What is championship?

"Answer this question and we will have captured the crucial ingredient which lets the human spirit soar."

Professor Allan Snyder FRS
The Inaugural Edwin Flack Lecture
Sydney, 26 June 1998

Any Kid Can be a Champion!
In ways you'd never imagine...

Every single human being can reach their achievements and raise self-esteem through encouragement and inspiration. Start young and the possibilities are enormous!

Any Kid can be a Champion! will inspire and nurture kids during the influential 8-11 years of age via a strategic and interactive program of confidence building activities.

Background

The overwhelming success of the Nelson Mandela-led event What Makes a Champion? motivated the Centre to take the message of championship further.

Education and inspiration are not necessarily the same. We plan to bring them together. If kids are inspired to learn to believe in themselves, we will all benefit from the productive and creative society they proceed to generate.

It is important for kids to understand they can each be champions in a manner they may not yet be aware of.

This does not always involve grades, trophies, competition and winning. The traditional perception of championship can leave many kids feeling inadequate.

Kids can become champions by understanding their own unique abilities rather than by only complying/conforming with external standards. Self-awareness and self-belief are key factors identified by many champions in their extraordinary achievements.

The solution lies within the mindset. We aim to give every a kid a champion mindset!

How will we do it?

Kids will be shown, across the entire nation and through a variety of media, that many of the people they admire were not high achievers to begin with. Extraordinarily successful adults were not normally the best, the smartest or the luckiest. They had something else: the champion mindset. And that mindset was fuelled by curiosity, self-belief and encouragement. It is vital that this message is delivered to kids in a manner that is fun and meaningful.

We will run a media campaign, involving Champions from all fields of endeavour, as role models to show kids that their heroes were once kids just like them! We will publish a book, provide schools and parents with information and guides about how they can help their children to live their lives like champions; we will run face-to-face workshops, run competitions and awards, and set up a dynamic and interactive website for kids to interact online with their heroes and other kids, to play games and find out about how they too can unleash the champion within! Ultimately we want the Any Kid message to be a dynamic, ongoing part of school and community approaches to helping children be all that they can be.

We are seeking partners across all fields, around the nation and the globe to work with us to help kids realise that any kid can be a champion. Corporations, champions, local communities, schools, teachers, parent groups, education associations and professionals ­ everyone who supports the wellbeing of our children are invited to work with us to ensure that every child has the chance to approach life with a winner’s attitude.

If you or your organisation is interested in becoming involved with this exciting project, please contact the Centre on 02 6125 8974 or at info@centreforthemind.com

If you are interested in spreading the Any Kid message in your community, both within or outside Australia, please get in touch!

Because we all stand to gain from productive young people, from young champions!