A LOCAL health and fitness centre has vowed to support top North Ayrshire athletes - despite losing key funding.

Maximum Potential Health, a not-for-profit community interest company, has had significant council funding removed from the Nurturing Excellence Programme.

The programme is aimed at supporting young athletes get to the next level in their sporting career.

Now support from local businesses and potential benefactors is the only hope for the continuation of the programme and the Herald is looking for local businesses to get behind this fantastic programme in order to see our youngsters thrive, grow and progress in sport.

John Welsh, the owner of MPHealth, pitched the idea of the Nurturing Excellence Programme to the council six years ago and since then the programme has supported well over 100 athletes. Sportscotland at Inverclyde and KA Leisure were also involved in the programme.

John recalls: “At one point we had over 20 sports from fly fishing all the way through to judo, karate, ice hockey, rugby, ice skating and table tennis.”

He is grateful for North Ayrshire Council being able to provide that help to the kids so far and added: “Every kid we have helped has reached a better level.

"We have success stories from British team members to Scottish team members to Scottish champions, British champions and European champions. It was so successful that instead of funding for three years the council found funding for another three years on top of that.”

To put each individual athlete through the programme cost £360 per athlete per year. That money is now no longer available meaning aid in continuing this invaluable programme will have to be sought elsewhere.

The original idea pitched to the council was for local businesses to get involved. However the council at the time worked the Nurturing Excellence Programme into a Commonwealth Games legacy programme they were developing at the time.

A large percentage of the kids on the programme won’t be able to afford the kind of support the Nurturing Excellence Programme provides on top of their additional sporting needs so an alternative way of funding these athletes is crucial to their continuing success.

Danielle Joyce is a sprint swimmer and a gold medallist in the Deaflympics. She has been a part of the nurturing excellence programme since it first started and has trained at MPHealth since John first opened its doors.

She said of the programme: “It has been a huge help to me for my training, as deaf athletes are not funded and I would not be able to afford a gym membership as well as paying to compete all over the world and to provide myself with the kit needed.”

Being a sprint swimmer, 50 per cent of Danielle’s training comes from the gym. She says that to lose the aid of the programme ‘would be such a detrimental effect on my performance as the nurturing excellence programme has helped me with my training to excel to Olympic gold'.

Danielle said of Mr Welsh’s coaching that: “His knowledge of sport and strength and conditioning is second to none and he goes the extra mile for everyone. If you need help in nutrition, technique of movements, building strength, losing weight, he is the man to go to.”

A council spokesperson said: “Due to the challenging financial climate, we were faced with a number of tough decisions when we set our Budget on February 28. Stopping the funding for our Nurturing for Excellence Programme was just one of a number of difficult choices we had to make.

“We are pleased to learn that the community are pulling together and we are always here to help and offer assistance to groups and individuals as they move forward.”