Articles Archive - Page 25 of 27 - Athlete Media Group

School of Hard Knocks charity rugby match breaks world record  

27 August 2019 by

School of Hard Knocks (SOHK) – the social inclusion charity that uses sport, mentoring and an evidence-based curriculum to improve people’s physical and mental wellbeing – broke the Guinness World Record for the longest marathon of full-contact rugby union.

During one of the hottest bank holiday weekends the UK has witnessed, SOHK went to head-to-head with children’s rugby charity, Wooden Spoon, with only 23 players per side to play rugby continuously for over 30 hours.

The match was initiated to raise £100,000 for SOHK’s life-changing programmes across the UK, which helps vulnerable adults and at-risk children using rugby, boxing and strongman training.

The SOHK line up included high-profile ambassadors including, World Cup finalist Andy Gomarsall MBE, Scottish International Ben Hinshelwood and English International referee, Wayne Barnes.

The two-day event attracted a number a sponsors who helped make the record a success, with charity partner and renowned steak restaurant, Gaucho, serving a BBQ for the spectators.

Sports scientists from Catapult, were able to record some impressive metrics from the team despite running in heat for 30 hours.

SOHK, M Restaurant, M Club, World Record, Bank Holiday, Rugby, School of Hardknocks, Wooden Spoon, Rugby Union, World's Longest Rugby Game — SOHK’s CEO Ken Cowen and M Restaurant owner Martin Williams

Joshua Lee, Sports Scientist at Catapult Sports, was full of admiration for the players; “For players to be hitting speeds of over 30kph after playing continuously for 30 hours is a huge achievement.

The athletes were exposed to a high player load over the duration of the match, and the volume of work they would have done over the 30 hours would be difficult for even the fittest of athletes.”

“For players to be hitting speeds of over
30kph after playing continuously for
30 hours is a huge achievement”

SOHK are thrilled to have reclaimed their title, having held the record in 2015 with a time of 28 hours and 30 minutes, however they were beaten by The Fire Fighters Charity in 2017.

The event raised in excess of £40,000 but they hope to reach their record, with donations still pouring in from online platforms.

DONATE to SOHK to support their incredible cause:

https://www.schoolofhardknocks.org.uk/donate/sohk-gwr-match-2019/5/credit-card

“Winning is a habit. There is one more medal I’d like to win in Tokyo!” | Jamie Cooke

14 August 2019 by

In 1912, the Pentathlon was introduced to the Olympic Games. To date, no British male has medalled in the event. But Great Britain’s Jamie Cooke is determined to change that.

Having originally started his sporting life as a swimmer, Jamie’s sporting horizons were broadened when he was introduced to the triathlon. It was through the National Schools triathlon event that Jamie was noticed by the Team GB and placed onto their performance pathway.

With horse riding, shooting, fencing, swimming and running making up the pentathlon, the training regime is gruelling, but he admits he cannot imagine doing anything else.

“When you start adding on the other sports, you can’t get off the carousel. It’s so good to constantly have a challenge every day.

“We can do 7 or 8 sessions every day in four or five different sports. I can’t imagine not doing all of them.”

Jamie admits that balancing all these sports, training for both endurance and skill events, as well as maintaining the motivation to push yourself across all five events can be tricky. But the challenge is something he loves.

“When you start adding on the other sports,
you can’t get off the carousel. It’s so
good to constantly have a challenge every day”

“I started transitioning into the pentathlon at 16. I loved picking up new challenges, it’s every young athlete’s dream to be able to pick up challenges, have fun along the way and be constantly learning. You’ll never have a dull moment.”

For Jamie, preparation and learning is key to any success in the sport. It is about looking at the season, and seeing which disciplines need to be focused on in order to give you the best chance of victory.

“You can’t focus on the five sports every day because you’ll burn out. It’s like juggling or spinning plates.”

Along with the challenges of preparing for an event that involves numerous disciplines, there is also the challenge of performing at the elite level.

How do you go from running, with a high heart rate and adrenaline pumping through your veins, to remaining calm and composed in a shooting range? Process.

“Knowing your process, when you are switching and running into the range. So knowing that you are switching over mentally to this skill, you need to pick up your rhythm and pick up your sites.

“We talk a lot about being process orientated rather than goal–orientated. A lot of people will say I shot, and I hit the target but actually, if we focus on the process: ‘I picked up my sights well, I started to squeeze the trigger and then I slowly release the shot’, that’s what we’re looking for. That’s perfect shooting.”

Alongside process, Jamie believes that it is vital to worry about yourself, not those around you, and remain focused on the job in hand.

“Challenge yourself to perform as best as you
can and everything else will take care of itself”

“You are actually only competing against yourself, fencing is the only one where you’re relying on your opponent on the day.

“Challenge yourself to perform as best as you can and everything else will take care of itself.”

In January, all the handwork, years of training and persistence to keep improving paid off. Jamie became only the second British male to win Gold at the Pentathlon World Championships.

After being beaten out the blocks, Jamie found himself in third place coming into the final stretch of the run. But rather than settle for bronze, he believed he could win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1De6MHJCMtA

“My dad has always said ‘don’t settle’ and he even said afterwards that he was shouting at the TV ‘Don’t settle for third, don’t settle for third.’

“It’s very easy to say, ‘Right I’ve got a medal here, 4th place can’t catch me, but I was really pleased with myself because I just thought ‘Let’s see what we’ve got in these legs.”

As it turns out, a lot. As he began to kick on, Jamie realised that he had more in the tank.

As the French leader began celebrating, Jamie found an extra gear to push past him and clinch first by 0.03 of a second in one of the greatest sporting finishes of all time.

“The feeling was unbelievable because it’s something that British male pentathletes haven’t done before.

It is years and years of hard work, that’s what I don’t think people quite understand. You very rarely see the hard, dark grind days that take over.

“I was really pleased with myself because
I just thought ‘Let’s see what we’ve got in these legs”

“What you do see is me crossing a line, celebrating and it’s all exciting, but that is the cork pop moment of a lot of hard work.”

Just last week, Jamie added European Champion to his ever-growing list of accolades, alongside a fantastic showing for Team GB as they won men’s team gold, women’s team gold and women’s individual silver through Kate French.

