Jessica Ennis-Hill launches sport coaching course

Jessica Ennis-Hill spoke at coaching sessions at Notre Dame High School in Sheffield

Retired heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill has launched a programme to fast-track young people into sporting careers.

The Olympic gold medallist was in her hometown of Sheffield to talk about the Institute of Sporting Futures (ISF), which she helped develop.

The first pupils to study the course, which is an alternative to A-levels, will begin in three schools in Sheffield, Hull and Leeds in September.

Ennis-Hill, 33, visited Notre Dame High School to discuss the coaching course.

The sports coaching course will begin in three schools in Sheffield, Hull and Leeds in September

She is an ambassador to the two-year, employer-led course designed to provide school leavers with access to a career in sports coaching and the wider sports, leisure and fitness industry.

She will also be providing lesson drop-ins, virtual fitness sessions and ongoing social media support to students throughout the programme.

More stories from around Yorkshire

The education and sports course will be delivered by First Step Sports Group, which already runs school PE and sports coach training, cycling, sports development and school activity camps.

Jessica Ennis-Hill

Jessica Ennis-Hill is a key ambassador to the new post-GCSE programme

• Jessica Ennis-Hill, 33, retired from athletics in 2016

• At the time, she was the world heptathlete champion with two Olympic medals to her name

• From Sheffield, South Yorkshire, Ennis-Hill took home her first official medal at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006

• She won her first Olympic gold medal on home turf at the London 2012 Olympics with a whopping score of 6,955 points at the end of her event

• The heptathlete is the 2012 Olympic champion, a three-time world champion (2009, 2011, 2015) and the 2010 European champion

• Ennis-Hill was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to athletics

• She has two children, Reggie, four and Olivia, one