Claire Burley has set her sights on breaking stigma around mental health at the upcoming 2024 School Games National Finals.
The former Hong Kong rower who lives in London will join 25 current and former athletes as a mentor at Loughborough University.
This year the Youth Sports Trust has collaborated with the True Athlete Project (TAP) to deliver a mentor programme for athletes at the event which takes place between 29 August and 1 September.
Mentors include 2024 Olympians Sam Dickinson, Seonaid McIntosh and Rowan McKellar.
Having struggled with her mental health while a full-time rower, Burley hopes that sharing her own experiences can be supportive to the next generation.
The School Games National Finals is a biennial four-day multisport event for young athletes of school age and is funded by Sport England National Lottery Funding and backed by all the Home Country Sports Councils and UK Sport.
This year’s School Games National Finals are the 16th since the inaugural event in Glasgow in 2006 and take place as part of an amazing summer of sport including the EUROs and the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
She said: “For me mental health is a very important discussion within sports.
“I struggled a lot with my mental health throughout my career. One of the reasons I took a step back from it was because it made me almost quit my sport.
“When I started being more open about it and talked to more people about it and opened up, it made things so much better for me.
“Even now that I have gone back into my sport, I try to be open with that conversation.”
The School Games National Finals 2024 – alongside sport’s governing bodies – is on a mission to broaden the focus of the event to allow more young people from different stages of their sports pathways to attend and benefit from the experience.
This approach is part of a wider strategy to ensure that talent pathways in England are more accessible and inclusive and ultimately create winning England and GB teams which are more representative of the UK youth population.
The 2024 programme has been designed to create an environment for all young talent to thrive, including a blend of those currently at the top of the junior rankings in their sport alongside peers showing the greatest potential.
The 29-year-old actor and rowing coach also wants to break down stigma surrounding neurodiversity after being diagnosed with ADHD earlier this year.
Since 2010 the School Games have provided 13.4 million participation opportunities for young people.
This year’s Games are the 16th since the inaugural event in Glasgow in 2006. The event was established after London won the bid to host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and demonstrates the legacy of our home Games.
Former participants include Team GB superstars Katerina Johnson-Thompson, Keely Hodgkinson, and Josh Kerr.
37 alumni from the event competed at this year’s Olympics in Paris, bringing home 46 medals between then including 9 golds.
After calling time on her professional rowing career Burley has developed a passion for coaching.
Working for Lea Rowing Club, London Youth Rowing, Mossbourne Academy and Top Row, Burley enjoys bringing the sport to under-privileged areas in the English capital.
Her work in North London has led to being a mentor at the event School Games, which is something that the 29-year-old is looking forward to less than a month until the event.
Burley said: “This opportunity came up to get involved with the School Games National Finals and it was really interesting for me.
“When I was young I didn’t have somebody to look up to, especially in sports.
“I flicked around different sports when I was young and never really stuck to something until I was at university.
“For me personally, this is a way for me to see all the talent out there and how it is flourishing.
“It is a good way to encourage young people to do sports and kind of have a healthier mentality towards sports.”
A Games Fit for the Future.