WithFrancesca Summers, Jess Varley and Jo Muir also contending for Tokyo, GB’s pentathlon team look to be in good shape. It is the same for the men, with Joe Choong having already qualified for Tokyo earlier this year.

However, Jamie wasn’t always on the path to Pentathlon glory. In 2012, he qualified for the London 2012 Olympic Games, but wasn’t selected to compete.

He recalls being at the M5 Gloucester service station when he received the news that he wouldn’t be competing, and acknowledges it being the biggest challenge of his career.

“I had an emotional half an hour there while I went through the range of ‘I’m quitting, I’m retiring, I’m coming back, I hate sport, I love sport.

“After sitting down with my parents and having a really good conversation, I came to realise that I have so much more to give in this sport.”

“I went through the range of ‘I’m quitting,
I’m retiring, I’m coming back, I hate sport, I love sport”

Jamie competed at Rio but admits that his fencing let him down as he failed to qualify for the latter stages. Now, he looks back and admits that all the challenges he has faced has made the victories in 2019 even sweeter.

With the European Championship victory coming so close to the Olympics, he has an added level of confidence. As Jamie says, ‘winning is a habit.’

He looks to have picked up the habit just in time, with the World Championships taking place in Budapest in just three weeks.

After that, it is onto the Olympics, the last event on Jamie’s list.

“I have won the World Cup, World Championships and the European Championships.

“There is one more medal I’d like to win and then I can retire happy knowing that I’ve completed the Grand Slam.”

With the form Jamie is currently in, you wouldn’t bet against him.

“I thrive on bringing groups of people together to do remarkable things” | Andy Gomarsall MBE

15 August 2019 by

Andy Gomarsall MBE, 2003 Rugby World Cup winner, is a team player. He always has been and, even after ending his playing career, always will be.

Ever since his introduction to the sport, playing mini–rugby at just 5 years old, he admits that the attraction of the game was the sense of ‘mucking in’ and helping your mates.

From the 5-year-old playing mini–rugby, Andy rose through the ranks to play for Gloucester, Worcester, London Wasps, Harlequins and eventually England.

After missing out on county trials, he went on to miss out division trials and England trials the first-time round. He made the teams eventually, but it was never on the first attempt.

“I was so determined that they saw something different to me. I matured physically and they made me captain of England under 18s, so if at first you don’t succeed, try again.”

Andy went on to enjoy many successful years in the Premiership and was selected to be part of Sir Clive Woodward’s 2003 World Cup squad.

With the England team going on to beat Australia with Jonny Wilkinson’s dramatic last-minute drop goal in the final, you would think the first emotion would be euphoria. Or elation. But instead, Andy admits it was relief.

“There was huge pressure on the England team in 2003 because we were favourites having beaten the Southern Hemisphere teams’ home and away. All eyes were on England.

“It was massive pressure. I think that from
every single player, the backroom staff and
management, there was a huge sense of
relief that we achieved it”

“It was massive pressure. I think that from every single player, the backroom staff and management, there was a huge sense of relief that we achieved it.”

Following the 2003 World Cup, Andy’s career took a turn. After suffering from a back injury, he was told by surgeons they didn’t know if he would ever play the game again.

But, after successful operations and a good recovery, he was back out and playing. But it was in 2006 that Andy suffered a major setback.

After a knee injury, he was released by Worcester Warriors, and found himself watching professional rugby from the outside.

“I’d lost faith in professional rugby because I was so hurt for being sacked. When I was sacked from Worcester, my knee had gone and quite frankly I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to be able to play again.

“I’d lost faith in professional rugby
because I was so hurt for being sacked

“I’d lost my job so I couldn’t prove that I was match fit either, so that was tough, but at that moment I became a father, so I had other concerns in my life.”

Andy, disillusioned with the professional game, began to play for a pub team, the White Hart Marauders.

“We were playing for a dear friend, who is not with us anymore, and his wife had died. We were playing in her name and it just hit me again. It made me ask myself ‘why are you doing this?’ It just made me realise that I play because I love it.”

After the White Hart Marauders beat the Army in the final of a 7s competition, Andy was offered a chance to resurrect his career at Harlequins.

“Harlequin’s Dean Richards showed an interest in me. I said to him I would sweep the floor, clean up the changing rooms, anything to play rugby again for a club and he gave me that chance.”

18 months later and Andy was playing in his second World Cup final, the 2007 narrow defeat to South Africa.

“I would sweep the floor, clean up the
changing rooms, anything to play rugby again for a club”

“It was the best time for me because it was the last chance. Also, the fact that it was not expected.

“I think we believed once we beat Australia in the quarterfinals, we believed we could win it and that made it really special.”

Whilst England went on to lose that final, Andy admits that a lot of the squad, himself included, enjoyed the 2007 tournament a lot more than the successful campaign in 2003. With the team not playing well, as well as the added experience the squad had gained, and a lot less expectation, the whole tournament was a lot more enjoyable.

Andy also admits that the drama in both finals, with the late drop goal to win and the ‘in or out’ debate for an England Mark Cueto try in 2007, shows the fickle nature of professional sport.

“It’s just absolutely mental when you think that all those hard training sessions, all the hard work behind the scenes, the strategy, commitment and sacrifice can come down to that tiny margin.”

“If you’ve given everything and there is
nothing else you could have done, then
you are calm with your outcome”

But, whilst it was disappointing, Andy was not disheartened by the result.

“It‘s about performing to the levels and being better every day. In sport and general life, it is about giving everything collectively and, if you’ve given everything and there is nothing else you could have done, then you are calm with your outcome.”

After retiring from professional rugby in 2010, Andy transitioned into the business world, and has taken his lessons from sport with him.

“I was used to wearing a tracksuit, but I was ready to dress like an adult, wear a suit and commute, but there were moments when I’d look in the mirror and think ‘What the hell am I doing?”

From dealing with pressure, forming a successful team, constantly looking to improve and delivering on a game plan, professional sport sets athletes up with numerous transferable skills.

“From an elite sporting level, the leadership that you learn is so good compared to business. We’re so used to dealing with pressure, whereas many businesses aren’t used to reacting and dealing with pressure.”

