Sky Academy Ambassador Darren Campbell made a surprise visit to Glasgow to present 17-year-old Fraser Armstrong with the Sky Sports Living for Sport Student of the Year award for Scotland.
The Olympic Gold medallist surprised Fraser as he was participating in a school PE lesson at Hollybrook Academy to give him the award, broadcast live on Sky Sports News HQ. Fraser will now attend the Sky Sports Living for Sport Awards at Sky Studios in London this weekend to discover whether he will be crowned the overall UK & Ireland Student of the Year. He will be up against the winners for England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and the Awards will be broadcast on Sky Sports this Sunday March 29.
The Awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of students and teachers in using sports stars and the skills learnt through sport to improve lives as a result of their involvement in the programme. Sky Sports Living for Sport is part of Sky Academy, a set of initiatives using the power of TV, creativity and sport to help one million young people in the UK and Ireland build practical skills and experience to unlock their potential.
Sky Sports Living for Sport Ambassador Darren Campbell said: “It's an honour to present Fraser with the Student of the Year award for Scotland. He's achieving things in his life that were simply unthinkable before his participation in Sky Sports Living For Sport and that's the beauty of the initiative.
The skills learned through sport can be applied to all areas of life and Fraser is a fine example of that. He's a worthy winner for Scotland and I'll be tuning in on Sunday to see if he picks up the overall UK & Ireland Student of the Year Award.”
Fraser, who has autism, was selected as the Student of the Year winner for Scotland by a panel of judges for participating in the Sky Sports Living for Sport programme to reignite his passion for athletics. Fraser finds communicating with others a challenge because of his autism and despite his natural talent, he struggled to keep motivated.
Participating in Sky Sports Living for Sport presented him with the tools to overcome the barriers he faced. Through his new-found determination, Fraser soon rediscovered the drive he needed to make his dream of representing Great Britain at future Special Olympics a reality.
Athlete Mentor and international gymnast Steve Frew inspired Fraser while working with him on the programme as he described the importance of setting high goals and having a willingness to push the barriers of personal performance. Frew's words combined with the life skills Fraser gained through the Sky Sports Living for Sport project certainly had a positive influence on talented middle distance runner.
Fraser soon had the confidence to embrace his selection for the Scotland West Special Olympics Squad, winning three Gold and two Silver medals in 2013. His teacher Chris Milne said: “I was delighted to hear that Fraser had won the Sky Sports Living for Sport Student of the Year award for Scotland.
He has shown great resilience in the six years that I have known him, overcoming every obstacle he has encountered and is now a fabulous example of how sport can enrich lives. Fraser's journey through sport is the reason he is the young man you see before you today. Confident and independent, he has grown into a fabulous role model and inspiration to all pupils at Hollybrook Academy. We are all very proud of him.”
The Sky Sports Living for Sport initiative has been running in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust since 2003 and this academic year alone over 1500 UK secondary schools and 175 Irish secondary schools will take part.
