HIGH jump ace Ryan Webb has spoken of his pride at proving hard work pays off – after being selected for this year’s SSE Next Generation scheme.

The Verwood teenager, a former pupil at Queen Elizabeth's School in Wimborne, is one of 50 young athletes set to benefit from the initiative.

Webb, 19, has jumped 2.14m and said selection would give his burgeoning career a huge boost.

He said: “I felt very lucky. A lot of people don’t get the support they need so I was very happy and honoured to be selected.

“It’s going to help my long-term development – it will help my mentality and make me a more mature athlete. It’s good to have that support around me.”

After setting his career-best 2.14m in last year’s South West League meet in Yeovil, Wimborne Athletic Club's Webb revealed his coach had declared him a role model.

“The majority of people at Wimborne are young athletes who are getting started and just enjoying athletics,” said Webb.

“The response I got from the coaches and the young athletes was superb – they said I was a positive role model that the young athletes could learn from.

“It wasn’t necessarily winning a competition but the idea that I’d helped inspire youngsters or motivated people was such a good feeling.

“I was happy to show what hard training and dedication could prove.”

Webb is hoping to enjoy an injury-free future after revamping his training set-up. He has recently changed coaches and one of the first aspects of his new regime was to tweak his run-up.

Despite not being hampered by injury so far in his career, Webb decided to alter his approach in order to prevent future harm.

“My new run-up should help me avoid injury,” he said.

“Watching videos and analysing, you could tell there was a danger I could cause myself injury in the future.

“The new run-up will also help me jump higher in the long term.”

  • Since 2013, SSE has been proud to make a difference to young people, their families and their communities, by investing in the future of sporting talent through the SSE Next Generation scheme. Keep up to date @YourSSE.