Looking to host an athlete?

Herts is Ready for Winners anticipate that some Olympic athletes, their coaches, family and supporters may want to travel to the UK and stay in Herts to compete and also to provide support for their team members.  Many of the 205 Olympic nations and athletes simply do not have the funds to support such travel.

Athletes and accredited coaches will stay in the Olympic village from two weeks before the Games, however a number of athletes looking to travel to the area for pre-games training will want to arrive earlier than two weeks before competition starts and may opt to try and secure 'family hosting' to effectively subsidise their stay and maximise their training opportunities in the UK. In addition, non-accredited coaches, supporters and family members may look for more cost effective ways of travelling to the UK to enable them to be here to support their athletes.

Herts is Ready For Winners has an arrangement with an established village community to offer a hosting programme for some visitors from the British Virgin Islands, who have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Partnership to train here pre-Games.  However we are happy to retain details of individuals who would wish to offer to host visitors to the UK, on a voluntary basis in order to benefit from personal involvement in Games preparation, enjoy the cultural experience and exchanges and provide support to poorer athletes and nations.

If you would like to offer to be a voluntary host, we would ask for details of your location (not address at this stage), what accommodation is available and how many people you would be prepared to host. We would then contact you in due course, should we receive a request which matches your offer.

Should you wish to rent accommodation during the Games, we would be unable to assist however there are many websites and agencies who can support you in this process.

We have two factsheets available to download that may be useful:

So you would like to host an overseas athlete in the lead up to London 2012

A framework for athletes visiting Hertfordshire as part of Pre-Games schedules

Host Family Case Study 
British Virgin Islands Discus Thrower Eric Matthias, Aston nr Stevenage Summer 2010

As a BVI athlete my sights are set for the C.A.C (Central American and Caribbean) games in Puerto Rico, but before that I made a 6 week pit stop to Aston. Seeing as to this is my first time in the UK, I didn’t know what to expect, so I was walking into this situation blindfolded. I didn’t know anyone, where I was staying, who my coach was going to be and what my training accommodations were going to be like. Thankfully I was taught a long time ago to make the best of every situation and be open minded to the world. It didn’t take very long for me to settle in and meet the villagers and my host family. The villagers of Aston did a wonderful job in making me feel right at home! Immediately within the next few weeks I met everyone, including the participants that volunteered to open their homes to potential Olympians from the BVI in an “acclimatization project”. Besides Freakish weather and a ray of sunshine that lasted a week, everything was fantastic. Each family that hosted me on a week to week basis made me feel comfortable and right at home. I had a “whistle-stop” tour of London, learned some history and enjoyed fish and chips! (delicious). For the past couple of weeks, I was able to see massive improvements in my training and would like to thank my coach, Malcolm Wallace for sticking by my side through the sweat and pain of it all and helping me in any way possible. I would like to say that the project so far has been successful and I’m glad that I was the first to take part in it. I am very impressed with Aston and hope that they continue to extend their warmness to the rest of my country.

Special Thanks to; The Parkers and Anyone who had a part in making this project possible. To the host families and nice people at the barbeques, Lee Valley Sports Center for opening their doors to me and allowing me to train there, Hertfordshire University Sports Complex (physio, Strength and Conditioning staff), BVI AA and Olympic Committee and My Family for tremendous support…..Anyone else I met along the way, thank you!!!!

Eric Matthias Jr.
Discus Thrower
 

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