We require you to be a Sports Person with International Honours at either Junior or Senior level.

Are you interested in visiting schools?  How many school visits have you already done?

Several visits and therefore I am  comfortable with attending events?

Not many visits and would like some training?

• Contact us direct on This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it  to register your interest or,
• Ask your Performance Lifestyle Advisor.

We will advise you on how to make a successful visit to a school and can try to help you to gain the necessary experience to join the scheme.

 

NOTES for Athletes

athletesDIRECT is a quality assured athlete introduction service for schools.

There are two sections to the website for athletes;

My Profile

• This is the registration form and is completed once. It can be amended by you at any time. The public access side of the site publishes your name, sport, year of birth, level of competition and an image. The registered schools can view, the following information.
• Sport details
• Medals & Achievements
• Images
• Biography
• Testimonials & visiting experience
  
• All other information is for the scheme administrator only and confidentiality is maintained.
  
• Your contact details are only released to a school when you reply indicating interest in an invitation and are therefore waiting for a school to contact you to chat about the visit. Please keep your email and SMS details up to date, or the visit requests will be sent to the wrong destination.
  
  
•  Access to your athletesDIRECT PROFILE PAGE, is only possible using your login details.

My Bookings;

• This section allows you to manage your invitations. Using this page you can;
• view which events you have been invited to attend .
• register your availability for invitations. 
• decline a visit invitation.
• confirm your commitment to an event when you are selected as the preferred visitor .
• provide your very brief evaluation for the visit .
• view your booking history.

THE PROCESS for registering and replying to visit requests

Registration

• Register your name and email contact. You will receive an automated confirmation message. 
• Complete the on line registration form, including images. You can save and come back to the form at any time, by loggin in and returning to My Profile.
• NB: REMEMBER TO CLICK 'Apply Change' button at THE BOTTOM OF EACH PAGE WHEN YOU ENTER DATA, before you move to the next section. If you do not, your information will not be saved. this appliles to both registering for the first time and when you amend your details.
  When typing in text or copying across text, please check there are only single spaces in front, inbetween, after words / sentences /paragraphs.
• Submit the completed form and await an email from the administrator to say your account has been enabled.
• You may update any of your personal profile, at any time using your Login and My Profile.
• NB: REMEMBER TO CLICK 'Apply Change' AT THE BOTTOM OF EACH PAGE WHENEVER YOU ENTER / CHANGE DATA. If you do not, your changes will not be saved. Remember the website cannot accept double spacing. .

Replying to Visit Requests

• You will receive an automated email, SMS, or both, message to say that you have been invited to reply to a request.
• Read the visit details on your webiste Bookings Page and Accept or Decline the visit.
  
  • If you Accept the visit; complete the confirmation page amending details of your fee and travel expenses for this particular visit. These will be sent to the school along with your contact details. Hopefully the school will call you for a quick chat before selecting their athlete.
  • If you decline, the school will be notified. PLEASE take the time to decline invitations, as this is very important to the school and ultimately your professional reputation.
    
• If you are selected as the most appropriate athlete to attend this particular event, you will receive an automated SMS / email prompt to let you know there is a confirmation on your site. PLEASE login and click your confirmation, committing yourself to attend the event.
• If you are not selected, there will be a declined message beside the event, on your Bookings Page, when the school have made a decision.

After the visit

• Send your Invoice directly to the school.
• Complete the very brief evaluation on the website using My Bookings - Leave Feedback. VERY IMPORTANT for reports to the funding body.

Your Fee:

As an athlete registering with the scheme you are agreeing to offer your services for bewteen £100 - £300 (+ travel expenses if you wish.)

The exact amount is negotiated between you and the school, and should be based on your level of experience and the requirements of the visit. If they want you to hand out certificates and talk for 5 minutes at an hours prize giving, this is less demanding than a 4 to 5 hour visit that requires you to deliver 3 or 4 interactive presentations to G&T and GCSE PE groups, and your fee should reflect this.

You can display your proposed travel expenses, in addition to your fee. Mileage rates vary between 20ppm to 40ppm.

Open Bids

There maybe occasions when the visit is flagged as an Independent School or Profit Making Organisation. This entitles you to submit your current market value fee for the visit. There is no longer the £300 restriction. 

Images:

For any images on the website it is advisable to crop into a square and then compress to a web version, before you upload to your registration page.  This stops the webiste squashing the image and improves the upload time for schools interesed in your biography. jpeg format appears preferable. 

If possible provide action photos plus either a head and shoulders (with medals for example), or a picture of you speaking at an event.

Remember you cannot show faces of children in your picture unless you have parental agreement. All photos must be copyright free as they will be published on the public web. It is also important that the Olympic rings are not evident in the picture – there are strict copyrights on the display of the Olympic rings! (sorry)

Hints on getting the most from this site:

• Keep your email and SMS contact details up to date on the site. 
• Be quick to reply to school requests, as many schools accept the first athlete that replies.
• A quick call / email to the school to say you have replied to their invitation, can also be a positive move.
• Sell yourself in the Profile sections - your biography of your accomplishments, testimonials / images etc.
• Be realistic with your fees, amending them to the demands of the visit.
• Put a date by which you would like to hear back from the school regarding your offer. (use the comment text box).This allows you to feasibly release that date in your diary if the reply is overdue. Allow at least 3 weeks to give schools time to collate responses and get a decision from their organising committee.

Remember athletesDIRECT is an introduction service and you are responsible for all arrangements regarding the visit with the school. You are also responsible for any tax liability.

Register yourself

Any queries contact British Athletes Commission Office via admin@athletesdirect.org