But the transition away from playing is still a period many athletes struggle with. For Andy, he was prepared. He had trained to get his coaching badges, set up a business and started consulting for his father’s company.

After exploring many avenues, he decided to take on the family business and now, wants to replicate his playing success within business.

“The transition isn’t easy, and nor should it be. You have to go and make it happen, but you can really affect that in your playing career by planning.”

As well as moving into the business world, Andy also became involved in the School of Hard Knocks (SOHK).

“The tremendous value that rugby has is
that it is a team game, everyone is different,
but you just try and help one another”

SOHK looks to try and help adults and children turn their life around through the power of sport and, whilst SOHK is best known as a programme on Sky Sports with Will Greenwood and Scott Quinnell, they have gone on to become a leading charity with Andy as a patron.

“I loved the program, what it stood for. Will told me to come down and have a look, and I was carrying water bottles and helping with a bit of coaching. I just fell in love.

“The tremendous value that rugby has is that it is a team game, everyone is different, but you just try and help one another.

“Everyone thought because it was on Sky it didn’t need support, but it was a start-up charity.”

Next week, SOHK will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest game of rugby ever played. The game of full contact rugby will go on for over 30 hours, with 46 players from SOHK and rugby charity Wooden Spoon playing against each other.

“All of these events, including the Guinness World Record attempt, are about fundraising to help those the charity works with.

“If we can help through the vehicle of Sport then that’s what we’re trying to do, so this Guinness World Record is a great way of raising awareness and money.”

When asked what the biggest challenge he had faced in his career, Andy said it was changing people’s opinion of him for being disloyal, due to the number of clubs he had played for.

“You want to be remembered for pulling
the strings, leading well, bringing a team
together and enjoying that success”

But he admits that after some self-reflection, he acknowledges that he is someone that ‘likes to be liked’ and ‘being a team player’ to ‘bring a group of people together.’

“[My] legacy is being a team player and bringing groups of people together to do remarkable things, that’s what I thrive on and love.”

“You want to be remembered for pulling the strings, leading well, bringing a team together and enjoying that success.”

Just as Andy did on the pitch, that is exactly what he is doing off it, whether it is through rugby, business or charity.

A BBC interview changed my life! | Kelly Brown

31 July 2019 by

The first thing Kelly Brown, former Glasgow Warriors, Saracens and Scotland International rugby player, says when he answers the phone is his name.

Whilst this isn’t an uncommon trait, for Kelly, it is more than an introduction. It is a way that helped and continues to help him overcome the stammer that has had a huge impact on his life.

Growing up in Melrose, a small town in the Scottish Borders, Kelly always wanted to be a rugby player.

The area was a hot spot for the sport, producing a plethora of Scottish internationals, and Kelly played for the Borders, before moving to Glasgow and, eventually Saracens in 2010.

During his 7-year spell at Saracens, Kelly won the Premiership 3 times and the Champions Cup twice, as well as captaining and earning 64 caps for his country.

A lot is made of culture in sport, and for Kelly, it was instrumental in the success he enjoyed at Saracens.

“We firmly believe that the culture
we have is the foundation and the
bedrock of everything that we do”

“I came down to speak to the chief executive and the coach. They spoke about their vision and they asked me ‘Why are we here?’

“I said it’s to win is it not?’ They said, ‘what’s the point in that, even if you win a trophy the following year it’s got to go back, it’s never yours, so what’s the point?’

“I said ‘It’s to have the memory of winning. They said ‘exactly, that’s why we’re here, to make some memories.

“You can have success if you don’t have a an especially strong culture, but I think it’s very difficult to sustain that success over a longer period of time.

“We fight hard to keep our culture, protect our culture and to keep on building on it because we firmly believe that the culture we have is the foundation and the bedrock of everything that we do.”

As well as his club career, Kelly began to enjoy success at an international level. He admits that whilst it ‘took him longer than some’ to achieve his childhood dream of playing for his country, he ‘always believed it would happen.’

But whilst his glittering rugby career went from strength to strength, Kelly was battling a major personal hurdle: a stammer.

His life changed in 2010 when he was asked to conduct a BBC interview.

“I agreed to do it, but I was so nervous. I did it and it was terrible. I started stuttering and when I started, I would blink and would rub my eyes. Ultimately, I was embarrassed by it, so I phoned the Scotland media manager at the time and I asked if he could ensure that interview was never shown.

“From that day, I thought ‘I’m going to stop
having my stammer as an excuse”

“That interview changed everything for me because it was the time that I understood that I was accountable for my future, I was in charge of my own destiny and I didn’t want to have an excuse as to why I couldn’t do anything.

“From that day, I thought ‘I’m going to stop having my stammer as an excuse’, because ultimately that’s all it was it was, an excuse.”

Kelly enrolled on the McGuire programme, a speech impediment programme that looks to help people to overcome their stutters, in April 2010.

“At that point, I had a new goal: to be Scotland captain in the future. I felt I could do it from a rugby and a man management perspective, I just had to work hard on my speech.”

The McGuire programme not only helped Kelly overcome his stammer and achieve his goal of captaining his country, but it also taught him that accepting his stammer was vital in overcoming the challenges it brought.

“I know if I embrace it and accept that it’s a
part of me, I’m in control most of the time”

“A huge aspect of the McGuire programme is assertive self-acceptance, because a lot of stammering happens when people try and hide it, shy away from it or trying to pretend it’s not a part of them.

“Although most of the time I’m in control, it is still there and probably always will be there. But I know if I embrace it and accept that it’s a part of me, I’m in control most of the time.”

In hindsight, Kelly recalls numerous occasions where his stammer would change the way he approached everyday situations.

“I remember sitting down with my music teacher, as I used to do the school shows, and going through the script to change words and phrases from things I couldn’t say to things I could.

“There were times before I went on the course where I would walk into a restaurant and I would choose a seat I thought the waiting staff would stand next to so I could point at the menu. I would often change what I ordered because I couldn’t say it.

“The first thing I do when I answer the phone is say my name. I can’t change my name so I need to consistently say it because I can’t substitute that.”

