Lloyds Tsb Unveils Local Heroes Backing
Unveiling the fourth year of its Local Heroes campaign, London 2012 partner Lloyds TSB has announced its commitment to support a further 344 talented athletes and their families with financial and practical support in the build-up to the Games.
Lloyds TSB launched the 2011 Local Heroes programme, in partnership with the charity SportsAid, with an interactive workshop at Loughborough University, designed to prepare the future stars of Team GB and ParalympicsGB for life as an elite athlete.
With London 2012 fast approaching, Lloyds TSB is supporting a raft of athletes in 2011 with awards of £1,000, after research conducted by SportsAid indicated that the cost of pursuing a career in sport remains the single biggest barrier to an athlete’s progression.
In addition to the funding provided through the initiative, each Local Hero will receive a range of other support including learning how to use social media to keep fans updated as their career develops and taking part in motivational sessions led by sports psychology experts.
With the average financial cost of pursuing a career in sport rising by more than 12% in 2010, Lloyds TSB is easing the financial strain on 344 Local Hero athletes and awarding them with almost 20% of their annual sporting expenditure, in a bid to ensure that more British talent reaches the top of their sport.
Lloyds TSB has now supported 778 future Team GB and ParalympicsGB stars since the Local Heroes initiative began in 2008 and is on course to have supported 1,000 athletes by the start of London 2012.
Of those supported, 49 have progressed onto the government’s Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS), while a further 82 have moved onto World Class Lottery support.
In all, more than one in four Local Heroes have progressed through the talent pathway since the initiative began, indicating that investing in sporting talent at an early stage will ultimately increase the stock of top British talent that could go on to compete at the highest level.
