Helen gave an inspirational speech to pupils, teachers and parents about her journey, her failures and the career-threatening injuries she overcame to achieve her ultimate goal of becoming an Olympic Champion.
I also spoke to the children about the fantastic success of England women’s team sport over the last few weeks; the England Women’s football team got to the semi-finals of the Euros, the England Women’s Rugby Team lost to the All Blacks in the final of the Rugby World Cup and the England Women’s Cricket team beat India in a nail-biter of a World Cup Final in front of a full house at Lords. Women’s team sports are more competitive, entertaining and popular than they have ever been and I encouraged our girls to get in our fantastic new cricket nets as much as they can.
I showed the children a video clip of Anya Shrubsole, the England bowler who took six wickets to claim an unlikely victory for England. I also showed them the picture of Anya Shrubsole at the age of 10 dreaming of playing at Lord’s…
..and then the same shot of her 16 years later the morning before her inspiring performance leading England to World Cup victory.
The children were asked to think about what their dream was, what or where is their Lord’s and what would they like to achieve in 16 years’ time? They were reminded to try their best, embrace challenge and to always ‘shoot for the moon because even if you miss you’ll land among the stars’.