“There were times before I went on the course
where I would walk into a restaurant and
I would choose a seat I thought the waiting staff
would stand next to so I could point at the menu”

Overcoming his stammer also helped Kelly hugely in his post-playing career transition. Retiring from elite competition is usually a difficult period for athletes to navigate, and for Kelly it was no different.

“Your whole life, you’re identified as ‘Kelly Brown he’s good at rugby, he’s a rugby player’ and suddenly it’s gone. You’ve got to try and plan and understand that you’re so much more than just a sports person.

“All of the academy boys [at Saracens] have got to do something outside of rugby, be that an apprenticeship, trade, study or work experience. Also, 70% to 80% of the senior squad are also involved in something else outside of the game which is so important because [playing] doesn’t last forever.”

With his own transition, Kelly admits he was fortunate enough to be offered a coaching opportunity at Saracens.

“It was always something that interested me, but even a few years after the McGuire programme, I was thinking I’d like to be a coach, but did I really want to have to speak in front of groups every day?

“I was thinking about this and then ultimately, I concluded I’m not going to let my stammer stop me doing something. It forced me to be accountable and, if I don’t work on my speech, I can’t coach as well because I can’t convey the message as effectively.”

“I’m not going to let my stammer stop me doing something”

Now, Kelly coaches at the Saracens Academy, having coached the Royal Navy side and Canadian national team, and works with the Scotland’s international set-up as they prepare for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.

In the future, alongside coaching at the highest level, Kelly wants to continue speaking to people about how he overcame his stammer, and help individuals overcome their own personal challenges.

“From the speaking and coaching side, I want to try and help people achieve their full potential.”

Throughout his career, Kelly hasn’t let anything stand in the way of his goals. We can’t see him starting now.

“I always race with a toy elephant to inspire me to be as brave” | Susie Dear

22 July 2019 by

Before the 2012 London Olympics, a lot was made of legacy it would leave. The games inspired future generations of athletes. One of these was Susie Dear.
”
In 2012, Susie was in her first year Oxford Brookes University, studying history and law, and it ‘was a complete disaster.’

“I was unhappy, I didn’t have any routine, I didn’t know where my life was going, I was very anxious and unsure as to what I should be doing and how I could get satisfaction in day-to-day life.”

After returning for the second year, Susie had not only managed to continue her education, but found inspiration from the 2012 Olympics.

“There was a lot of publicity around rowing at university and I knew Oxford Brookes was good at rowing. After quite a lot of encouragement from my parents I signed up to row at the Freshers Fair.”

Having struggled with first year, you may think that adding more to her workload would have had an adverse effect on Susie. But, instead, she admits that ‘with more to do, [she] got more done.’

“I had several different jobs, working in a pub or lifeguarding. It was incredibly hard managing it all, but it was something I absolutely loved.

“I would often be up very late with my university work, or working, but it was a sacrifice that I was more than happy with.

“With rowing, a lot of clubs didn’t accept women
for quite a long time and at Henley Royal Regatta
there aren’t anywhere near as many events
for women as there are for men.”

“Rowing at Oxford Brookes was transformational and I am very grateful for the opportunities the club gave me. I will cherish my Brookes days forever.”

Following the completion of her degree, Susie decided she wanted to travel and headed to Australia to row for the Sydney Rowing Club.

It was at this point that she realised that competitive rowing was something she wanted to pursue.

“I really missed the competitive environment. I wasn’t sending in scores and I wasn’t being watched or monitored as closely as I was in the UK. During that time, I realised I really wanted to take rowing further.”

Susie returned to the UK in 2017 heading to Oxford Brookes to begin her MSc in Psychology and started to trial for the British rowing team again.

It was in the same year that her rowing career accelerated, getting a silver medal at the 2018 FISU World University Championships in Shanghai, China.

After her medal success, Susie was accepted to row for the Leander Club, the most successful Olympic sporting club in the world.

“Leander have a big focus on developing individuals onto the national team, and it is an honour to be an athlete at such a prestigious club.”

Susie admits, as a female rower, the opportunities available at Henley Royal Regatta are fewer than men. In 2016. 2018 and 2019, Susie competed in the Remenham Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, this year narrowly losing the semi-final. But Susie also admits that, as a female athlete, the challenges you face strengthens a desire to succeed.

“With rowing, a lot of clubs didn’t accept women for quite a long time and at Henley Royal Regatta there aren’t anywhere near as many events for women as there are for men. This is a shame, as I feel that Henley Royal Regatta is no longer reflective of the standard and depth of women’s rowing.

“At Henley Royal Regatta, the only events available for women are international standard events, and one junior event. Whereas the men have more junior events as well as every boat class from club to international level.”

“I feel the underlying problem is the
attitude towards women across a
number sports, so it’s going to
take time for these attitudes to change.”

In recent years, Henley Royal Regatta has introduced more female events and is considering elongating the event to make more room for the female races, which is a very exciting prospect for women’s rowing.

“I feel the underlying problem is the attitude towards women across a number sports, so it’s going to take time for these attitudes to change. However it is really promising knowing that the stewards are considering bringing in more female events, as this will close the gender gap further.

“Racing at Henley Royal Regatta brings a huge sense of achievement, particularly against a backdrop of fewer opportunities to race as a female rower. Something I love about my sport is that I know people have made so many sacrifices.

‘Rowing has reshaped me as an individual and I am hugely grateful to the sport for what it has given me mentally and physically.”

Away from the challenges that come with elite sport, Susie was also forced to face extreme personal tragedy.

Last year, whilst rowing, working and completing her MSc, two of Susie’s closest friends died within 3 weeks of each other.

Susie’s oldest friend, Lucy-Anne, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at the age of 18 and passed away from the illness at 25.

“She died 2 days before a set of GB trials. I was in absolute pieces, just completely beside myself, but I had that tunnel vision. I had a job to do and I needed to get it done.

“I knew that Lucy-Anne would be so annoyed with me if I didn’t do the trial and I also did not want to let my pair partner down, so I just got on with it initially, but a couple of weeks later I just had a complete meltdown.

“Although at the time the loss of
two very close friends was the hardest
thing I have had to deal with, I actually
think I’m a better athlete for it.”

