ATHLETES in South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse districts can apply to a charitable social enterprise for financial support.

The GLL Sport Foundation provides athletes across the UK with support such as training membership access to more than 300 venues across the UK, access to physio and injury rehab and financial awards up to £1,250.

The foundation will support 3,000 athletes across the UK in 2018 in the tenth year of the programme.

By the end of the programme 16,000 athlete awards at a value of £9m.

Synchronised swimmer and GLL-foundation supported athlete, Teri-Faye Coupar said: “I am proud of my progress.

"Two years ago, I was a recreational athlete, now I am in the England Talent Junior Squad training for European Junior championships this year.

“To achieve my goals, I need to work hard on the background of our sport, fitness, flexibility both on land and in the water, which the award will help with.

"I currently train on average 24 hours a week, most sessions are in Reading, but I also use local Better gyms including Henley Leisure Centre and the White Horse Tennis and Leisure Centre.”

The foundation is directly aligned to a national governing body of sport talent pathways and has partnerships with SportsAid and the Mary Peters Trust.

Since the programme was launched in 2008 at the House of Commons, the programme has been managed by Olympic gold medallist, Sally Gunnell OBE.

She said: “When I was first introduced to the GLL Sport Foundation in 2007 and the opportunity to come on board as patron was offered to me, it was a simple ‘yes’.

" Achieving peak sport performance as an athlete and inspiring and supporting athletes to achieve their goals have been key drivers for me through my life."

If you're an athlete and want to apply for one of the grants to the foundation, apply to www.gllsportfoundation.org by February 20.