Jessica Nelson, a student from Stamford High School, Lincolnshire, has recently been selected to be part of the GB Youth Sailing Squad. The squad is designed to enable the best British sailors to develop their racing skills so they can succeed on the international stage with the intention of successfully competing at the World / European Championships and following the Olympic pathway to Team GB. More recently, Jess and her partner Hannah from Monmouth School achieved third place in the Welsh National Championships.The selection was based on Jess and her sailing partner’s, Hannah (Monmouth School), performance at the RYA Youth National Championships, their development over the winter and the successful physiology profiling. The latter is a gruelling test of strength and fitness taken by all sailors sailing an Olympic pathway boat.Since September last year, Jess has been attending Stamford Endowed Schools’ gym twice a week, under the coaching of James, the School’s strength and conditioning personal trainer, to help prepare her for the profiling.Jess commented, “My fitness and strength has increased significantly due to the support and training received from the School which has helped me to achieve one of my goals. The first real signs that the work in the gym has helped, came when I completed the School’s Burghley Run, finishing in 6th place beating my previous best of 30th. In the recent profiling in Scotland, I pushed all the upper boundaries expected from a GB Squad Sailor which I believed helped in my selection for the squad. I will now be training with future GB Olympians which is very exciting. I am also very grateful to my previous Stamford School sailing partners, Tom Proffitt, who introduced me to competitive sailing and James Leetch who first taught me how to sail the 29er. I am looking forward to training and competing in Helsinki in the summer”.Picture taken at the RYA Youth National Championships in Largs, Scotland where 245 young sailors competed aged between 14 and 21. Jess is pictured standing on the edge of the boat.
