Sports legend's talk keeps West Yorkshire pupils on fast track

9th March 2012

Sports pupils in West Yorkshire got some `fast talking’ this week (March 7) - from sports legend Steve Cram.

The former Olympic athlete and 1,500m and 2,000m world record holder joined pupils at specialist sports school, Oakbank School, Oakworth, near Keighley, to discuss his record-breaking sports career as a track athlete and how effort and determination leads to success.

Steve Cram, who was the school in his role as an ambassador for Yorkshire Bank, spoke to 125 sports pupils in Years 7 to 13 at the school, which is well established for its excellence in sport.

Oakbank School, which has 1,700 pupils aged between 11 and 18 and 260 staff, is a foundation co-educational comprehensive school which takes in 330 pupils a year from the local community. The school has extra resources for developing sport in school and in the community, and more teachers and coaches to offer a wider variety of activities in addition to the normal school curriculum.

Deputy head teacher, Sarah Luffman, says: “Our school mission statement is `progress and achievement for all’. Meeting ordinary people, who have done extraordinary things like Steve Cram, inspires our pupils to be the best that they can be. Our thanks go to Steve for sharing his story with our students and to Yorkshire Bank for providing the opportunity for them to meet him.”

Before meeting the pupils, Steve Cram, met an invited audience of local business people at Yorkshire Bank’s West Yorkshire FSC, Canal Road, Bradford, and spoke about his career and how similar qualities are required to be successful in sport and in business.

Steve Cram, who is also a sports commentator, was BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1983 and won an Olympic silver medal in Los Angeles the following year. He is also chairman of the English Institute of Sport and became chancellor at Sunderland University in 2008, where he gained a BA (Hons) degree twenty five years earlier.

Andy Davidson, Managing Partner of Yorkshire Bank’s West Yorkshire FSC, said: “We’re grateful that Steve gave up time in his busy schedule to visit Oakbank School as the young pupils were thrilled to meet a genuine sporting hero. The lunchtime event with local businesses also went well. There are lots of parallels between being successful in sport and in business including leadership, tenacity and team work and the business people certainly enjoyed his talk.”

Yorkshire Bank’s West Yorkshire FSC, which covers Bradford, Kirklees, Calderdale and up to Craven district, comprises multi-discipline teams encompassing corporate banking, private wealth management, treasury services and credit and operates a traditional method of banking with funding from deposits used to support investments in the local community.