Sport England has joined forces with the Youth Sport Trust and Greenhouse Sports to launch Elevate – an inclusive talent programme to identify and develop 45 young people with exceptional sporting potential, whatever their background.
Deliberately putting potential ahead of privilege, Elevate is bringing 45 young people aged 13-16 to the School Games National Finals 2026 (running until 6 September at Loughborough University) for a unique identification and development initiative.
With a qualitative project led by global research and insight studio Beyond embedded throughout, the partnership is testing the idea that the next generation of sporting role models already exists in communities that talent systems too often overlook.
And as Sport England’s strategic lead for talent and performance, Duncan Truswell, highlights, finding and nurturing them is one of the most powerful routes to a more inclusive sporting system.
"We are delighted to work in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust and Greenhouse Sports on this exciting initiative," Duncan said.
"We all share the belief that talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. This programme is about providing that opportunity and exploring systemic solutions to the challenges that stand in the way of inclusion and progression."
Participants have been nominated by Greenhouse Sports’ specialist coach-mentors, who work full time in schools across some of the country’s most under-resourced communities.
The sporting charity's daily, trusted relationships with young people mean they are uniquely placed to spot raw potential – the physical, psychological and behavioural markers that don’t always show up in conventional selection – and to nominate those who would benefit most from an opportunity like Elevate.
"Traditional talent systems can mistake existing skills and confidence for future potential," said Greenhouse Sports' CEO Don Barrell.
"That’s why development environments like Elevate matter so much: to recognise potential in young people who’ve had more challenges than opportunities so far in life, and to support it with our team’s expertise in positive youth development."
The 45 invited young people have been supported to attend the School Games National Finals, removing the practical and financial barriers that can prevent some talented young people from taking part.
Set within the School Games National Finals – one of the UK’s flagship celebrations of youth sport – Elevate gives participants access to a major sporting event, as well as multi-day talent identification and development experience.
Delivered by the Youth Sport Trust, the participants will take part in structured assessment and development activity, learn from leading coaches and Youth Sport Trust athlete mentors, and experience what a high-quality, supportive performance environment feels like, all alongside their peers from across the country.
Ali Oliver, CEO of the Youth Sport Trust, says Elevate is designed to be developmental rather than purely selective: every young person will leave with new skills, new connections and a stronger belief in what they can achieve.
"The School Games National Finals gives young athletes a unique, and often first opportunity to experience and learn about the challenges of a major multi-sport event akin to the Olympic, Paralympic or Commonwealth Games," she said.
"But while talent is everywhere, sadly access and opportunity are not. Through Elevate, we are tackling inequalities and pioneering talent inclusion by bringing young talent from outside the traditional pathways of national governing bodies of sport, to a specially designed, immersive experience.
"While at the Games they will explore their aptitudes, experience new sports, and meet role models. At the same time the environment we create will act as a living laboratory for the sporting system, contributing to Sport England’s talent inclusion mission."
Working with Beyond, Sport England and partners have embedded a qualitative research project throughout the experience to understand, in young people’s own words, what enables potential to emerge and what gets in its way.
The research will explore participants’ lived experiences, motivations and the barriers they have navigated, generating insight to inform how talent is identified and developed more inclusively in future.
Findings are intended to benefit not only the partners but the wider sport sector, national governing bodies and the talent system as a whole.
