Isaac Hay from High Wycombe is taking on a remarkable challenge to raise money for the Panathlon charity – trying out 100 different sports in one year.
“I wanted to do something more relatable than run 100 marathons or run across a country,” the 24-year-old says. “I wanted to do something that everyone and anyone could take something from.”
As a strength and conditioning coach, Hay often works with people low on confidence and who are nervous about trying something new – and he hopes that his challenge will show them that there’s a sport or activity to suit everyone.
“The hardest part in any sport or event is getting started, taking those first steps. So I thought to myself, ‘That’s exactly what I’m going to do, complete 100 sports or events in one year.'”
He says that picking the sports to try is straightforward: “All the Olympic events, every team sport I can think of, an iron man, an ultra marathon and a few random sports to fill in the gaps. With all the sports, I will be grading them on logistical, social, physical, technical, and financial factors so that people that do want to start a new sport can find the right sport for them. It’s often best to fit the sport to the person rather than the person to the sport.”
He chose Panathlon as one of the charities to support due to personal contact.
“Some of the families that I work with through my company Hays Coaching have had experience with Panathlon Challenge. They were so complimentary about the work that you guys do that Panathlon Challenge simply had to be one of the causes I raised money for. Helping children with SEND get into sport is such a wonderful thing to do and if I can help raise even a small amount of money for you then I will have achieved my goal.”
To find out more about Isaac’s challenge and to donate, you can check out his fundraising page.
