The North East has always been recognised as a hot bed of sport and great success in recent years has ensured that the region’s passion for sport has been sustained.

However continued success at the elite level proves increasingly difficult as it is recognised that talented performers can only reach their ultimate potential with plenty of support and appropriate funding to nurture their talents in a holistic way along with excellent coaching.

The Sports Talent Bond will support a number of young people on their journey to 2012 but more importantly will support many more who are inspired by the Games to compete at National and International level in their chosen sport in the years after the 2012 Games.

Whilst at the highest level, funding is available through the National Lottery once athletes have been identified as likely World Class Performers, there is that difficult transition stage of ensuring that individuals have the required support to realise their full potential and therefore go on to become World Class Performers.

The Sports Talent Bond will raise £5m of interest free loans from private sector partners, the interest from which will be used to fund our activity along side establishing some other matching funding from public bodies to complement the funding already distributed through Sport England in the region. The fund raising will take place from November 2007 through to December 2008 with a view of allocating resources by the end of December 08 through to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Tony Blair recently announced his wish to establish a Sports Foundation in the North East as a legacy for his work in the region. We have been working closely with his advisors to create the Foundation and the Talent Bond jointly, which will provide excellent opportunities for young people in the North East. The activities complement each other and provide a wide and varied support mechanism to young people, covering a number of sports, ages and abilities and providing different opportunities across the region.

Initial discussions with private sector partners shows that there is a willingness and a keen interest to be involved in a legacy project for the North East, linked to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Our challenge now is to raise the Bond over the coming months and to firmly establish appropriate programmes for the region.