Isle of Man Government - 2018/19 Isle of Man Sport Aid scholarships announced

Isle of Man Sport Aid has announced the names of the selected athletes to receive support during 2018/19.

A total of 47 athletes will receive their scholarships at the Isle of Man Sports Awards which is being held on Thursday 1 March 2018 at the Villa Marina.

Amongst those supported are two new recipients and six graduates who have been promoted from the Sport Aid Academy. A number of other applicants are still under assessment and these will be announced shortly.

Sports Performance Co-Ordinator, Chris Quine, explained:

'Athletes are nominated by their governing body’s Head of Performance and a thorough selection process then takes place by the independent Isle of Man Sport Aid Committee members, who put in many hours of their own time during the process.

'The Isle of Man Strategy for Sport highlights performance athletes as a major asset as ambassadors for the Isle of Man on the world stage and Sport Aid is playing its part in assisting our future stars to achieve their ambitions to perform at the top level within their sport.'

Isle of Man Sport Aid is a registered charity and has played a vital role in supporting the development of most of the Island’s sports stars in the past 15-20 years. A significant number of Sport Aid recipients have gone on to compete at the highest levels including World Championships and Olympic Games.

The Isle of Man Sport Aid programme has been restructured for 2018/2019 and all athletes have been allocated into one of six tiers, based on their current status relative to performance in senior competition.

The six tiers of Sport Aid are:

Academy – Entry level for 13 to 16 year olds, giving access to workshops and free events to educate / guide athletes through their formative years in sport

Potential – An athlete who has shown the initial aptitude and attitude to become successful within sport

Emerging – An athlete who has demonstrated continued progression from the ‘potential tier’

Breakthrough – An athlete who has demonstrated the potential to reach the ‘performance’ level within the next two years

Performance – An athlete who is (or is close to becoming) a professional within their sport and / or is competing regularly at international level within their sport

Mastery – An athlete who is synonymous throughout their sport and on the world stage as being a ‘great’ within their field

The numbers in each tier are:

Academy – 120
Potential – 26
Emerging – 10
Breakthrough – 6
Performance – 5

Isle of Man Sport Aid is also launching its first ‘enhanced support’ package aimed at preparing Isle of Man athletes for the next Olympic or Paralympic Games and is titled “Sport Aid Target Tokyo”. This support is for those athletes who have been selected for the Sport Aid programme and have shown they have the potential to compete for Team GB at the 2020 Olympics or Paralympics.

Support will be tailored to the athlete’s training plans in the run up to the Olympics/Paralympics and will hopefully see the recipients wearing the Team GB colours in Tokyo.

Four athletes have successfully applied for the new Sport Aid Target Tokyo programme, they are: Charlotte Atkinson (swimming), Anna Christian (cycling), Joe Harris (athletics) and Erika Kelly (athletics)

Chairman of Isle of Man Sport Aid, Richard Radcliffe, said:

'The Sport Aid Management Committee has spent a lot of time over the past year looking at how we can best support our top sportsmen and women and those with the potential to be there in the future. The tiered system of support is designed to encourage the athletes to keep striving to improve and enable us to target help where it is most needed.

'We are, as ever, indebted to our sponsors who provide such valuable support. All money provided by them goes directly to the athletes.

'In addition to the organisations and individuals sponsoring scholarships for this year’s Sport Aid programme, we’d like to thank SMP Partners and Newfield for their continued sponsorship of the very successful Sport Aid Academy programme.'

A presentation of the Sport Aid scholarships will take place during the Isle of Man Sports Awards, sponsored by Microgaming PlayItForward, which takes place on Thursday 1 March 2018 at the Villa Marina. Tickets are available from www.villagaiety.com.