“My coach said he was going to take me out of stressful environments for a couple of weeks, and just as I was finding my feet again, another friend suddenly passed away.

“I made the decision to defer my dissertation to the following year, I was so unbelievably sad, and I realised that I could put a hold on my academic studies, but putting a hold on my rowing was not an option.”

Despite the loss of two close friends, Susie believes she managed to draw a positive out of an awful situation.

“I learnt how powerful your emotions are when channelled in the right way. Although at the time the loss of two very close friends was the hardest thing I have had to deal with, I actually think I’m a better athlete for it.”

Now, in tribute to Lucy-Anne, Susie rows and races with something elephant-related with her at all times.

“Lucy-Anne loved elephants. I now always race with an elephant on me, to represent Lucy-Anne and to also inspire me to be as brave as she was throughout her on-going fight with Cystic Fibrosis.”

Despite the numerous battles she has had to encounter, Susie’s sights are set firmly on competing at an Olympic Games.

Having managed to continue to push through the challenges she has faced, expect to see Susie continuing the Leander tradition by competing at an Olympic Games.

AMG team up with GB Paintball for World Championship sponsorship

18 July 2019 by

The Athlete Media Group (TAMG) has announced a new strategic partnership with GB Paintball in time for the 2019 Men’s World Paintball Championships in Prague this month.

The Athlete Media Group will act as the main shirt sponsor for the 7-strong GB Paintball team as they compete with 16 other nations trying to claim the 2019 World title.

They will also help drive awareness of GB Paintball through their unique publishing platform by interviewing individual GB Paintball athletes and sharing the interviews across its online community.

Mark Middlemas, Founder & CEO of TAMG, said: “We are delighted to be supporting GB Paintball in their quest for 2019 World Championship glory. Paintball is a phenomenal sport and it’s story needs to be shared with a wider audience. We’re delighted to help boost its awareness in the UK and globally through this unique sponsorship.”

Jim McGowan, Coach of the Men’s GB Paintball team, said: “We are super excited to have the support of The Athlete Media Group as our headline sponsor. Their expertise in emerging sports is certainly a positive step to help

“We believe we can change the lives of athletes” | Moodbeam

15 July 2019 by

Mental health is a prominent societal issue that is gaining more and more attention after years of stigma and neglect.

You often hear people advising sufferers from mental health conditions to ‘talk about it’ or find someone in which to confide in.

This is not as easy as it may seem, and those first conversations do not come easy to someone suffering from an issue that, for years, has had a stigma attached to it.

Moodbeam is a wearable band, with two buttons: ‘one for ok, one for not ok.’ These buttons can represent whatever you want; happy and sad, anxious or not, depressed or not, productive or not. It is completely up to the user.

As the user presses each button, to reflect their mood, their response is logged in the Moodbeam app and the user can see how their mood has changed over the course of the day.

We spoke to co-founders Christina Colmer McHugh and Jonathan Elvidge on the formation, purpose, impact and future of Moodbeam.

Athlete Media Group (AMG): Firstly, can you explain what Moodbeam does?

Jonathan: Moodbeam allows you to log how you’re feeling, store that information within the wearable, whether it is your phone or tablet, and then automatically transfer it to the paired app.

You literally get to see how you feel and it does that with the use of two buttons on the wearable. You can call it happy and not, you could equally call it ok not ok or stress and relaxed, energised and not, productive or unproductive. It’s trying to understand and log how you are feeling in a way that would help provide context in what it is you’re trying to understand and correlate it to how you feel.

AMG: What was the initial motivation to start Moodbeam?

Christina Colmer-McHugh: Moodbeam was born out of a personal need. My daughter, who was 7 at the time, came to me and was having a tough time at school. I just didn’t see that coming at all, I thought we were a family that really talked about everything, so it was a real shock to the system that my 7 year old had been trying to cope.

It left me really wondering how she was when she wasn’t with me, and I felt that I needed to see what that looked like so that I could have a conversation with her and see if she was coping. That was really the idea behind Moodbeam.

AMG: What was your initial reaction when asked to get involved Jonathan?

Jonathan: We talked it over and I said; ‘Well you need to do it.’ I’ve got a young daughter as well, so I had empathy with the situation. Christina asked if I wanted to help make it happen, so that was it, we really started moving with a view to create a wearable device to allow a parent to see how their son or daughter was feeling.

“I really liked the idea of this form of connection using technology”

I really liked the idea of this form of connection using technology. I’d just spent 20 years looking at gadgets and I’ve never come across anything quite like this. The thought that you could create a device that a child could wear that would allow them to express how they’re feeling, with that then reported back at the end of the day leading to a conversation, I could see a real benefit of having that information.

AMG: Your branding and the device itself is really nice to look at, how important was design in the process?

Jonathan: We knew we needed something that someone would want to wear. A lot of emphasis was put into designing not only the wearable but the visualisations for the app, the branding and the whole imagery behind everything we do. We have a designer on the team who has worked very hard to make sure that we have a product that people would want to own and use.

“We’ve tried to make it unisex and something
that a 7-year-old girl or a 15-year-old boy
or a 45- year old man or a 76-year-old
woman would want to wear”

Christina: We’ve worked so hard to keep it simple and looking clean and enjoyable. We’ve tried to make it unisex and something that a 7-year-old girl or a 15-year-old boy or a 45- year old man or a 76-year-old woman would want to wear and that’s taken an awful lot.

AMG: It is also quite unobtrusive and subtle.

Jonathan: We knew we needed something that was very lightweight and easy to wear. If you are sensitive about wearing it – we found that most people are the opposite – but if you are you can just bring it to the inside of your wrist it just looks like a charity band. There’s a module that (sticks) pops out of the silicone band that plugs into any USB port, some wearables require a specific dock, and then if you take it somewhere and forget that it becomes unusable, so that was important.

AMG: When did you realise you had a product to take to market?

Christina: We were basically pacing up and down 5000 stands at an electronics wearables fair in Hong Kong, it was like the Goldilocks story, coming against all these big stands and some are too big, some are too small, but we came across the one that was just right.

I thought; ‘Oh my god this is it!’ It was intelligent, beautiful and soft. I thought it’s got to be close to your skin and you have got to fall in love with it and want to wear it. That was my moment.

