Q&A with DAVID BECKHAM about inspiring young children through sport - ANSWERS BACK

[RachelMumsnet]

This week we're offering you the chance to post your question to none other than [drum roll]DAVIDBECKHAM. As a national sporting icon,Becksis an inspirational role model to millions of young people and is going to be answering your questions in a Q&A themed around mentoring, coaching and inspiring young people through sport. Post your questions to him before midday Monday 9th September and we'll select and send TEN questions over to him and post up his answers on Monday 16th September.

Davidsupports Sky Sports Living for Sport, the free initiative for schools that uses sports stars and skills to improve the lives of young people across Britain and Ireland. Now in its tenth year the initiative is run in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust and reaches a third of all secondary schools with 30,000 young people participating every year. You can also catch David in series of football masterclasses on Game Changers on Saturday mornings at 9am on Sky Sports 1HD.

Sky Sports Living for Sports is also supported by ambassadors Gold Medallists, Jessica Ennis CBE, Darren Campbell MBE, Katie Taylor and a team of 74 other world class athlete mentors who use their life-changing stories and expertise to inspire young people to learn new life skills through sport.

How does the initiative work?
Teachers can run the Sky Sports Living for Sport on a stand-alone basis or as part of existing curriculum activities by selecting up to 20 students who they feel need support and submitting a simple project plan in outline. Sky Sports Living for Sport then sends them information packs and t-shirts. Teachers set project goals with their groups including asking them to lead their own sports event, before finally celebrating the group?s achievements. Every school that participates will receive two visits from a professional Athlete Mentor.

To sign up a school visit//www.skysports.com/livingforsport

This Q&A is sponsored by Sky Sports Living For Sport

[SkySportsteam]

@buttermellow

Does this target children of all abilities? I'm severely dyspraxic and always struggled hugely with sport and PE as a child. It's taken me years to have the confidence to do sports at all (leading to me being obese, unfortunately) and I still prefer to exercise in the privacy of my own front room! It would be good to hear that children of all sporting abilities (no matter how challenging sport may be) are being encouraged and supported through this initiative. I would love to have had childhood experiences of sports that weren't humiliating/downright scary!

Sky Sports Living for Sport’s primary aim is to use sport to teach the life skills that all children, regardless of ability or experience, can benefit from. In fact many teachers use the initiative to engage children who currently think they aren’t good at sport, or those who haven’t previously enjoyed it. Our Athlete Mentors may be elite sportsmen and women but they make sure they use their stories, with all their successes and their set-backs, in a way that children can relate to their own lives, both sporting and otherwise.
Click the link to find out about Lindsay, who never expected to love sport: livingforsport.skysports.com/whats-our-goal/case-studies/lindsay-mcglone-

[SkySportsteam]

@NannyKaren

Oh my goodness, to actually think THE David Beckham may be reading this!!!

My question to you David is:

Having read the summary above written by RachelMumsNet(MNHQ), it states the Sky Sports Living for Sports reaches a third of all secondary schools but what about the other two thirds?

David, with so many impressionable young people, have eg. The Premiership, or the other Divisions, every thought of linking profession footballers to local schools? They could attend the occasional PE lesson, school sports day etc. (surely they earn enough to warrant giving something back to the community)?

It is, unfortunately, the lucky few who are able to get involved at a more indept level of competitive sport.
Having felt 'bathed' in sport last summer with the Olympics, and absolutely loving it, I feel the schools require more then the two Athlete Mentor visits which the initiative provides and hence more should be done by our local clubs.

Sorry David, I feel passionate about this.
(My youngest DS was fortunate enough to attend the DB Academy twice when he was younger and on one occasion also won a trophy... He still talks about his time there with great pride)....Thank you xXx

Even though Sky Sports Living for Sport is free to schools and very flexible, we know there are a lot of demands on teacher's time. We wouldn't expect every school to take part, but we do want to reach as many schools as we can.

We're proud to have reached one third of secondary schools in the UK and provided nearly 3,000 visits to schools by our fully trained Athlete Mentors.

This is double the number of schools we aimed for in the previous year, and means that last year alone we reached over 30,000 students.

But any school can apply to take part, and if you think your local school should get involved follow this link: livingforsport.skysports.com/user/nominate/ to nominate them for the initiative