Mintridge Interview with Heather Fell
Team Mintridge were really excited to be joined by the incredible Heather Fell OLY, as she spoke to the students at Howell’s School as part of their Talented Athlete Programme (TAP). Heather spent the evening with the students talking about her journey in Modern Pentathlon and beyond but also the highs and lows that come with competing for Great Britain at the top of your sport.
Heather made a big impact on the students during the presentation and Q&A programme, as she spoke about the highs and lows on her journey to Olympic success. Heather has faced a lot of challenges on her journey and she made it very clear to the students on the call that everyone faces challenges and setbacks, but the strongest ones pick themselves up and carry on.
The students on the call could really relate to this area of Heather’s life and were really interested in the particular challenges she faces when having to compete on horses you don’t know, when your funding gets cut and how to come back from injury.
“You always need to make sure you are looking at the bigger picture, we all have strengths and weaknesses, so you need to find what makes you the best athlete and person to reach your own personal goals!”
As the presentation went on, Heather also expressed the importance of always putting in 100% effort and always doing that extra 1% more than your competitors, to stand out from everyone else. Heather spoke about this in detail when talking about the selection process for the GB Modern Pentathlon squad, especially when they were picking the teams for the Olympics. Heather got the students on the call thinking about how they can push themselves that 1% further and harder to stand out, whether that is in a sporting context or outside of sport in their exams or personal hobbies. Heather said she has some favourite mottos which she lives by, including this one.
“Take a moment to think about your why and if your why is there and your purpose is there, then you will keep moving forward!”
Heather also spoke a lot about her life after retiring from elite sport, showcasing to the students on the call that you can still do so much with your life, even when the Olympic Games is no longer a focus, or you have achieved what you set out to do. This inspired those on the call, to keep reaching and working at all that they do and to make sure their academic studies are something they always have in their back pocket, in case their career gets cut short.
From this, Heather spoke to the students in detail about diet and nutrition, which is a passion of hers. Heather talked about how important it is to hydrate and eat appropriate energy giving foods before and after training, or a competition, as well as to always warm up and cool down, as those are the most important things for injury prevention
