Olympic swimmer inspires girls to succeed in sport at St Mary’s Sports Awards

Never give up and always work hard to achieve your goals was the message to our students when Olympic swimmer Karen Pickering MBE spoke at the school’s annual Sports Awards Evening on 9 July.

Karen, the UK’s most successful female swimmer, four times Olympian and world champion, gave an inspiring and humorous speech about the highs and lows on her journey to the pinnacle of her sport. 

“I am a great believer in hard work over talent. Despite breaking my back in a car accident, three years later I had worked my way back to full training.” she told the girls aged nine to 15 at the event. “Whatever you chose to do, if you find something you’re passionate about and are prepared to dig deep, you can succeed!” The ceremony recognised the year’s sporting success of teams and individuals at the school. 

The coaches of our sports teams and year groups then gave a round-up of the year’s sporting events, and awards were presented to students for achievement in competitions and fixtures as well as PE lessons, in categories including Team Spirit, Players’ Player, Team of the Year and Sports Personality of the Year.