Leeds Talent Hub: Supporting Olympians and future stars to fulfil their potential

Established in 2019, Leeds Beckett University is home to the most northerly England Athletics Talent Hub. A Commonwealth, World and European level athlete in his own right, now coach Andi Drake oversees the Talent Hub and Talent Pathway action in Leeds. We recently caught up with Andi to find out about the contribution of key partners, professionals and dedicated coaches in supporting Olympians and future international stars.

Supporting athletes at all levels

Yorkshire and Leeds in particular have a very strong sporting and endurance history, fast forward to present day and the Leeds Talent Hub has supported a total of nine athletes in their journey to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. But it is not only elite athletes who benefit from the state-of-the-art facilities and coaching:

There are probably around 200 athletes overall which Leeds supports,” explained Andi. “There are eight on the World Class Programme this year, 26 on the England Athletics Junior and Senior Programmes, and a further 50 Youth Talent Programme athletes"

"We are proud at Leeds that we offer an open-door policy for any of the England Athletics pathway athletes. If suitable to them and not too far to travel, we will always invite them and their personal coaches to jump in on regular weeknight sessions, it is a great opportunity to train together with peers, and learn from some fantastic world class coaches.”

Working with key partners to create the perfect talent environment

All of the work at each of our Talent Hubs would not be possible without the invaluable support of our key partners, Leeds Beckett University, London Marathon Events, TASS and Sport England.

“Our relationship with stakeholders evolves each year, and we have been working with each of our key partners for a number of years now. Although we do support all athletics and running disciplines, we do have particular expertise across endurance due to our relationship with London Marathon. Their support enables us to source additional endurance coaching and focused sport science support.

“At the London Marathon this year, Emile Cairess had a fantastic race and was the first Brit on the podium for some time. During this race, Leeds man Phil Sesemann acted as a pacemaker even though he didn’t want to take part in the full 26.2 miles. Looking to the Paris Olympic marathon team, we have supported 50% of the selected athletes in Phil, Emile and Calli Hauger-Thackery and it is really rewarding to see their selection.”

“Despite having an endurance focus, it is important to remember that funding from London Marathon Events in isolation would not enable us to create the outstanding training and education environment we have here. We may be able to deliver some weekend camps but when you also bring in support from the University, England Athletics, TASS, and Sport England, the sum is much greater than the parts. TASS especially enables us to provide athletes with medical insurance so if they encounter an illness or injury, we are able to fast track them through to sports medicine professionals.”

Supporting students and the local community

Despite the funding and support from partners focusing on the performance side of sport, the increase in coaches and state-of-the-art facilities are available for students and members of the community to take advantage of. In addition, Leeds Beckett are in the second year of an Applied Sports Studies in Athletics undergraduate degree of which Andi is the employability module lead:

“On the course participants will complete England Athletics coaching and officiating courses, and at the university we deliver the Street2Stadium programme and run a junior athletics programme for students to get involved with coaching children and young athletes. Whenever we are doing testing with elite athletes in the labs, we always give current students the opportunity to work alongside the bio-mechanists, physiologists or psychologists for example. It gives people a real insight into the sport and a fantastic breadth of experiences to kickstart your career in the sport.”

Images from Talent Hub by James Rhodes