Milford Haven Primary School are excited to be hosting an inspirational workshop with Team World Champion Gymnast Jaydon Paddock. Jaydon needs your help to raise funds for vital training, medical and competition costs. This money will also help your school and other athletes across the country, find out more below!
Who's Coming?
How I Started
My mum tells the story of me forever climbing and hanging on to everything I could and everything I shouldn’t! So, at the age of 2 & 1/2 years old my journey as an Artistic Gymnast began. At the age of 5, I was selected into my first development squad began to regularly train 15-19 hrs per week. School, travelling training became my life. But at the age of 7, after moving to a new club, my little gymnastics world crumbled when I was released from the artistic squad being told that my strength development was slower than other gymnasts my age that I ‘would never become the gymnast that the coach my parents wanted me to be. My parents obviously didn’t share the truth with me as they knew the upset it had already caused me. After much discussion, it was advised to move across to Tumbling where I met my existing coach – Chris Porter. From that point, I have never looked back. I maintained a 15 hours per week training schedule around school with not much other time to do anything else however, I loved gymnastics so at that age, it was no sacrifice. I developed a real love for Tumbling my coach really helped me by ensuring I was constantly working on getting the basics right. I had great success in many competitions from the start but my first hurdle came when I had qualified to compete in my first British Championships at 9 years old. It was the biggest competition I had competed in so far & was at the NIA, Birmingham. I was so excited!! The preliminary stages of the competition went great but I allowed the nerves to get to me on finals day & I didn’t even make it to the end of the track after pulling out of one of my runs mid-way through & landing on my neck! This was to be my first lesson in failure.
My Greatest Achievement
My greatest achievement to date is definitely the 2019 World Championships where I and my 3 teammates have crowned team world champions and I also finished 5th in my first senior worlds individual final. As this was my first senior world championship I was very excited to take this step up to the senior competition from winning the 17-21 world age competition the previous year. We flew out to Tokyo, Japan where the 2019 world championships were held, which was an amazing travelling experience in itself, and had a great 4 days of training before the individual prelims in which we all competed to each try and secure both a spot in the individual final which only two per country can make a final at any time but also the team final as well. Prelims was a great success as I not only put down two great scores to help secure our spot in the team final in 1st place, but to my surprise, I also managed to bag myself one of the two individual final spots by qualifying in 6th place so as you can imagine I was extremely happy to have the opportunity to compete twice more. That same evening was the team final where out of the 4 man team only 3 compete with all 3 scores being totalled to give a final overall score. We had previously discussed who would be competing and what order we would compete in which ended up with me not only going up last out of the GB lads but due to the competition layout I would be the last person to compete out of the whole final so as you can imagine there was a lot of pressure. My two teammates put out two amazing passes which relieved a bit of the pressure but then it was my turn to put my hand up and follow the plan. My pass was very clean and scored very well which meant it was just enough to crown us with the Team world champion title which was amazing. However, and my teammate Elliot could not relax as two days later we had to both compete in the individual final. The day came and I planned to go all out for the final and put out two of the hardest passes I could do as I was confident I could execute them well and put up two big scores. As planned both passes went extremely well which was enough to secure my 5th place and I couldn’t be any happier with my performance in my first Senior World Individual final. The whole competition was an unbelievable experience which I plan to improve upon in future competitions to come.
My Greatest Challenge
Fortunately, 2017 was a quiet year for the competition which meant that I could really focus on getting back to who I was as a gymnast & as a competitor all while focusing on the up & coming Worlds Championships. I had been working so hard & on paper, this title was mine to lose. Pre-training out in Bulgaria was going well but then I dislocated my shoulder at the end of a training run. The pain was unreal but the physio was on hand to look after me & this wasn’t going to stop me from achieving one of my goals. With my family & teammates in the crowd, I stepped up to complete my first run in the preliminary rounds. It started well with a nice clean transition (double straight somersault in the middle of the routine), however, I had travelled too far in this move which meant that as I continued, I was fast running out of track to fit the rest of my moves in. As I took off for my end skill, I realised that I was taking off on the landing mat but due to the speed I was going it was too late to change the move. As a result, I crashed both on my face while jarring my injured shoulder. I was upset, annoyed & angry all at once & a little bit embarrassed as I pulled myself off the mat. My coach tried to say all the right things to bring my head back into the competition as I still had another run to compete but at that moment, it was hard. I took a few minutes to sit & try to refocus & made my mind up to go out & compete for the next run, which I did. My second run went near to perfect & I scored the highest in the competition but it wasn’t enough. For the first time ever, I didn’t make finals. This moment was devastating for me & then to sit in the audience watching & supporting my teammates who had made finals, was heartbreaking. I was happy for them but upset about my loss as watching my final from the crowd was something I was not used to.
My Hobbies
In my free time, I take part in numerous activities such as kickboxing, high diving, tricking and parkour all in preparation for my joining the British stunt register as my future career as a stunt performer. I also spend a lot of time collecting clips of all these activities to put together for showreels to send out to agent its and clients.
