It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to reach the top but Ramsgate archery star Ryan Holden has been handed a major boost towards achieving his Olympic ambitions thanks to a nationwide funding initiative.

Managed by charity SportsAid, Sport England’s Backing The Best programme aims to support talented young athletes who would face difficulties progressing through their sport’s talent development system without critical financial help.

Seventy athletes were supported during the programme’s first term in 2016, producing world, European and national age-group level champions.

Laleham Gap School pupil Holden is one of those named among the recent intake of athletes and, as a result, the 19-year-old is set to receive an annual award of up to £5,000 to help with essential costs such as travel, accommodation and kit.

He will also benefit from extra support from coaches and physios as he aims to progress in his sport.

And after previously relying mainly on his parents to help him out with steep training and travel costs, Holden admitted his delight at being selected as one to watch in future years.

He said: “I’m pretty proud to be sponsored by SportsAid and it will go a long way to helping my sporting career.

“The sport is now self-funded so it will help with my training and coaching. It was a relief to get onto the SportsAid funding, we had a week to say if we wanted to carry on with the academy which is £3,000 a year which I would’ve struggled with, but with this funding I can carry on.

“My dream is to make the Olympic team in the sport and this will go a long way to helping that. The average bow is about £2,000, and you need two if you’re in the team in case anything goes wrong.

“When archery lost its funding I felt like it could not continue but SportsAid has helped me to continue following my dreams.”

Backing The Best will use £5.5 million of National Lottery funding over four years to extend SportsAid’s reach into new areas of the country and offer more support to those who face the biggest financial challenges.

All the athletes are nominated to SportsAid by their sport’s governing bodies, with the charity then ensuring funding goes to those who are most in need.

Holden has already benefited from being part of the programme, having attended a recent workshop with fellow athletes where he also got to meet with two-time Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington.

And the retired swimmer, a former SportsAid supported athlete herself, believes the support can be invaluable for Holden’s own sporting journey.

“It’s about these athletes absorbing everything around them right now at their age, almost being a bit like a sponge,” she said.

“As an individual, you have to find out what works for you and this is the age to do that for these athletes.

“It’s about taking on loads of people’s advice, taking them on board and then figuring out what works for them and what doesn’t.

“My journey started when I joined a club when I was eight years old. For me, when I got to about 13, 14, my parents were struggling to manage everything from competitions to racing suits to everything that comes with it.

“SportsAid was a massive help with that, whether that was playing for petrol or new training equipment that I needed. It really made a huge difference to myself.”

Backing The Best is helping young talented athletes facing the greatest financial pressure to pursue their sporting ambitions. The programme, managed by SportsAid for Sport England, is supported by National Lottery funding. Please visit www.sportengland.org/our-work/talent/backing-the-best/ for more information.