SOME of Malmesbury’s brightest sporting stars were given some words of wisdom from ex-South African international Thinus Delport this week.

The former Worcester Warriors and Gloucester winger was visiting Malmesbury School on Thursday (14) as part of a Sky Sports project that aims to help bring on the next generation of professional sportsmen and women.

He spent a day with the school’s most promising sporting talent, sharing his experiences of what it takes to reach the very top level of sport.

Pupils were put through physical and mental training exercises by the ex-Springbok that aimed to prepare them for what being a professional athlete is like.

The school’s deputy head of PE, Ceri Griffiths, applied for the school to be a part of the Sky Sports project and hoped pupils had a lot to take away from the day.

She said: “What we’ve been looking at this morning is getting our top level performers from the school across different sports and key stages to gain a bit of experience from Thinus.

“They’ve been looking at how they can deal with academic pressures as well as sporting pressures and how they can get that balance right.

“We talked a lot this morning about the steps to success and what you have to do to achieve in your sport.

“I think that’s something that’s massively helpful for them.”

Malmesbury School pupil Eva Porter, 13, said: “Today has definitely helped me. We learned how to cope with lots of difference aspects of being an athlete.

“We’ve learned how to cope with pressure and how to get confidence as well as the correct nutrition you’ll need; so pretty much everything you need to know to be a professional athlete of any sport.”

Stella Harper, 13, also from Malmesbury School, said: “It’s been really good, he’s been talking about what you have to go through to and how to cope with things that might come your way.”

At the end of the day pupils from other local schools including Minety, Crudwell and Malmesbury Primary joined Malmesbury School pupils for a talk from Thinus about leadership.

He shared with them clips of his days playing for South Africa and talked about different leadership styles and when to use them, rounding off an enriching day for the young sports stars.

Following his talk Thinus said: “It was a great day, a lovely experience.

“[They were] a delightful bunch of young people and surely a credit, not just to the school, but also the community, so I really enjoyed my day spent with the pupils at Malmesbury School.

“The biggest outcome we really want is young people to feel inspired, to be motivated, but also to have had that experience shared from someone that has walked a similar journey to them.

“We’ve all started where they are, we were very fortunate and lucky enough to reach the highest levels of our sport, and it’s about giving them that experience to really apply themselves and focus to be the best they can be.

“They’ve been very engaged and have got really got stuck into it. They’ve questioned, they’ve challenged, but they’ve also every embraced everything that’s been set out there, so it’s been a positive day.”