Supporting the future of British Sport

17/06/2008

Paralympic swimmer Sam Hynd from Kirkby–in-Ashfield has been selected by Baggaley as the recipient of our Young Sportsperson Award, as part of the company’s centenary celebrations.

During our centenary year, a number of activities have been planned to support the local community. One of these initiatives is the creation of a fund which will support a talented Mansfield based sportsperson. The fund will be used to help pay for training costs, equipment and sportswear.

Sam Hynd, 16, is one of Great Britain’s medal hopefuls at the upcoming Paralympic Games in Beijing, going for gold in the S8 400 metres discipline. He trains for around 18 to 20 hours a week and in the past twelve months he has broken an incredible five world records, eight European records, and is currently ranked second in the world. He is also Nottinghamshire Junior Disabled Sportsperson of the year as well as the BBC East Midlands Junior Sportsperson of the year.

The Sutton and Nova Centurion swimmer who trains at Mansfield’s Water Meadows Leisure Centre said: “I am really pleased to have gained this sponsorship; it will really help my preparation for the games. My training also takes me all around the East Midlands and this money will help me to continue living the dream in the sport of swimming.”

Baggaley managing director, Ian Baggaley said: “It was an extremely hard decision to select the winner of this award as there are a number of very talented young sportspeople in the Mansfield area but Sam’s commitment to his swimming was inspirational. We immediately saw in him a great spirit to go on to even greater things and we hope our partnership with him will go some way in helping with his medal campaign in Beijing and beyond in his future swimming career.”

Sam was the main beneficiary from a shortlist of three; the other two, Rebecca Adlington and Daniel Mills have also been rewarded with a donation to help with their sporting ambitions.