Sports stars put schoolchildren through their paces

An Olympic medallist and a young athlete just launching his international career will both inspire young visitors to Teesside University.

Alison Mowbray and Ricky Stevenson will welcome 120 children in Years 8, 9 and 10 (aged 13 to 15) from schools across the Tees Valley and North Yorkshire to the sport and nutrition event at the University.

Alison competed with the British Rowing team in two Olympic Games, Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004, where she won silver. She will run a session on Jobs in Elite Sport, focusing on the vast range of people who all played a vital role in her success, from coaches to sports physiologists and nutritionists.

Ricky, a BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise (Applied Sports Science) student who is supported by Teesside University’s Elite Athlete Bursary Scheme, will deliver practical sessions on running mechanics.

The 21-year-old runs with New Marske Harriers. Recent successes include victory at the Great Edinburgh International Cross Country and finishing second in the New Balance indoor mile in New York, both earlier this year.

Inspirational lecture Alison will launch the event on 24 March with an inspirational lecture for the visiting children. Explaining what her Jobs in Elite Sport session will involve, she said: 'It took a wider support team of hundreds to get me and the rest of the British team to the Olympics in medal winning condition.'

Other activities include a health and nutrition workshop, where the children will learn about the nutritional value of different foods and then browse ‘shopping aisle’ stalls to chose from real foodstuffs to plan a healthy meal. The University’s catering staff and sport and well-being team have helped to devise dietary plans for the day.

Tours of the University’s physiology laboratories will complete the day, to help inspire students considering coming to Teesside to study in the future.

The event is part of the University’s Meteor programme STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Integrated Education Strategy. This is funded by One North East, aimed at helping promote awareness of science, technology, engineering and maths among young people.

The University’s award-winning Meteor programme, which launched in 1999, aims to inspire primary and secondary school children to think about higher education.

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