, while Savannah Marshall was in imperious form as she beat all comers to win gold at the World Combat Games in St Petersburg.

The finals would be each fighter’s last bout for some time as Marshall was forced to undergo shoulder surgery and Quigley, inundated with offers to join the professional ranks, took his time to make a decision before signing a deal with Golden Boy and subsequently leaving the Scholarships programme in April.

November

Sky Academy sparked in to life on Bonfire Night with a launch event at Sky Studios. It was announced that the Sports Scholarships programme would come under the Sky Academy umbrella and as such Sky Sports Scholarships became Sky Academy Sports Scholarships.

The aim of Sky Academy is to use sport, television and creativity to inspire young people and help them to reach their potential, with the aim of creating one million opportunities for young people to build skills and experience by 2020.

Among those in attendance for the launch was 400m runner Louis Persent who, as he recovered from an Achilles injury, was trying his hand as a reporter for ‘Game Changers.’ The Cambridge graduate was able to grab a word with a number of top sporting stars, including a certain David Beckham.

December

As Christmas approached our Scholars were treated to a track day at Mercedes-Benz World. As well as getting the chance to show off their driving skills on the track, the athletes took in a talk from former Olympic gold medallist Darren Campbell and Sky Sports presenter Di Dougherty and received some media coaching.

The month also saw swimmer Siobhan-Marie O’Connor pick up a couple of early Christmas presents in the form of two medals at the European Short Course Championships in Denmark, a silver in the 200m individual medley and bronze in the 100m equivalent.

January

The New Year saw the countdown to the Winter Olympics begin in earnest with short track speed skater Elise Christie warming up for the Games in fine style, winning the 1000m gold medal at the European Championships in Dresden as well as the overall silver.

February

The indoor athletics season was getting into full swing and British record holder Holly Bleasdale was in action in the women’s pole vault at the British Championships in Sheffield. The European Indoor champion required just one jump to win the title before going on to clear a then world leading height of 4.73m.

There was huge frustration for Elise Christie, however, as she was controversially disqualified in each of the three distances she competed in at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

The Scot crossed the line second in the 500m final but was denied the silver medal after a collision on the first bend, the 1500m saw her adjudged to have crossed the finish line centimetres inside the track before the most bizarre decision of all saw Christie taken out on the final bend in the 1000m semi-final, with a place in the medal race in her grasp, only to be disqualified rather than given an advancement.

Also in February, our Scholars’ Sky Sports mentors were revealed with the likes of Darren Campbell, Mike Atherton and Johnny Nelson paired with the athletes they could most benefit.

March

After a torrid time in Sochi, Elise Christie responded in the best way possible by picking up a medal at the Short Track World Championships in Canada. A silver in the 500m came after three final appearances over the course of the championships.

The British Gymnastics Championships took place in Liverpool with Olympic bronze medallist Sam Oldham in good form as he won the high bar title with an impressive routine. The Sports Scholar also picked up the bronze medal in the vault as he finished just outside the medals in the all-around competition.

Lucy Garner secured her first podium of the season at Drentse, finishing second ahead of Olympic silver medallist Lizzie Armistead. It would prove to be the first of eight top three finishes for the Giant-Shimano rider in her second season as a senior.

April

Siobhan-Marie O’Connor made sure of her place in the England team for the Commonwealth Games at British Swimming Championships in Glasgow. The teenager won three medals in total, two golds in the 200m individual medley and the 200m freestyle and a silver in the 100m butterfly.

Jack Bateson won the silver medal in his first ABA Championships since moving up to the flyweight division. The Leeds boxer was disappointed not to have gone one better after a close fight with GB team-mate Charlie Edwards in the final. Defeat meant it was Edwards rather than Bateson who qualified for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Nearly a year after suffering a double leg break, Quillan Isidore returned to action. The BMX star made the perfect start by winning both of his first regional and national races, the latter becoming Isidore’s first Elite class victory at national level.

May

Sam Oldham continued his good form in 2014 as he picked up two silver medals at the European Championships. The gymnast was part of the GB team to win the team silver and was also second in the high bar competition, with a score of 14.866.

Holly Bleasdale announced that she would take a break from competition and therefore miss the Commonwealth Games and European Athletics Championships. The pole vaulter, who missed much of the 2013 outdoor season through injury, cited her desire to be in peak condition for the World Championships in 2015 and the Olympic Games a year later as her reason.

Sky Academy Sports Scholarships also launched the Coaching Development Programme in May. Mark Bateson, Rob Denmark and Jonas Tawiah-Dodoo were the three coaches selected to join the programme that aims to help them get the most out of themselves as coaches through building up their knowledge in certain areas. That in turn should benefit athletes such as Jack Bateson, Jessica Judd and Olivia Breen who are under the aforementioned coaches’ tutelage.

June

Halfway through 2014 and the outdoor athletics season was up and running. For 800m runner Jessica Judd though things were just getting started, as an injury over the winter halted her progress to some extent. However, she was back in action at the Oslo Diamond League Meeting and set a new personal best of 1:59.77 to cross the line in third against a high quality field.

The British Athletics Championships in Birmingham were less successful for Judd as she unknowingly competed with a chest infection. The 19-year-old Canvey Island runner still managed a fourth place finish but, given the high standards she sets for herself, was extremely disappointed not to have taken the title.

July

With six Scholars in action, there were high hopes for the Commonwealth Games and they did not disappoint. Olivia Breen, Lucy Garner and Jessica Judd all put in strong performances despite missing out on the medals, while Sam Oldham helped the England gymnastics team to gold. However, an ankle ligament injury ruled him out of the individual events meaning he was unable to add to his tally.

Savannah Marshall, back boxing after eight months out, admitted that she was a long way from her best, but was still too good for the competition as she won the 75kg gold medal.

Arguably the standout performance though came for Siobhan-Marie O’Connor in the pool. The 18-year-old swimmer won an incredible six medals in Glasgow, including the 200m individual medley gold in a new Games and British record time. As well as that she picked up two individual silver medals as well as a further two silvers and a bronze for England in the relays.

August

The final month of a hectic first year of the Scholarship programme saw two of our Commonwealth Games stars back in action. Jessica Judd backed up her final senior championship final in Glasgow with another one in the European Championships in Zurich to round off a highly encouraging season.

Elsewhere, Olivia Breen was competing in the IPC European Championships in Swansea and after narrowly missing out on a medal in the long jump, she ran a great race in the T38 100m to take the bronze medal before going one better with the GB relay team to secure the 4x100m silver.

Quillan Isidore was also in action at the British BMX Championships, picking up the silver medal in his final competition of the summer. It was a great achievement after spending much of the past year battling to get back to full fitness.