“It is quite a bold statement, but we do
actually believe we can change lives
with the use of Moodbeam because
it is that conversation starter”

Jonathan: When we started, we very quickly began to realise we had to simplify the original. It had 5 buttons and five different moods on it and we realised when we spoke to people, mums particularly, what they were really interested in was whether the user was happy or not happy. So when it became a two-button device, all of a sudden we were talking to people around mental health, particularly anxiety, depression, stress as well, as specifics such as PTSD, bipolar and all these different areas started to come up.

We started to get some really interesting insights and feedback. The fact that it’s non-verbal is really powerful. We found that there was a therapist who managed to use it to communicate with somebody she was working with who wouldn’t normally communicate and it led to an understanding of what was going on.

AMG: So Moodbeam helps to start the initial conversation around whatever the user is going through?

Jonathan: That’s exactly it. Instead of getting a general response you get a conversation based on a specific moment in time. It’s that conversation that comes from that very specific question and that is where the power is

“I do think that we do have a tool that
can latch on to all the existing expertise
in society and add a metric that didn’t exist until now”

AMG: Do you think Moodbeam can be something that helps with mental health as a whole in the UK?

Christina: It is quite a bold statement, but we do actually believe we can change lives with the use of Moodbeam because it is that conversation starter, but it is all on that person’s terms. I wanted my young daughter to feel like she was in control of it, because I won’t be doing her any favours to have her thoughts for her. I wanted her to feel quite empowered by the fact that she could look at how she felt and then explain what that meant to her.

I do think that we do have a tool that can latch on to all the existing expertise in society and add a metric that didn’t exist until now.

Jonathan: What we do now is just tell people what it does and the simplicity of how it works and very quickly people join the dots in the context of their own lives. It can be used to evidence behaviour or mood. A very simple case would be somebody running a yoga course and knows that those people that had taken it come out feeling much better, it’s very hard to evidence that at the moment, whereas Moodbeam is a tool that allows you to evidence existing interventions or practices.

“What we do now is just tell people
what it does and the simplicity of how it works
and very quickly people join the dots
in the context of their own lives”

AMG: How do you work within sport?

Christina: We were introduced to a man who used to run the British Athletics commission for many years. He was very open about the fact that, through years of trying to help other people, it had taken its toll on his own mental health.

He said it just helped him feel so much better and from that then we were introduced to a whole raft of people that he had worked with throughout his sporting life; elite Olympic athletes, academies, Paralympians. Now, we are working with Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club taking them for their academy. We also work with Everton Football Club, who support Tackling the Blues by going into schools and talking about resilience and Danielle Brown MBE and what she’s doing now in her transitional phase out of professional sport.

AMG: What are your goals for the future?

Jonathan: We’re at a really exciting phase now, so products have landed and we have pre sold 20% of the first batch into different areas, notably into sport, the NHS, universities, some councils and some private medical insurers and to a lot of individuals who are buying it for their personal needs.

We’re in the final stages of completing the app and then, when the product gets into the hands of users, that’s when we really get to see where the impact might be. We’ve given ourselves 6 months to understand it better and then our aim is to scale up the business to maximise the impact of Moodbeam being in other parts of the world.

“The magic happens when they become a team” | Ken Cowen

11 July 2019 by

If you cast your mind back, you may remember a show on Sky Sports called the School of Hard Knocks (SOHK). With Will Greenwood and Scott Quinnell presenting the show, it focused on helping adults confront issues they have had in life and take steps forward into the world of employment using the sport of rugby.

But, whilst the TV Show was a hit, the charity was actually the brainchild of Ken Cowen, a former teacher from Merseyside, who believed in the capability of sport to help someone turn their life around.

After studying to become a teacher at Cardiff Metropolitan University, Ken went back to Liverpool to work in a school with one of the highest exclusion rates in the country.

“It taught me that team sport has this
very powerful effect. If you give kids real time,
with discipline, you can make a huge headway in their lives.”

“I was absolutely petrified and just trying to survive, quite a few of teachers just seemed hoisted the white flag and I thought I’m not going to do that.

“I started a little basketball club, I wasn’t trying to be their mate, I was just trying to just do a bit of extra sport with them and give them a bit of time. The difference it made in the lessons I was teaching them however was huge.

“It taught me that team sport has this very powerful social effect. If you give children real time, mixed with a lot of fun in a controlled environment, then you can make a huge headway in their lives.

“If children are doing sport, they’re getting active and healthy and creating powerful social bonds. It also improves their resilience, self-esteem and of course provides an alternative from doing things that are less socially positive.”

Fast forward 15 years and Ken was working for a training company in Merseyside. He was asked to come up with an idea to get adults who were either living a life of crime or determined not to work, into the workplace. It was here that the idea for SOHK as born.

“I came up with this idea of teaching them rugby from scratch. I said to the group of young men, ‘In 8 weeks time you are going to play your first ever game of rugby.

“It’s going to be full contact and the guys you are going up against will not want to be mugged off, so you need to step up or walk away now.”

Alongside using rugby as the means to bond the group and get them into a positive mindset, they also got the participants to really think about their next steps in life as well as the practicalities of writing a CV, nailing an interview and coping with the challenges of the work place.

It was at this point that Sky Sports became involved, turning Ken’s idea into a TV show, but four years after the show started, Ken made the decision to turn the concept into a not-for-profit organisation.

So, along with a few friends and ex-England Scrum Half Andy Gomarsall, the School of Hard Knocks was formed.

Whilst the charity started working with adults, Ken admits that they knew early on that they were going to have to work with much younger people as so many of the issues they encountered were so ‘entrenched’ by adulthood.

“We work with the children every single week in the whole school year, for three years. It’s a very intensive intervention.”

Alongside the teamwork and camaraderie that is built between the team, the children and coaches, Ken believes that it also changes their approach to confrontation and even violence.

“We’re in touch with the schools every single week
asking for data, from how many detentions
they get to how many good behaviour points,
and the results are through the roof.”

“Some of the children are from really chaotic home backgrounds and the resulting frustration often manifests itself in real outbursts of anger.

