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Apex Athlete: A Case Study

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The MOD There is a strong symmetry between the key characteristics of a top performing soldier and an apex athlete. The military grooms and reinforces mental and physical toughness, traits that are at the core of athletics. To use rugby and military operations as a comparable case study. The two require clear thinking under pressure, lack of self-preservation, strong communication, coordinated team movement, the ability move through and beyond a physical pain barrier etc. The list goes on. Josh Lewsey ex-England rugby player had also served time as an officer in the Royal Marines. Heather Stanning the Olympic rower and gold medallist from Rio is a current Royal Artillery Officer in the Army. Dame Kelly Holmes Double Olympic champion was …show more content…

Schools such as Eton, Harrow, Ampelforth and Millfield to name a few, pride themselves on creating the next generation of leaders within society. Nineteen British prime ministers graduated from Eton College alone. The dominance of the British public school system can be felt elsewhere, “on the sports field”. Ex England international and sporting legend Lawrence Delaglio spent his time studying at Ampleforth. In 2015 the daily mail produced an article which detailed the educational status of the England rugby team. 21 of 31 players had education paid for and of the 10 that did not they either attended centres of excellence or grammar schools. GANNON T. (2015). Whilst high profile Institutions offer a good deal of scholarships to talented young athletes, not all of this comes down to God given talent. It is a lot to do with the way in which public schools align themselves with professional rugby scouts and premiership rugby clubs. Millfield in Somerset produced Chris Robshaw, Mako Vunipola and Jonathan …show more content…

What this funding essentially allows the athlete to do is focus on training and not not where the next penny is coming from. Having a part time job as an athlete really does detract from ones training. It allows for the construction of world class facilities to best benefit our teams and allow them to reach marked increases in excellence. The UK sports Agency focuses on spotting talent at club level and ensuring that participants can and will reach potential if they want to. The agency focus on creating centres from which new talent can be scouted and pushed onward and upward. UK Sport. (2015). UK sports has progressively been improving the state of athletics in recent decades. However the most pronounced improvement happened in Beijing from then it got progressively better. The table below shows the steady increase in athletic performance at Olympic game from 1996 to 2016, this improvement correlates with increased funding from UK sport and the government. wikipedia. (2012). Olympic games Atlanta

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