SS4B Presentation at Felixstowe School

News and Stories by Nino Severino

The SS4B school presentations are always an exciting experience for the Sport Skills 4 Business team, led by me and Jamie Lewis SS4B Programme Director. We always ensure that we can present to as many students as possible, in the case of Felixstowe School, we managed to see nearly every class, presenting over 4 days. What a wonderful experience for me, to be attending this event with Jamie Lewis, who has been such an important part of helping me to make SS4B such a great success. Jamie is instrumental in the whole process, ensuring that positive relationships are built with all the schools and the academies, and the general management of booking schools, communicating directly with teachers, shaping the presentations and delivering our dynamic presentation, full of components to excite, inspire and motivate the students.

The presentations always start with introducing Elena Baltacha-Severino and ensuring that every student knows exactly who’s legacy was the driving force and motivation which has made SS4B happen. Elena was committed to young people, and always wanted to offer experiences that would accelerate their personal development, SS4B was created for this reason. We wanted to reach a wider audience with our expertise and unique educational and development modules that sit within the SS4B programme. Reaching out to the wider multi-sport student, and linking this with personal development, careers and business opportunity was the concept that shaped the SS4B programme content. It’s always an emotional experience for me to talk about my wife, I feel such pride telling all the students about here, and what she stands for, and why she drives us all to continue her legacy.

The presentation is full of dynamic visuals, films, information, and explanations of the programme and exactly what it can offer the student/athlete. It begins with just a little bit of information about Jamie, I and the SS4B team, which swiftly transitions to a wonderful film about Elena, called ‘Inspired By Women’. This film was created by our World Tennis Governing body, The WTA, it perfectly tells the story of Elena, who she was, what she achieved and how she has effected young peoples lives since her passing. I will never forget one student who stayed after everyone else had left, they were accompanied with their form teacher, the teacher informed me that they wanted to talk to me. It was a very emotional experience, the student was so touched by Elena and the film that they wanted to express their feelings to me, this was a very special moment for me personally, I felt that Elena was still connecting with these young people, even though she is not with us physically.

The presentation then continues to present our Ambassadors, Kelly Anna being one of them. Kelly is a globally recognised designer and artist, who now has her own Nike range of clothing. Kelly started out her early years as a dancer and gymnast. Going onto study Fashion Illustration and print design for apparel and footwear before taking the leap to go freelance.  Over the last few years Kelly has designed trainers, painted huge murals, curated exhibitions, embellished your favourite popcorn, and even painted a football pitch.  Her success has been solidified by the collaborations she has worked on, from designing two collections with Nike, working with numerous clients such as BMW, Penguin, NFL and so many more to having her prints worn by the likes of Beyonce and Justin Timberlake.  Alongside her work, Kelly has spoken at 18 of the biggest Art & design festivals across the globe.

We then cover the programm content, starting with the first module, Champions of Life, Born Or Made?

The aim of our first SS4B component is to highlight what the student/athletes already probably know, champions in sport, or life, need to believe in themselves, and more importantly invest in their self-development.

We hope, as the student/athletes study this first component it will help them to develop a mindset that provides them with the motivation and inspiration to really attack their life dreams. When we highlight “self-development” we are talking about embracing anything and everything that will help them achieve their goals, the fact that they are willing to join SS4B, shows they already have an understanding and commitment to personal development.

Throughout the SS4B programme, we will provide the student/athlete with a wealth of information that has taken decades to create through the knowledge I, as Creator of SS4B have built up over years of managing and supporting World Class athletes.

After the first module we will offer other areas, such as:

• Integration and Development
• Controllable and Uncontrollable
• Positive and Liming factors
•  

These components and the many more that will follow, will “Fast Track” the student/athlete to the knowledge that will make a massive difference to their life, and what they potentially can achieve, with hard work, dedication and a word that is not commonly used, but “Grit”. For the student/athlete to develop themselves and move towards their life goals and dreams, it is important they embrace the fact that they need to address a number of areas:

• Physical Development
• Mental Development
• Emotional Development

The three areas above will provide them with the deep and strong foundations to build the rest of their development life upon, we like to refer to this as the “Bedrock of Life”. Macey Hendin-Walker, one of our very fist girls who came through the foundation at the age of 7, using the SS4B methods and principles is now living here tennis dream in America.