SOGB Athlete and National Grid Mentor go to ALPS Conference in Brussels

Athletes (from left):  Fleur O’Donohue, Rachel Jarvis, Lee Penfold are taking part in the Mentoring Scheme

London, 06/01/10 - Special Olympics Great Britain’s athlete Rachel Jarvis and her mentor and National Grid employee Diane Whilding will attend the Special Olympics Europe/ Eurasia Athlete Leadership Seminar in Brussels, Belgium (January 8-10, 2010), where they will be joining athletes and mentors from France, Belgium, Poland and Greece to learn about governance, self-advocacy, public speaking and understanding the Media.

This seminar is part of the Special Olympics Athlete Leadership Programme (ALPS), initiative which allows athletes to explore opportunities for participation in other roles within Special Olympics. Through ALPs, athletes can serve on Boards of Directors or local committees.
Athletes excel as spokespersons, coaches and officials.

Rachel who is 32 years old and lives in Leicester has been part of Special Olympics East Midlands for the last 8 years, where she plays for the basketball team. Rachel has won many medals at national and international levels. Aside from her involvement as an athlete, Rachel volunteered to be an Ambassador for the SOGB National Summer Games held in Leicester last year and she is one of the three SOGB Athletes that is currently taking part in the National Grid’s Enabling Mentoring Scheme, which sees the energy company employees actively supporting the personal development of the athletes.

Diane who lives in Warwick and works as a Customer Strategy Manager at National Grid has been mentoring SOGB athletes for over a year with a team of four National Grid employees, led by Senior Analyst, Shafqat Ali. Diane explained, “I have been mentoring for many years within the company and when we created an employee network Enabling to provide focus on the issues facing employees who are affected by disability, I volunteered as a mentor. The reason why mentoring means so much to me is that our son David has Cerebral Palsy and is a wheelchair user.”

Mentors Shafqat Ali and Diane Whilding

Diane added, “Attending the conference with Rachel will give a great opportunity to support Rachel further and show what mentoring is about. It will give me a better insight in to those areas which she and the others get involved in and what it practically means for them. It is a wonderful opportunity to build further our friendship on a 1-1 level.”

Rachel affirmed with a big smile that, “it is very good going to this seminar”. Her mother, Heather Jarvis added, “Rachel feels privileged to go to the event and looks forward to it ; in a way it will be an extension of what she did last year as Leicester Games’ Ambassador.”

The five athletes from each of the five Special Olympics programmes participating will learn how to express their ideas and conduct athlete committee meetings, as well as how to deal with the media and give a presentations. The seminar’s agenda also include a potential visit to the European Parliament that has not yet been confirmed.