Gaining ground: The athletes turning sporting discipline into professional success

John Okafor was 15 when he received his first SportsAid award. He was already balancing school with rugby at a level that was costing money – travel, kit, time. The grant didn’t make the dream easy. But it made it possible.

Charlotte Longden’s (pictured centre above) path looked different on the surface. A heptathlete who was recruited into bobsleigh and skeleton, she was training and competing in the Winter Olympics while studying for her A-Levels. SportsAid funding meant she could get to training, attend competitions and focus on the thing she was good at, rather than the cost of being good at it.

Two athletes. Two sports. Two very different journeys. And in both cases, a small intervention – financial support at exactly the right moment – that quietly changed the course of their futures.

As SportsAid celebrates its 50th anniversary, it’s worth pausing to reflect on what half a century of supporting talented young athletes at a crucial stage in their development can make possible. SportsAid steps in at a pivotal moment early in an athlete’s journey, long before many have access to the funding, sponsorship and commercial opportunities that come with senior-level success. The right support at that early point can make a real difference to their development, progression and belief in what might come next.

John and Charlotte, now both working at RBC, are part of that shared story.

From the pitch to the portfolio

Today, John is an associate portfolio manager at RBC Brewin Dolphin in Leeds – building a client-facing career while simultaneously competing at the highest level of semi-professional rugby. He’s helped Rotherham Titans earn promotion to the Championship and earned individual recognition along the way. The idea that he could do both – perform at work and at the highest semi-pro level of his sport – was never in doubt to him.

“Life does come full circle,” he says. “In 2015 and 2016, when I was 15 and 16 years old, I was actually a recipient of a SportsAid award – a programme that RBC used to sponsor. I was lucky enough to be signed straight out of school at 18 by Harlequins, where I went on to make my first team debut at 19. After my contract ended, I moved to Leeds on a rugby scholarship, completed my degree in Economics and Finance, and joined RBC Brewin Dolphin from there.”

His role now involves looking after clients’ accounts and supporting the day-to-day running of the Intermediary business unit. It requires a specific kind of mental discipline; the ability to stay composed when markets are uncertain, to hold the line when everything around you is telling you to react.

“There are a lot of crossovers between rugby and my role here,” John reflects. “Handling adversity and sticking to the plan is the most obvious parallel. There have been games where we’ve been behind at half time and need to remind ourselves to stick to the task and the result will look after itself. The same applies to client portfolios. With so much uncertainty in the world right now, it’s important to cut through the noise and stay true to the plan.”

Juggling semi-professional sport with a career in wealth management – plus studying for the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) qualification – doesn’t leave a lot of spare time. But he’s been open with his team about what that balance looks like, and they’ve been open in return.

“I’m very fortunate that my manager and our Head of Office have been terrific in accommodating my training and playing commitments, including games where we’ve needed to travel on a Friday.”

The athlete who nearly didn’t reapply

Charlotte Longden’s story has a detail that’s easy to overlook, but probably shouldn’t be.

When she was in her second year studying Economics and Geography at Leeds University, a SportsAid email landed in her inbox advertising internships with its corporate partners. A placement at RBC caught her attention. She applied but wasn’t successful, so she did what athletes do: she got her head down, kept training, and competed across Europe in preparation for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

As her time at university drew to a close, another email arrived. RBC was running its internship programme again, inviting athletes supported by SportsAid to apply, and there was a line in the email specifically encouraging previous applicants to reapply.

She almost ignored it but reapplied, securing an internship with the Capital Markets Chief Administration Office (CAO) team in London. Charlotte impressed her team enough that an extended contract followed, which ultimately became a permanent role.

“I really enjoyed working at RBC and being with the team,” she says. “I think that’s quite rare, especially in your first job.”

Today, Charlotte is a Senior Analyst in the CAO team covering RBC’s European operations. It’s a busy, varied role spanning corporate governance, government and industry engagement, and a wide range of initiatives and change.

She also trains four days a week, three hours at a time, and competes at both national and international levels in the 100m and 200m sprints. After a hamstring injury kept her out of bobsleigh for a period, she’s back to full fitness and competing again – a return that feels very much in keeping with who she is.

“It’s tough,” she says of the balancing act. “But it’s always been a part of my life. Luckily my team are really supportive and want to hear about my training and competitions.”

That acceptance of the whole person, not just the professional, matters more than it might seem. For athletes who’ve spent years learning to push through difficulty, the workplace can feel like a place where that part of life becomes invisible. At RBC, for Charlotte and for John, it hasn’t.

What SportsAid gave them – and what comes next

The grants were the beginning. But the support SportsAid offers has always been about more than finances. Athletes are encouraged to think about life outside of sport, about the skills they’re building, and where those skills might take them.

It’s that philosophy that sits at the heart of SportsAid Connect, sponsored by RBC, a digital platform and one of the most significant developments in SportsAid’s 50-year history.¹ It’s a private, moderated space bringing guidance, learning and community together. Expert-led content covers performance, nutrition, recovery and mental wellbeing, alongside practical guidance on balancing sport with education.

At the heart of the platform is the Life Skills Hub, which focuses on financial literacy, mental wellbeing and communication – helping athletes build the independence and confidence to navigate life on and beyond the competitive track.

Charlotte, who’s featured in videos providing advice to younger athletes and took part in the SportsAid Live event in Birmingham to celebrate the launch, reflects on what it would have meant to her earlier in her own journey.

“Having something like SportsAid Connect and being able to learn from other people in the same position would have been really helpful for me as a young athlete.”

It’s the kind of resource that could have reached John at 15, too, giving him not just the financial support to keep going, but the broader tools to understand what he was building towards.

Invested in what comes next

SportsAid has spent 50 years showing up for young athletes – through funding, mentorship, community, and now a platform designed to carry that support further than ever. RBC has been part of that story for over a decade, contributing more than £1 million in financial and developmental support to more than 500 UK athletes since 2014. Its most recent commitment is a three-year partnership funding SportsAid Connect – including the Life Skills Hub – deepening a shared belief that the skills built in sport don’t stay on the pitch.

John and Charlotte are living proof – the grants didn’t define their careers, but they helped make them possible. That’s still what this is about. And 50 years in, it’s still a powerful idea.

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¹SportsAid launches SportsAid Connect, powered by RBC, to support the next generation of athletes, May 2026