“A time in her life that she will treasure forever."

The lasting impact of our Mintridge Mentoring Programmes can be seen for months and years after they have finished and the parent of one of our Mintridge mentees knows exactly the power that our most recent Programme has had on her daughter.

After six months of remote mentoring, Pamela Cookey has completed an incredibly successful mentoring Programme with her two super mentees from Manor School in Raunds. These two mentees have been part of an extra special mentoring Programme that was kindly donated by Bowbridge Homes, who are property developers from the local area, who wanted to contribute towards the local community and wanted to help develop the lives of the young people near to their developments. Bowbridge Homes donated this full Silver Programme to Manor School towards the end of 2019 and have already positively impacted hundreds of pupils through our Mintridge Programmes.

It’s not every day that you receive remote access to a sporting role model, who used to captain the England Netball squad, currently commentates for Sky Sports and has competed in numerous international sporting competitions across the world. Our most recent Silver Mentoring Programme gave exactly that for two young netball mad mentees who could not have imagined the mentoring they would receive from our amazing Ambassador, Pamela Cookey.

Not only is Pamela in the best position to share her knowledge and experience in netball with these two budding young women, but she also has a successful business career that she has worked on alongside her playing years, which has really helped to guide the choices of these two mentees over the last six months and towards their own futures.

Pamela selected her two mentees after a fantastic Mintridge and Bowbridge Homes Silver Programme visit to Manor School in Raunds. As part of this day, Pamela delivered an inspirational assembly to the staff and students at the school, all about her double life and the road to success, that has included a lot of highs and lows along the way. It is these exceptional achievements but also the resilience she has shown throughout her playing career, that makes Pamela a perfect mentor to advise young people on how to overcome barriers and challenges and to teach them how to be proactive when faced with a negative setback.

Along with the assembly, Pamela delivered a number of netball specific coaching sessions throughout the day and got to instil some of her positive routines and share some of her netball tips and tricks with the young women from the school. This was such a fantastic opportunity for the young women to be coached by an England Netball superstar and form them to be immediately inspired during their day with her.

As part of this mentoring Programme, Pamela’s mentees shared the last six months with her, taking part in fortnightly Skype calls and worked with her to reach their own targets, goals and areas for improvement.

Over the last six months, Pamela and her mentees have established a very strong mentoring relationship, which has been built on great communication from the beginning and a positive proactive attitude from Pamela’s mentees. From the start of this Programme, Pamela established a set of goals and areas that she could focus on with the two mentees, to help them improve their own individual targets and to help them on the way to their own dreams. It is from there that every fortnight the girls have been sent off to action what they had been speaking to Pamela about and also to document their progress, whether that be in their sporting performance or academically.

Like all of the mentoring Programmes, Pamela has spent the last six months focussing on a number of areas with her two mentees. These are all things that can be transferred into their daily lives but are also great starting points for any young person who may need a positive role model and a helping hand towards their own goals and aspirations. Some of those topics included;

Time management

Creating a schedule

Training diaries

Netball specific fitness sessions and meal plans

How to stay motivated

Netball skills and drills

Academic and career choices

Leadership and teamwork

Dealing with high pressure situations

Public speaking

Confidence building and self esteem

As a Foundation, we have delivered over 48 Silver Mentoring Programmes to date and every one of them are all very different and tailored to the individual they are working with. The lasting impact of those Mentoring Programmes can be seen for many years after the mentoring has come to an end, as many of our mentees go on to fulfil their dreams, get selected on to the GB or England pathway or make it one step closer towards their chosen career. It is this impact that we continue to follow closely, as the Ambassadors can then see the true impact of their words of wisdom and shared experiences. We believe at Mintridge, that every young person needs a positive role model and our Ambassadors are certainly that. As they share their stories and journeys with the young people they work with, all that are involved in the process, including the families and staff members, come to realise that a person’s value isn’t just measured on the medals they have around their neck or the grades on an exam paper, but their reactions and actions when faced with major setbacks and challenges throughout their daily lives.

After their final Skype call, Pamela was incredibly excited about the future for her two mentees and how they had taken on board all of her advice and messages throughout their mentoring Programme. It has been a pleasure for both Pamela and The Foundation to be a part of this mentoring journey for these two incredibly conscientious young women. Pamela has certainly demonstrated the power of having a positive sporting role model by your side through an incredibly tough time. It was clear to Pamela that both of her mentees have grown in confidence on and off the court and have demonstrated a strength in character that with Pamela’s help they had not been able to recognise before.

One of the mentees parents said;

"I appreciate all that you and Pamela have done. Before lockdown, the mentoring was having a huge impact on her wellbeing and self-belief…Pamela has been fantastic in trying to keep up her morale and motivation. I just wanted you to know how grateful we are to you and Pamela! A time in her life that she will treasure forever."

We have loved working with Pamela and her two mentees on this Bowbridge Homes Silver Mentoring Programme and we are incredibly grateful to Bowbridge Homes for seeing the value in our mentoring Programmes, that have helped to support the school and their students.

If you would like to help support a wonderful Mintridge Programme, like the one that was donated by Bowbridge Homes, please get in touch and we would love to share more about how you can get involved.

To find out more about our Mintridge Mentoring Programmes that can be delivered remotely, or if you are interested in a school or club visit from one of our Mintridge Ambassadors, then please get in touch with The Mintridge Foundation, via any of our social media channels, or send an email to katie@mintridge.org.uk.

Thanks again to Bowbridge Homes and the staff and students at Manor School in Raunds for helping make this Silver Mentoring Programme a success.

Team Mintridge