Are you interested in asking a successful athlete to visit your school / organisation?

It is the intention that the athlete visits will be both motivational and inspirational for your young people. The athlete's hope their stories and experiences of sport and life, can illustrate many messages. High achieving athletes can offer a great role model through their achievements and illustrations of how to overcome obstacles when striving for a challenging goal.

• Athletes
• The Schools / Organisations Registration and Booking Process
• Fees
• No Replies from Athletes
• Hints

athletesDIRECT offers to bring world class sport personalities to your event. Schools and organisations can use an athlete visit for many types of events.  requests include;-

• Visit a sport and health week.
• Present at an awards ceremony.
• Act as a motivational speaker.
• Participate in a school fundraising event.
• Speak at an assembly.
• Open a sports day.
• Questions and answers with Gifted and Talented Students.
• Provide a closing speech at regional teachers conference.

We ask that visits be kept to a maximum of 4 hours. (to allow for travelling time and scheduling within training commitments)

We expect the athletes to be accompanied at all times by staff from the organising institution.

athletesDIRECT welcomes events from Profit-Making organisations and small commercial businesses. The athletes will charge their current market value for these events as we cannot ask them to restrict their fees. Please follow the instructions for Schools and enter your organisation classification in the TYPE box on the registration page.

If you are a large charity running a major fund-raising event, please contact the adminsitrator for more information on a separate tier for athlete fees. This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it   (see Fees section below)

ATHLETES

The athletesDIRECT list is continually expanding. The list currently includes; Nick Gillingham(Olympic Medallist Swimmer), Clare Strange (Paralympian Wheelchair Basketball), Bryan Steel (Olympic Medallist Cyclist), Danny Crates, Ian Rose (Paralympic Medallists), Mike Mullen (BMX half-pipe) and young athletes such as Brooke Graddon (Commonwealth Games Diver) and Paul Wycherley (Canoeing) 
Please use the Athlete List section for the names of registered athletes.

All athletes are required to complete our lengthy registration profile, providing testimonials and a referee. This enables us to screen their speaking abilities. This is a voluntary registration and therefore all the athletes are keen to inspire and meet young people in their spare time.

 

THE PROCESS for SCHOOLS & all ORGANISATIONS

Register your school / organisation

• Register your school for free, on the website via the Schools Tab  > Registration. REGISTER WITH YOUR SCHOOL EMAIL ADDRESS. For security all emails ned to be traceable therefore the system will not accept generic "hotmail / googlemail" type addresses. Once registered you may access your web page from any computer. The email address becomes just the username.
• The submission of the Registration page will quickly generate an email with a verification code that needs returning. Once the code has been returned a 2nd email will confirm your registration and indicate your account has been activated. This second email may not arrive until the next working day.

Research the athletes 

• View an image and basic details of our registered athletes on the Athlete List in the public web pages.
• Once the school is registered and you have entered your event details, you will be provided with a list of athletes able to travel to your location. Using the links on this list you may view the full profile and images of these athletes for research. The athlete profiles remain accessible until a booking is confirmed. So please print any information before confirming the booking.

Enter Your Event Details and send invitations to Athletes. 

• Schools > login >Events > create a new event: enter event(s) details on your Event page. (Please do not include any double spacing when typing text) Click Save Event.
• This will leave the event in draft form until you wish to send the invitations.
• When ready to send the invitations, use the 'Find Athletes' link to access the list of athletes who can travel to your location. Select individual athletes or use the "Invite All " option to identify athletes you wish to invite to your event. To send the invitations via the system click 'View List' and 'Send Invitations' to complete the process. YOU WILL VIEW A PAGE "Your request is being processed" followed by a confirmation of completion page.

Athlete replies and selection

• Athlete responses will return to your web page, NOT your email address.
• Monitor your athlete replies using  "Schools > login > Events > Manage Event". Athletes will have replied to indicate their interest in attending the event providing their proposed fee, or to decline your invitation.
• The contact details are now accessible for the interested athletes, please chat to the athletes before making a selection of the most appropriate individual(s)for your event. Confirm all the details of the visit and agree the fee.
• CONFIRM the selected athlete(s) for the visit using "Schools >login > Events > Manage Event > book this athlete > Confirm( located at the bottom of the page)". This will also generate an automated message to decline the offer from the remaining interested athletes. (saving your school time)
• Schools and Athletes are responsible for confirming and agreeing all visit details and fees.

Athlete Fees and evaluation, after the visit.

• The visit is successfully fulfilled and the athlete invoices the school directly.
• Return to your webiste to complete the very brief, evaluation on your Events page (as per the terms and conditions). This evaluation provides vital data for the athletesDIRECT reporting. Your cooperation is very much appreciated.  Schools > login > Events > Leave Feedback.

Cancelling the event and Changing your mind

• The event can be cancelled at any time on the system.
• School > login > Events > manage event > Cancel
• The system will automatically inform the relevant athletes of the cancellation.
• PLEASE remember to cancel an event if you find an athlete from another source.

FEES

• For state funded schools and non-profit making organisations, the athletes have agreed to offer their services for a fee from £100 - £300 plus travel expenses.
• For profit-making organisations and large Independent schools the athletes can propose an unrestricted fee influenced by their current market value.
• For Charitiy large fund raising events the maximum suggested fee is £500.
• All financial transactions are agreed and conducted directly between the athlete and the school.
• The website registration and introduction service is currently provided free of charge by the British Athletes Commission.

NO REPLIES FROM ATHLETES

In the unlikely situation you do not receive any replies to your visit invitation within 7 days, please contact the scheme administrator on This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

No replies appropriate for your event?

If the athletes who have responded are inappropriate to your visit, please cancel your current event and re-submit the event making sure that you add a note to say this is a re-send and could any previous respondents please reply again.

HINTS ON MAKING THE MOST OF THE SCHEME

1. If possible send requests within 3 months of the date. Athletes are more likely to have their schedules confirmed for this period. Invitations can be sent up to 3 days before the event.
2. Provide as much detail as possible about the event, this allows the athletes to judge whether the demands fall within their personal competencies.
3. Be prepared to give the opportunity to book athletes who do not have 'big media profiles'. They also are incredibly inspirational and successful.
4. Consider the younger athletes for teenage groups. These athletes have not only competed at International level, but usually passed their school exams/ A Levels at the same time. They are fantastic role models for time management and determination.
5. Invite a minimum of 10 athletes. During busy end of term periods or less than 14 days notice, use the 'Invite All' option. By inviting a large number of athletes the likelihood of your date and time being available to a selection of visitors will increase. Please also bear in mind major competition dates, when athletes will not be available during or for the few weeks before. (Olympics, World Cups/ Championships)

Any queries contact the scheme administrator Susanne, at the British Athletes Commission Office via  This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

"Very simple, quick and efficient - especially as we have been trying tfor years to get good guest speakers and have found it very difficult."       Bedford Modern School, Bedford, June 2007