On Wednesday 13th, Victoria Thornley and Stuart Denard came to give us our Leake Lecture on what it takes to be an Olympian. What a treat it was! Stuart works for Team GB and he gave us a peek into the work that they do in preparation for Tokyo 2020, from transporting the horses to preparing the Olympic Village. As one of the boys said at the end, “I didn’t know there were so many million details to think about!”. Victoria then took the floor and gave us a first-hand insight into what it took for her to win her silver medal in the last games. It is easy, perhaps, to pay lip-service to growth mindset and the need to learn from ones mistakes. Hearing first-hand from Victoria about her 5 years of not winning anything, about the structured, her honest self-assessment and about the disciplined way she confronted the problems she was having, was not just inspiring, but helpful for all of us, both young and old. Both speakers were peppered with questions at the end – always a good sign of their appreciation – and we will certainly be rooting for Victoria to get to Tokyo next year!
Next week’s talk promises to be similarly world class. We have Luis Pares (http://luis-pares.com/) coming to both play for us and talk to us about the life of a concert pianist. As always, there is no need to book and while the talks are pitched at Middle and Upper School, all are very welcome.
