As I approach the end of my first full month as CEO of the British Elite Athletes Association, I wanted to take a moment to share my reflections and outline what our members can expect from me moving forward.  

Joining the BEAA marks an exciting new chapter in my career. I am honoured to lead an organisation which plays a crucial role in representing athletes’ interests within the high-performance system.

As a former athlete, I understand the journey you are on and, since retiring from athletics in 2012, I have enhanced my knowledge of the UK sporting landscape in coaching, people development, and governance roles.

Athlete welfare has always been important to me. As an athlete I always wanted things to be better and, in 2017, I founded British Athletics’ Athletes’ Commission to give athletes a meaningful voice within their sport.

As CEO of the BEAA, I want you to have a positive experience during and after your time on the World Class Programme.

We are here to represent the needs of athletes and to provide independent support and advice, but I also want our work to inform stakeholders across the high-performance system so that together we ensure being part of the World Class Programme has lifelong benefits.

Your feedback is vital to shaping our priorities. I have already had valuable discussions with the Chair of the Athletes’ Advisory Forum and will be spending my first few months learning about the current landscape for athlete support.

If you have ideas of your own, I encourage you to reach out to the BEAA directly.

I’m excited about the opportunities ahead and look forward to working with you to strengthen the BEAA and the support it provides.

Kelly Sotherton MBE