By Joseph Terry, Sportsbeat
A Cheltenham local enjoyed the opportunity of a lifetime after being selected to join the Team England Futures programme at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and experience firsthand the performances of superstar athletes like Duncan Scott, Adam Ramsay-Peaty and Josh Kerr.
The Team England Futures, delivered by SportsAid in partnership with Commonwealth Games England and Sport England, is designed to support development, giving an athlete insight into the demands and opportunities of competing at the highest level of sport, and helping to prepare them for success in the future with Team England, Team GB, and ParalympicsGB – and Isla Pain, 18 who competes in heptathlon, was selected to attend Glasgow.
Pain enjoyed talks from former SportsAid athletes who have competed at the Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games, received advice and guidance about how to take the next step in her career, had behind the scenes access to events, athletes, and training and even got to watch action in Glasgow firsthand from the stands.
“Being here with Team England Futures is such a special opportunity. In my sport of athletics, there's not many athletes here, so meeting people from different sports, is a really good opportunity to learn about their sports, about para-sport,” said Pain.
“Getting to experience this multi-sport Games with people from other sports is a really cool opportunity.
“Watching the actual events at the Commonwealth Games, getting to see behind the scenes of what they're experiencing, getting to have media sessions, kitting out sessions, all the different support that the real Team England experience, will help us in the future if we're in Team England.
“I've been really into watching the long jump, watching Jazmin Sawyers, and how she conducts themselves herself on the track as well.
“She uses the crowd, which I think it's really inspiring to see. She also uses her platform as an athlete to inspire the next generation, to inspire athletes like me."
The Team England Futures Programme is designed to support the jump between single sport events, to Multisport Games – and prepare Pain for the next step in her sporting journey.
The TEF programme has been designed to ensure athletes are given an opportunity to observe, learn, develop, and importantly, enjoy the experience.
For many aspiring athletes, the environment of a major championship can be daunting, but Pain and her cohort were supported by coaches, teammates, the SportsAid team, and a wider group of experienced practitioners, mentors, and former athletes in Glasgow.
The programme had provided an opportunity for Pain to learn and make the most of every Multisport event, such as the Commonwealth Games, and understand an athlete’s ability to remain focussed despite the noise, scale and pressure.
Tim Lawler MBE, chief executive officer at SportsAid said: “By blending theory with immersion into high-performance multisport environments, the programme transforms athletes and coaches from sport-specific specialists into Games-literate members of Team England. It equips them with individual frameworks for future international success and establishes a scalable, sustainable model for consistent delivery across future Games cycles.”
SportsAid, the national charity supporting the next generation of British athletes, is working in partnership with Sport England and Commonwealth Games England to deliver the Team England Futures programme for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, leading its development, management and operational delivery. To find out more about SportsAid, visit https://www.sportsaid.org.uk/
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