Tenbury Young Ambassadors meet Olympic Stars Earlier this month Claire Blakeway and Ben Yarnold, Year 11 pupils at Tenbury High School, had the truly exciting opportunity of meeting and working with athletes who had represented GB at the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics.

Claire and Ben are Young Ambassadors, representing Malvern Hills on behalf of Herefordshire and Worcestershire Sports Partnership. They were attending a Young Ambassador Conference at Derby Football Club, along with 200 other sports ambassadors from Central England.

They learned that a successful athlete competing for their country needs to train at least 5 hours a day! On questioning Rebecca Romero, Claire asked why she had changed from rowing to cycling, gaining a Gold medal in both sports. She said that she had no longer enjoyed rowing and wanted a challenge in something new and exciting, so she took up cycling.

Ben and Claire are both keen athletes and are of the lucky generation which will play a huge part in the London 2012 Olympics, learning that 7000 young volunteers, such as themselves, are needed in order to make the games work.

They were truly impressed with the dedication of the athletes and came away with many ideas of how to spread the Olympic message and promote sport as Young Sports Ambassadors.

Pic shows: Claire Blakeway and Ben Yarnold with shirts and other items they received at the Young Ambassadors Conference