Top athlete helping youngsters in care

Jan 13 2009 by Sam Wood, The Journal

A DOUBLE Olympic medal winner is helping children who have been taken into care in the North East, thanks to a new mentoring scheme.

The Respect Athlete Mentoring Programme or RAMP has been launched in Northumberland after a successful 18-month pilot, thanks to funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

RAMP enables young people to work with elite athletes to tackle their issues and make changes in their lives.

And working with the youngsters will be silver and bronze Olympic swimming medallist Nick Gillingham.

The groups, aged between 10 and 25, are taken on various activities including rock climbing, swimming, sailing and many others.

Mr Gillingham, who lives in Warkworth, Northumberland, is an experienced RAMP mentor.

He said: “These kids have not been given the same opportunities that most of us get.

“We are not talking about kids who have committed crime or been naughty. They are kids who through no fault of their own find themselves in care.

“My mother was brought up in an orphanage and she said she was always made to feel like a second-class citizen.”

He said the aim of the scheme was to challenge and assist the young people to find positive ways to improve their lives using sport.

The mentor will support the development of their skills, provide encouragement and advice; and help improve self-esteem and behaviour.

By the end of the mentoring process the athlete mentor will have worked with the young person to develop a plan of action, supported them in taking the first step and ensured support is in place to help them to continue to work towards achieving their goals.

Mr Gillingham added: “We do lots of activities with the kids, it’s all about building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. We aim to help them reach their goals in the short and long term.

“It can be very rewarding when you start to make progress with someone. It can be challenging but you do begin to see them grow and you begin to realise the impact you can have on their lives.

“There have been some great success stories over the past 18 months and we have had tremendous support from the community. Recently, The Granary Leisure Complex in Amble gave free membership to one of my RAMP mentees so that the young person can achieve personal fitness goals.”

Other athletes across the country who are part of the mentoring scheme include Tim Prendergast, who won 800m gold at the 2004 Athens Paralympic games, and swimmer Adam Whitehead, who won a gold and two silvers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.