Some of the island’s finest young sports stars were taught how to ’turbo-charge’ their development at the latest Isle of Man Sport Aid Academy.

’Evaluating performances’ was the core workshop of the session where the young athletes learned about the importance of reviewing and reflecting on their sporting performance, how to assess themselves and how to use the information to improve.

Athletes then chose from ’managing nerves, ’nutrition 101’ or ’stronger’ as a second workshop, whichever they felt most relevant to their needs and goals.

Olympic snowboarder Zoe Gillings-Brier, former World Youth 400-metre medallist Catherine Reid and professional golfer Tom Gandy were at the workshop to offer their experiences and words of advice to the young sportspeople.

Isle of Man Sport Aid sports performance coordinator Chris Quine said the Sport Aid Academy was already paying dividends for local young athletes.

’The progress we are already seeing in both their training and personal development is very rewarding,’ he said.

’This session was really beneficial for the athletes and, as always, delivered in an interesting and interactive way.

’It is critical, both in sport and wider life too, to reflect on your own performance, evaluate how you have got on, what you did well, what you can improve on and so on. Otherwise, how do you expect to get better?’

Mark Denton, managing director of sponsor SMP Partners, said: ’The skills shared at each workshop are invaluable and make a real impact on the young people’s training, school work and personal lives. The Sport Aid Academy facilitators are fantastic at understanding the needs of the athletes and helping them develop the skills required to progress into elite sport.’

Mark Reynolds, director at another sponsor, Newfield, added: ’Friday’s workshop was yet another great session and we always enjoy seeing how the young sportspeople are progressing. The Academy is teaching important lessons that can be applied to all aspects of life, and it’s great for the likes of talented sportspeople like Catherine, Zoe and Tom to come along too so the athletes can see that success is possible with hard work and determination.’