In January 2004, as she prepared for the Athens Olympics, Kelly realised that, whatever happened at the Games, she wanted to help young athletes learn what it takes to become world class and to achieve their dreams.While lying in bed one day the idea of setting up a mentoring initiative started to form in her mind. She believed that athletes could learn from her life, with its mixture of successes, setbacks and disappointments, and hoped that she could assist them to develop in their own careers. Kelly approached Aviva about her idea and they were keen to fund the initiative – ‘On Camp with Kelly’ (OCWK) was born!  Then the unthinkable happened and Kelly won TWO gold medals at the Athens Olympics in August 2004. But despite the huge changes that were to affect her life following the Games she was completely dedicated to driving ‘On Camp with Kelly’ forwards. Her vision of OCWK was that it should be an educational development programme so that the athletes who are part of it gain life experiences as well as learn what it takes to become a world class athlete.
Eight talented young female middle distance athletes were selected to participate in the first OCWK camp in South Africa in October-November 2004 and since then, with support and sponsorship from Aviva, ‘On Camp with Kelly’ has gone from strength to strength. 45 female middle distance athletes aged between 16 and 24 are currently members of OCWK and 50 girls have had some involvement in the initiative.
Since the first camp in South Africa there have been regular Get-Together Weekends, a training camp in Spain in 2005 and a camp in Melbourne during the 2006 Commonwealth Games. In spring 2007 and 2008 ten day Educational Camps were held in Loughborough for athletes new to the initiative.
In 2008 15 young male middle distance athletes have taken part in ‘On Camp with Kelly’ camps and get-togethers for the first time.
Each year one or two ‘On Camp with Kelly’ races take place at UK Athletics televised events or at other selected meetings. OCWK also sources international race opportunities for leading athletes on the programme.
Each OCWK athlete is assigned to the Gold, Silver or Bronze tier which entitles them to different levels of mentoring support from Kelly and medical and financial support. Coaches are also invited to attend OCWK camps and get-togethers and receive benefits according to the tier of the athletes they work with.
When Kelly set up 'On Camp with Kelly' she also hoped that the initiative would help to retain athletes in the sport during the late teenage years when drop out rates are traditionally high. Recent research commissioned by Aviva has proved this to be the case with 96% of female athletes who have been involved in OCWK still in the sport. You can download more details about the research below.
Kelly runs ‘On Camp with Kelly’ through her company Double Gold Enterprises Ltd with the support of a full-time project manager and a dedicated team of staff for OCWK events. She plans to continue OCWK, making it bigger and better with the backing of Aviva, through to 2012 and beyond.
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