Dame Kelly Holmes’ charity, the DKH Legacy Trust, is working in partnership with Skill Force to bring together a unique workforce of ex-elite sports performers and ex-military personnel to a programme called ‘Making Headway’. Ten young students from Bognor Regis Community College have completed the intensive 12 day course which finished on 15th December. The programme focussed on the key skills of improving own learning and problem solving. The aim was to motivate young people to recognise they do have capabilities and to use this new-found confidence back in school and daily life.
World Championship Rower Franki Jus-Burke said: “Making Headway is a great project. Having performers taking a lead on some delivery days really makes a difference to the young people we work with. It’s great to see them so inspired and motivated by our stories and experiences.” Other athletes involved in the programme included Mike Mullen, BMX World Champion, and Adam Whitehead, the Olympic swimmer and Commonwealth Champion.
Dame Kelly Holmes said: “I am delighted that my charity is working with Skill Force at Bognor Regis Community College, I am really glad the school is helping these sports people understand some of the challenges young people face and how the champions we are working with can help young people unlock their talents and realise their potential.”
She later went on to say, “I served in the army for nine and a half years and believe that Skill Force instructors combined with ex-sports performers can help young people raise their aspirations and go on to achieve more in their lives”.
Many Skill Force instructors are ex-military themselves and several are talented sports people in their own right. Keith Howlett MBE, who taught on the Bognor Regis ‘Making Headway’ course, joined Skill Force after serving 23 years in the Army Physical Training Corps. He was Army and Combined Services Boxing Champion for 5 years and the Amateur Boxing Association of England National Champion for 2 years, as well as boxing in the European Championships and the 1990 Commonwealth Games.
Shaun Dowling, Deputy Head of Bognor Regis Community College, said “It was with great pride that I saw the culmination of the ‘Making Headway’ programme. These young people have been given hope. They have been treated respectfully and had high expectations placed upon them...they have risen to the challenge superbly.”
Skill Force CEO, Peter Cross, believes that the collaboration with the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust is a winning combination and will help young people gain a qualification that employers believe to be truly worthwhile and relevant: “Our young people deserve the best possible support to enable them to reach their potential in these challenging times; Making Headway will do just that”.