Asda Athletes

One of the UK’s top young runners helped Asda Weymouth launch their new Community Life programme last month. Benedict Westhenry, a middle-distance runner who competes internationally as part of the Great Britain Youth Team, is one of our 2012 Asda Athletes and hopes to compete at the European, Commonwealth and World Championships, as well as the Olympic Games, in the future.

Benedict joined store manager Andrew Felix, Community Life champion Sandy West and Weymouth and Portland Mayor Graham Winter to cut the ribbon which marked the official relaunch of the initiative, which raises money for a wide range of worthy local causes.

Benedict said: “It is my first ever official public duty as a GB sports athlete and I am grateful to Asda and Sports Aid for helping to sponsor my travel, training and equipment.”

Check out the great video Benedict made about the big day and find out more about his involvement with Asda’s Community Life programme:

You can follow Benedict’s progress and read about his latest achievements on his Asda Athletes blog

Scotland’s national stadium of football, Hampden Park, played host to some of the county’s finest young athletes in the final leg of our UK-wide Asda Athlete Workshop tour. Belfast, Coventry, London and Manchester have all seen an influx of sporting talent as we set up camp in some of the country’s leading sporting venues to welcome this year’s group of upcoming athletes.

Young talent from sports as diverse as rhythmic gymnastics and equestrian vaulting came from all over Scotland to receive training on sports psychology and social media, and Commonwealth silver medalist Lee McConnell was on hand to share her personal story and help inspire our athletes to success.

We can’t wait to follow how our athletes progress with each of their sports this year, and you can keep up to date with their developing careers as Asda Athletes on our Asda Athletes blog, as well as checking out all the action from today on the Glasgow Athletes Workshop page.

This year’s workshops have been a huge amount of fun, but more importantly have given our athletes a valuable insight into how they can make the most of our scheme. SportsAid CEO Tim Lawler sums up the last week in this final video message:

The Asda Athletes were on the blue side of Manchester today as we held our fourth workshop at the Etihad Stadium, home of Premiership leaders Manchester City.

Talented young athletes from across the north of England and Wales joined our sports psychology and social media experts to recieve training on the mental aspect of becoming a successful sports person, as well as making the most of sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Olympic gold medal winning sprinter and die-hard Manchester United fan Darren Campbell put his red shirt to one side and delivered a fantastic speech, telling the inspirational story of how he went from a council estate in Manchester to the pinnacle of his sport. His message of the importance of following your dream was one our athletes are sure to remember.

The day was a fantastic end to a week that has seen us taken in the Ricoh Arena, Wembley Stadium and the Etihad, and we’re now looking forward to our Glasgow workshop at Hampden Park.

To catch up on all the action from today, check out our Manchester Athlete Workshop blog.

Our third Asda Athlete workshop of 2012 was held at our national home of sport, Wembley Stadium, which provided a fitting backdrop to our introduction to London’s athletes of the future.

Over 100 athletes and parents joined us to be trained on social media awareness and the power of sports psychology, as well as being inspired by the legendary Kris Akabusi, who had some fantastic advice and memorable quotes on life as a professional athlete. His famously energetic style had the audience on their feet and fully engaged during his talk, and we hope that everybody involved went home with some fantastic memories and valuable advice.

You can check out the pictures and videos from the day on our London workshop blog, and be sure to stay tuned for our next workshop held at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on Friday.