My favourite foods will have to include steaks, curries, jerk chicken and rice and a classic Sunday roast!
Within the gymnastics world my goals are to;
– medal individually at a senior world championships
-medal individually and as a team at senior European championships
– compete and medal at the world games in 2022 (our Olympic equivalent)
– win the British championships
Outside of gymnastics, I am pursuing a career as a stunt performer therefore my goals for that will be to make it onto the British stunt register, complete many years of stunt contracts as my dream is to do stunts for marvel. after all this I would like to pursue a career as a stunt coordinator who creates and oversees all stunts that take place on set.
Who are Sports For Champions?
Great news! Sports For Champions UK (CIC) will soon visit your school! Your young people have been invited to join a sponsored fitness circuit led by a Professional athlete, who will educate, enable, and empower participants with a view to inspiring them to be the champions of tomorrow.
While we're not all athletically inclined, we strongly encourage participation, all young people have talent and require inspiration to pursue their dreams - whatever they may be!
After 12 years of success we have perfected our inspirational events and they are guaranteed to deliver for your school and pupils!
Sports For Champions events are held in support of schools, which keep 60% of the funds raised to spend on resources that will enrich young peoples education/experience. Professional athletes in need of support are the only other beneficiaries from the remaining 40%. Sports For Champions is an audited organisation that is voluntarily registered with the Fundraising Regulator. Meaning you can support the initiative with assurance.
What will happen on the day?
During the assembly, Sports For Champions athletes show medals and tell their story, hard work, lessons, and insights shared to capture the imagination of all and inspire healthier active lifestyles. Athletes discuss challenges on the road to success, with resilience, nutrition, diet, and dedication forming key topics. Fitness is essential for every young person’s general wellbeing in physical and mental health. It is also proven to be a strong booster of learning potential or brain power. By inspiring children as champions of tomorrow, Sports For Champions envision young people developing in all walks of life as healthy, [pro] active community-minded participants in society.
Alongside Team Sports For Champions, athletes engage in invaluable work within local communities to support their training-related costs (e.g. physio/travel). Most world-class athletes train a rigorous 35hr week and struggle to find reliable work that fits their schedule. This is how the funds we raise enable athletes and your school/club to realise their potential. Many pro athletes are unsponsored, lose support, or cannot find it.
Sports For Champions offers schools the benefit of an additional funds to go towards resources/facilities, whilst helping athletes with the funds required to sustain their journey with a contribution towards training and competition fees, medical costs, equipment, and more.
Milford Haven Primary School will be receiving an inspirational visit from renowned Team World Champion Gymnast Jaydon Paddock on the 8th of February 2024 and we need your support!
The pupils will benefit from physical activity through our fitness circuit, an inspirational talk including medal display and a Q&A session.
Where does the money go?
When parents and guardians offer their support to a Sports for Champions UK (CIC) fundraising event, they are nurturing not only their children's immediate environments but also the bright futures of many rising athletes. Here is a breakdown of how your contributions make a significant difference:
For each fundraising event Sports For Champions looks to raise enough money to cover the costs that it takes to provide such an excellent service nationally. Once that goal is reached, surplus funds are allocated in a way that benefits both the school and our passionate athletes – 60% for the school’s continued growth and 40% contributing to the athlete fund.
At the core of the Sports For Champions UK (CIC) initiative is the Athlete Fund. Primarily, the fund aids schools in less economically privileged areas that might struggle with costs, ensuring that the administrative fee isn’t a barrier to vital opportunities. Additionally, it assists our dedicated athletes in moments of pressing need, whether it’s recovering from injuries, procuring advanced equipment, or embarking on warm-weather training camps. Our fundamental belief remains unwavering: no school should be compromised for its economic stance, and every promising athlete deserves a fair shot at excellence. Our commitment ensures no child or school is left behind due to circumstances beyond their control.
Challenges Athletes Face: Our partnering pro athletes and Team GB Olympians have a world of responsibilities on their shoulders. They juggle between a rigorous training schedule that demands over 35 hours a week and their personal commitments. This often leaves them with limited time and resources to focus on their careers, leading to financial constraints. Expenses for equipment, training, coaching, travel, and more pile up, making it a challenge for these athletes to perform at their best and represent Great Britain.
Why is this important?
Milford Haven Primary School is promoting health and wellbeing throughout the school and with the help of a visit from Jaydon Paddock, this will be enhanced across all year groups and staff, they are also focussing on encouraging diversity and raising the aspirations of the pupils through sport.
Milford Haven Primary School will benefit from the money raised as they will be able to provide new equipment, fund opportunities for the children, and more.
How can you help?
We're asking all parents to help make it a memorable event for the pupils with the help of Team World Champion Gymnast Jaydon Paddock and to raise funds for key resources for Milford Haven Primary School.
If you are a local business or a friend of the school and would like to contribute to help us get to our target then please do make a donation and share our project as far as you can.