Tom was 13 when his school teacher took him to a Met-Track launch event in Bexley Borough in 2006. At the time he had not given athletics a second thought. He was disengaged at school, in a gang, on a head-on collision with the anti-social behaviour radar, and was presenting behavioural problems at home.

Met-Track caught his imagination a bit, so he went down to the weekly sessions, and that was the beginning of something pretty exceptional. He went on to join a training group of international level athletes at Crystal Palace.

Far from put off, he engaged in a challenging training programme throughout the following winter, and promptly won both the English Schools and National under-15 400m titles the following summer.

The next 12 months saw a few hic-cups in training, but summer 2008 produced a second place in the English Schools under-17 400m final, which earned him his first international vest. In July he represented England in the home countries schools international.

Oh, and perhaps we should also mention: he's no longer in a gang, he's a focussed student at school, concentrates more on diet than arguments at home, and has had a pretty positive influence on a number of his peers too!  And his self-confidence has improved to the extent that he stood up in front of the 2008 Met-Track conference and told of his engagement with Met-Track in his own words, answering questions afterwards.

This is what Met-Track is all about. It isn't rocket science, and it works!