“You may think it’s a bit counterintuitive to play full contact rugby with some of these children but, the opposite is true. When you put them in a very highly organised and disciplined rugby environment, in which clear rules are applied, we are actually teaching them to recalibrate the way they think about physical confrontation.”

There’s often a ‘stormy’ patch at the beginning, but when the young people understand how to approach the physical contest inherent in the game, the results are phenomenal.

“When they eventually get it, their behaviour improves remarkably. We work constantly with the schools to monitor the impact: data from how many detentions they get to how many good behaviour points they accumulate are measured – and the results are through the roof.”

As well as helping the children through sport, SOHK also provides ‘behavioural coaches with a sports or forensic psychology background’ to work with children one on one.

“Some of the challenges are so complex that no single activity is going to meet all the needs, but for us, the magic happens when they become a team.”

SOHK is not just for people who are edging towards trouble, or who are long term unemployed (in the case of the adult work) but also for anyone who will benefit from that sense of belonging that it creates.

“He’s completely transformed because people
were investing time in him and making him feel that
little bit happier for the future, which is a very powerful thing”

Ken gives the example of one child, a refugee, who joined SOHK at the school’s request. He lost his brother in the Jungle, in Calais, and had no idea if his parents were still alive.

“He told us that SOHK was the one half-day of [his] week that he could really look forward to – which is both overwhelmingly sad and yet heart-warming too. In just three years, he has gone from barely speaking English to getting his GCSEs and A levels – and he’s now on his way to college.

“He’s completely transformed because people (school & SOHK staff alike) were investing time in him and making him feel that little bit happier for the future, which is a very powerful thing.”

Although SOHK initially started working with just young men, the charity now has an equal split of male and female participants.

“We are really proud to have got this point – the women’s groups are always nothing short of incredible. Many have had awful times at home as victims of abuse, others are nervous about going back to work after raising families. Others still have had incredible careers that have been cut short through redundancy. Whatever reasons they are there for, they always seem very quickly make lasting friendships and genuinely look after each other.”

Now, on the 25th-26th of August, SOHK are hosting a charity match in which they will be attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the longest game of rugby union ever played.

“It costs us £600 to put one child through
an entire year school of Hard Knocks that’s
half a day a week for the whole school year with
a team of coaches and behavioural coaches”

SOHK will be playing a team put together by the Wooden Spoon, a children’s rugby charity, with the overarching aim of raising £100,000 for the respective charities.

The game will have to pass the 30 hours mark (that’s 24 consecutive games of rugby!) and whilst Ken admits that it is a daunting challenge, it is one that is worth it to continue providing the support that SOHK offers.

“It costs us £600 to put one child through an entire year school of Hard Knocks that’s half a day a week for the whole school year with a team of coaches and behavioural coaches, so raising £100,000 will go a long way to continuing that work.”

Since its conception, SOHK has continued to grow, now operating in London, Cardiff, Fife, Edinburgh and the valleys of South Wales. From piloting the scheme in two schools, the charity now works across 16 schools in multiple year groups.

“We want to care for people properly”

Ken is still looking to the future, trying to reach more people and grow the charity without losing the ability to meaningfully help people.

“I feel there is a lot of work that is to be done – not just in growing the work, but maintaining the quality at all costs. We want to care for people as well as we possibly can.”

If you want to support SOHK world record attempt, or donate to the charity in general, click here.

World record aim for 30 hour rugby game

9 July 2019 by

A sporting charity, School of Hard Knocks (SOHK), is aiming to break the Guinness World Record for the longest match of rugby union this summer.

The ground-breaking charity uses sport, mentoring and an evidence-based curriculum to improve people’s physical and mental wellbeing and will play full contact rugby union, with only 23 players per side, continuously for over 30 hours.

The event will raise money for SOHK’s work across the UK, which helps vulnerable adults and children using rugby, boxing and strongman training.

SOHK and military charity Scotty’s Little Soldiers already hold the record for the longest ever match of rugby, set in 2015 at 28 hours and 23 minutes.

The last attempt raised £50k for the two charities. However, Scotty’s Little Soldiers broke it again last year, playing against a Fore Brigade charity.

This year, SOHK want the record back and aim to go one better, extending the record and raising £100k.

A number of high-profile ambassadors, with World Cup finalist Andy Gomarsall MBE and Scottish international Ben Hinshelwood, are already confirmed for the SOHK team.

Andy Gomarsall MBE, 2003 World Cup winner and SOHK patron, said: “I am honoured to be captaining the SOHK team who as a charity do so much to help the disadvantaged in society.

“I know my body will suffer like never before,
but it will be worth it to help raise valuable
funds for such an important cause.”

“I’m excited and terrified of the World Record match itself! It’s the equivalent of almost 24 consecutive games of rugby which is mind-boggling.

“I know my body will suffer like never before, but it will be worth it to help raise valuable funds for such an important cause.”

School of Hardknocks, Rugby, Andy Gomarsall, Charity, Guiness World Record, World Record Attempt, Rehabilitation, Make A Difference — Ken Cowen, CEO of School of Hardknocks

Ken Cowen, CEO and SOHK Founder, said: “This would have been undoubtedly the hardest thing I have ever attempted. However, I sustained an injury which means I am out for the next 9 months.”

Whilst training for the event, Ken ruptured his quadricep muscle from his knee, leaving him on the sidelines for the event.

“I’m gutted I won’t be playing, but in true Hardknocks spirit I will be there. Please support our brilliant players to help us raise our target of £100k.”

The other players are drawn from the charity’s network of supporters in businesses and rugby clubs. The opposition for the attempt will be a Wooden Spoon XV (TBC), representing the UK’s oldest rugby charity.

The attempt will take place at Rosslyn Park RFC (TBC) from 24th-25th August 2019, starting at 10am on 24th and finishing at around 6pm on 25th.

To support or donate SOHK’s world record attempt, click here.

“We’ve got a skill, but the Hippocratic oath is to help people” | Dr Aamer Khan, The Harley Street Skin Clinic

4 July 2019 by

The waiting room for Dr Aamer Khan’s surgery, on Harley Street, London, has a traditionally British feel.

