Talented athletes from 70 areas across the UK are invited to apply to the largest athlete support programme of its kind in the UK for a range of support awards which include financial help, access to sport facilities, physiotherapy, lifestyle mentoring and mental health wellbeing aid.

Now in its 17th year of operation, the GLL Sport Foundation (GSF) has so far contributed over £15m in athlete funding and distributed over 28,000 awards to support young talented athletes on their sporting journey.

The innovative scheme is provided by charitable social enterprise GLL and expects to award £1.4m worth of funding support in 2025 to successful applicants. Already a popular and essential support programme for athletes, the Foundation is expecting heightened athlete interest as training costs, equipment purchases, strength and conditioning costs and travel costs continue to rise.  

All successful applicants will be given access to the 250 sport and leisure facilities across the UK operated by GLL under its “Better” trading brand.

It has always been a core mission of the GSF programme to support young emerging talent on their sporting journey, with most athletes aged under the age of 21 and the largest cohort under 18 years old. Across the programme, 88% of athletes receive no other funding or athlete support, which underlines the importance of the scheme to both athletes and GLL’s social values.

Recent research by the GLL Sport Foundation showed that 66% of those surveyed thought more should be done to support young athlete talent with 79% believing UK athlete success contributes to a sense of national pride.

27% said a career in sport offers great opportunities for young people, higher than teaching (14%), NHS (15%), finance (14%) and IT (25%).

Commenting on the launch of the GSF Awards 2025, Peter Bundey, GLL Sport Foundation Chair said: “Our GSF Awards work alongside a number of national talent pathways and provide a lifeline to individual athletes as well as helping local communities discover the opportunities and enrichment that comes through sport”. 

Past and present GSF athletes brought home an impressive 77 medals at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

GSF National Ambassador and two time Paris 2024 Olympic Canoe Slalom and Kayak Cross medallist Kimberley Woods said: "Young athlete talent in the UK thrives with the right support and the GLL Sport Foundation has been instrumental in keeping the sporting dreams of thousands of young athletes alive.

"These GSF Awards provide exactly the right help at the exactly the right time in an athlete's career and I wish all applicants well in their sporting journeys."

The GLL Sport Foundation's Patron is Sally Gunnell, OBE and partners involved in the programme include; SportsAid, SportsAid Wales, Mary Peters Trust, sponsors from GLL's supply chain,local authority partners and Switch The Play Foundation.

Applications are open until 20th February 2025 via the website portal www.gllsportfoundation.org 

 

see more articles here