Jaguar Academy Of Sport Rising Star Update

MANCHESTER – Nov 10, 2011: The past month has been very busy for the Jaguar Academy of Sport Rising Stars. The 2011 athletes received their 3rd Workshop of the year, which focused on ‘Building a successful team around you’, and was hosted by GB Performance Director and Jaguar Academy of Sport Ambassador Dave Brailsford at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Handball player Rob Avery from Merseyside, is now playing for Salford HC, notably one of the most successful handball teams in the North, where they recently won the East Kilbride International Tournament. Rob is heading to Ireland this month to play for the England U23 squad in the Challenge Trophy against Ireland, Georgia and Faroe Islands.

Gymnast Frank Baines from Liverpool, has recently travelled to Japan to compete in the Junior International, one of the highest rated competitions in Junior gymnastics. He qualified for five finals and came away with a bronze medal in the floor, parallel bars and high bar competitions, beating his competitors who are reserves for the Senior World Championship squads. Frank’s next competition is the Olympic Hopes Cup, which is being held in the Czech Republic.

Jonathan Carlisle, a swimmer from Southwick, is now ranked 11th in the 100m and 14th in the 200m backstroke following his performance at the recent Youth National Championship where he came 2nd in the 100m backstroke and 3rd in the 200m backstroke. Jonathan has also been selected for the England Talent Senior team and will soon travel to Canada for training as well as the Canada Cup.

Sheree Cox, a shooter from Surrey recently competed in the Welsh Open in Cardiff. She won the competition and as a result now holds the Welsh Open Ladies title whilst also shooting a selection score for the European Championships in February. Sheree is currently training hard for the Surrey Open later this month.

Jonny Gall, a hockey player from Surrey has moved up from the U18 to the U21 squad and he is currently training hard for the European Championships, which are being held in Holland next Summer.

CP Footballer from Milton Keynes, Alistair Patrick-Heselton captained the West Midlands team in his first regional fixture of the season. He led the team to three wins out of three and scored three goals over all the matches. He has also played for Great Britain in a warm-up match against the England select side, where the team won 6-0 with Alistair scoring one of the goals.

Fencer Leonora Mackinnon from Newbury, has won the U20 British Selection event in Newcastle, this is a great achievement for Leonora as she is only in her first year of the Juniors and the win has pushed her Junior ranking up to 3rd in the UK. Leonora also travelled to Turku, Finland to compete in the Senior International Satellite competition. Leonora finished in 7th place, which meant she was able to take her first Senior world points at just 16 years-old,

Patrick McCann a boxer from Market Harborough, has been provided with the opportunity to take part in a strength and conditioning programme at Loughborough. This programme has been set up by the Jaguar Academy of Sport to allow Patrick to take on more advice and therefore improve in his sport. He has also been invited to attend a weekend assessment session in Sheffield for the 2016 Olympics.

Vikki McKay, Judo player from Liverpool is back on the mat after a knee operation. She is training hard in order to get stronger for when competitions start in January.

Swimmer Richard Schafers from West Lothian, has recently competed in the Swimming World Cup in Berlin. He swam two personal bests in the 50m and 100m freestyle. His 50m swim was a new Scottish World Record and placed him 14th at the World Cup.

Ali Slater, a cyclist from Lincolnshire, has had a great set of results recently. He came 1st in the National Track Championship 4k Team Pursuit, 1st in the National Junior Road Race Series 2011 and 3rd in the National Track Championships. Ali has also been accepted on the British Cycling Endurance Academy.

Rugby player Anthony Watson from Surrey, has become the second youngest player to play in the premiership and the youngest ever to play for his club, London Irish. He has also been nominated for BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year.

2010 Rising Star Paul Van Rietvelde, a badminton player from East Lothian, has recently won his first Senior International Event at the Turkish International in the Men’s Doubles.

It has been an exciting month for our Rising Stars and the Jaguar Academy of Sport looks forward to keeping up with their progress and achievements.