Whilst you wait, you are offered tea or coffee in quaint china cups. The only way you would know it is a cosmetic surgery is due to the folders of potential treatments placed on the tables.

Dr Khan himself has not always been a cosmetic doctor, and to simply label him as one would be a disservice.

Dr Khan admits he wanted to work in medicine since the early age of 8 years old, but alongside his medical pursuit, he was also a national triple jump champion.

But so strong was his passion for medicine that, rather than pursue both simultaneously, he stopped the sport to focus on medicine.

“I think [sport] helps you to have an approach to life. Athletics [taught me] the discipline, the focus.

“I think that’s all been very useful, but I’ve always had a desire to learn more about whatever I do, become a student of it.”

Dr Khan took this approach to medicine. As well as working in primary care, he worked within anaesthesiology and with ‘acutely ill people.’

“I’ve always had a desire to learn more
about whatever I do, become a student of it.”

“After that nothing really fazes you. You learn a lot about human physiology, and you learn a lot about how the body works physically.”

However, it was his next step, that would go on to alter the course of his career. After initially wanting to move into cardiology, Dr Khan began work, one day a week, as a cosmetic doctor.

“I used to do a day case every Monday. I was doing the plastics on skins, so people coming in with tumours and skin conditions that needed operating on.”

But rather than viewing his patients as a ‘bag of conditions’, ‘they were whole people who had families and other aspects to their lives.’

Now, after moving into private medicine, his clinic takes on the same approach. As well as providing procedures, the Harley Street Skin Clinic looks to provide total support to their patients, ‘treating the person as a whole.’

Back On Track, Dr Aamer Khan, The Harley Street Skin Clinic, The Athlete Media Group, AMG, Plastic Surgery, Cosmetic Surgery, Wounded Veterans, Wounded Soldiers, PTSD, Go Karting, Track Day, Charity — Mark Allen who at 19 years of age, was caught in an I.E.D. explosion at Musa Quala, Afghanistan in January 2010 while he was serving as a Private with 1 Royal Anglians. Mark lost both hie legs and a thumb and also had facial injuries from the blast. He is receiving laser treatment from Dr. Aamer Khan at the Harley Street Skin Clinic which helps with his scaring.
PHOTO:Philip Coburn

As well as working with an impressive list of celebrities, nothing epitomises this more than the work Dr Khan does with ex-military personnel.

After years of carrying out procedures with injured servicemen and women, Dr Khan and his wife Lesley founded the charity Back on Track, a charity that looks to raise money for injured servicemen through a race day in which ‘soldiers, celebrities and the general public vie for top position.’

It is no surprise that Dr Khan works with the soldiers, as his family having strong ties to the armed forces. Both his grandfather and great grandfather were in the army, with the latter the first Indian Muslim to be awarded the Victoria Cross.

It was an encounter with a soldier named Mark Allen that started the chain reaction that led to Back on Track.

“When they are serving, they’re
invincible they’re young and have the sense of
immortality. Then, suddenly, you’re stuck in a house.”

As the youngest soldier to have lost both legs and survived in Afghanistan, Mark returned to the UK, with Dr Khan treating him for some of his injuries.

Upon his return, Mark began racing cars, becoming a world record holder for racing the greatest distance over a 24-hour period, as well as competing in the Le Mans 24 Hour Race as one of the first injured soldiers.

For Dr Khan, sport allows the soldiers to find the adrenaline and sense of achievement that may be missed when leaving the armed forces.

“They are action men and action women and they really love that adrenaline. In their spare time, they’re doing lots of sport and when they haven’t got that and they are stuck in the house, a depression sets in.

“Most of them have some form of psychological issue,
they have this trauma, but also the social development
has been in a particular direction, the military way.”

“When they are serving, they’re invincible they’re young and have the sense of immortality. Then, suddenly, you’re stuck in a house nobody’s taught you how to manage your accounts, how you do your shopping and plan your life and all these social skills.

“Most of them have some form of psychological issue, they have this trauma, but also the social development has been in a particular direction, the military way. It has been everything to them.”

As well as looking to raise money and treat injured soldiers, Dr Khan takes it upon himself further to help those he treats with the support network and life skills needed to adapt back into civilian life.

As well as providing a support network around the soldiers, Dr Khan explains it is about providing them with a new sense of purpose, something that is missing when they leave the forces.

One such case is a soldier, who Dr Khan asked to remain unnamed. After returning to the UK, and attending a few Back on Track race days, he began to struggle.

After suffering shoulder injuries whilst serving, the soldier struggled to work and began to fall behind financially. Mark called Dr Khan one night after work and explained the situation to him. The soldier was at home preparing to kill himself.

“We were out eating, and Mark asked ‘Could [you ring the soldier] he’s in a really bad state’, so I rang him and it took me about half an hour to talk him down.

“I rang him back and said ‘look we’ve got the race tomorrow, why don’t you bring all your paperwork, come in and we’ll see what we can do.”

“We can make a decision like that and we decided,
yes, we would help him, and you know what he was
going to kill himself over? Six and a half thousand pounds.”

Dr Khan and the trustees of Back on Track quickly decided they would help the soldier get out of trouble. The soldier in question had applied to a large charity but, due to ‘red tape’, was unable to get help.

As Back on Track is a small charity, they had less trouble turning the decision around quickly and helping the soldier.

“We can make a decision like that and we decided, yes, we would help him, and you know what he was going to kill himself over? Six and a half thousand pounds.”

But rather than stop there, Dr Khan wanted to help the soldier find his ‘secondary purpose’, something that would replace the passion and sense of self the armed forces provided.

“We made a commitment through the charity
18 months ago to help soldiers who need it.”

After reaching out to the clinic’s personal PR, the solider was put in touch with a range of contacts and, after working as an apprentice for one of ‘Jamie Oliver’s proteges’, he now has a website and food blog and is looking to open up a burger bar.

It is providing the soldiers with a purpose, a supportive team and the empathy and understanding to help them find their place back in society.

Whilst Dr Khan is a cosmetic doctor, his work sees him not only care for his patients medically but take on their situations personally and help them reach a solution.

“We made a commitment through the charity 18 months ago to help soldiers who need it.

“I’m a doctor and I feel that it is my duty to help people.”

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