On a cold and wet, yet inspirational weekend at Loughborough University, seventy-five of the country’s most promising and talented young athletes were offered the opportunity to get a unique insight into what it takes to become the best in their sport. Tri247’s Deputy Editor, Annie Emmerson, was asked along to this year’s National Talent Orientation camp, which took place last weekend, to help run the workshops and mentor the young triathletes taking part.

The main focus of the camp was to help identify the challenges Britain's athletes of tomorrow face when balancing education and sport. The five sports that took part were; canoeing, rowing, cycling, sailing and triathlon. Unfortunately, although triathlon was given ten places, only three triathletes managed to attend the weekend! Pictured above with Dame Kelly Holmes are two of the triathletes who took part in the camp, on the left is Thomas Bishop and on the right is Matt Sharp. Both have showed some promising talent and showed great motivation and discipline during the camp.

The weekend was packed full of exciting current and past sporting heroes. Amongst the attendees were; Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe and Children’s Minister Kevin Brennan, who were there to help offer their support to Britain’s future Olympians. Dame Kelly Holmes, a sporting patron of the trust, was the main star of the weekend and this was her view on how the camp could help the up and coming stars of the future.

“The camp aims to give these young athletes a real insight into what life is like at an elite sporting level, so that we can prepare them for what it takes to become the best. These young people are at an age where they are starting to make some really big decisions which will have a major impact on the rest of their lives, for example, am I good enough to forge a career in sport? Do I want it enough? How can I balance my sport with my education? Am I making the best use of my talent to reach my goals?

“We will help answer these questions and challenge the youngsters to really think about their futures. Far from wanting to put them off a career in sport, we are showing them the opportunities available so that they are better-placed to make an informed decision about where they want to go in life.”

The Minister for Sport Gerry Sutcliffe had this to say, “The National Talent Orientation Camp goes from strength-to-strength and provides potential sport stars of the future useful insight on what they need to do to reach the very top of their game. With the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games on the horizon the Government, the Youth Sport Trust, UK Sport and sports governing bodies want to ensure that our young sporting talent are fully aware of the challenges to being a world class performer. We will do everything we can to nurture and support their development and help them to realise their sporting ambitions.

The National Talent Orientation Camp was designed for youngsters of school age, who have been identified by their sport’s governing body as having the potential to make it as elite athletes. For the first time the camp offered workshops on how schools can support their talented pupils during their development and also an opportunity for parents to get tips and advice on supporting their offspring.

For the athletes, the camp combined high quality training sessions with workshops on ability and determination, keynote speeches on education and lifestyle planning, advice on drugs-free sport, a Higher Education Marketplace and the opportunity to ask a panel of elite performer’s questions around what it takes to become the best.

This was the second year that the camp had taken place after last year’s hugely successful camp, where almost seventy-nine percent of athletes said their performance ranking in their sport has increased since attending the first camp. Meanwhile, ninety-seven percent were hungrier for success, ninety-three percent were more determined to achieve success and ninety-one percent were more confident in their ability to succeed. With figures like that hopefully we can look forward to lots of medals at 2012 and beyond.

The National Talent Orientation Camp is funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and is the pinnacle of the Gifted and Talented strand of the National School Sport Strategy. It has been developed by the Youth Sport Trust in partnership with UK Sport and the national governing bodies (NGBs) of the five sports involved.

For more information on the Youth Sport Trust go to: www.youthsporttrust.org