"I Don't Do Defeat"

Inspirational athlete Anna Turney broke her back snowboard racing in Japan in 2006. Undaunted, she refused to surrender to the paralysis in her legs and give up the snow sports she loved. She decided to become a Paralympic Alpine Ski Racer using a sitting monoski.

With just three years to go to the Winter Paralympics 2010 in Vancouver, Anna started training hard after leaving the hospital and achieved 6th place in her race. Four years later, she finished 4th, 6th and 8th for Great Britain in Britain’s most successful Winter Paralympic Team in the 2014 Sochi Paralympic Games.

Anna is justly proud of her hard-won success:

‘I competed in the same disciplines as Olympic ski racers.

On the same runs, and the same courses.

I did it without the use of my legs.

For me, success at the Winter Paralympics 2014 was a huge personal achievement and, for all of us, another decisive victory over adversity.

My journey from snowboarder to racing on the Olympic Men’s Downhill run in Sochi at 65mph, via a few hospital beds, has been a roller coaster. It has not been easy. Nevertheless, representing Great Britain was worth every blizzard, sore muscle, hour spent in the gym, months spent away from my husband.’

Dare to embrace life.

Give it your all, and have the courage to share.

Anna believes in giving back. As soon as she was able, she began participating in charity events and schemes, working with the next generation and people with disabilities.

Anna joined the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust in 2010, where she has supported individuals through leadership, aspiring minds, and mentoring programmes. She is Mentor Liaison and Safeguarding Lead at the True Athlete Project and one of the world-class athlete mentors for the Youth Sports Trust

Sharing how she remained positive and passionate after her life-altering accident, Anna inspires others. Her motto Dream, Team, Routine, encapsulates her approach to overcoming challenges.

Paralysis almost destroyed her dream of becoming a star ski racer. Her team of supporters enabled her to develop a routine that was not only healthy for her body but her mind as well. A routine that returned to her skiing dream.

Her team expanded to include her husband and Dame Kelly Holmes Trust mentors. They came to her aid once again as her sporting career ended, leaving her feeling lost and depressed. Their support helped her to be kind to herself and find new avenues to success and fulfilment.

Anna draws on her experience to deliver highly effective programmes for young people that help them focus on working towards goals, whatever their abilities.

Aim high, dare to take opportunities and try new things.

Coming to the end of a sporting career is hard for any athlete. Anna chose to channel her energy into building on her strengths and creating a business that offers executive coaching and motivational speaking.

Anna is a popular keynote and TEDx speaker. Alongside her work with the voluntary sector, she regularly captivates audiences on influential platforms. She skilfully draws on her experience to deliver inspirational talks across multiple topics: learning business lessons from sport; diversity and inclusion; resilience; overcoming adversity; success after trauma; teamwork; mindset; and leadership. Her corporate clients include GSK, Deloitte, RSA, BP National Grid, major banks, law firms and other businesses.

She tailors her performance and solutions-driven coaching to her client’s goals. Her corporate coaching helps unleash clarity, focus and resilience. She uses her experience of self-compassion to powerful effect, enabling organisations to grow and improve their performance at all levels.

Her focused, yet relaxed style, allows clients to quickly identify and reframe their challenges, stimulating reflection and new perspectives, enthusing them to take action and generate positive results.

Together, we’re stronger.

We think more broadly and are just better in so many ways.

Anna is a passionate advocate for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in education. She passionately supports schools that want to turn their DEI policies into effective practices that lift their school beyond the basic requirements.

She uses her current and past successes as a springboard from which to develop DEI strategies. Strategies that aim to benefit all students by boosting their confidence and helping them realise their dreams. She helps schools review their DEI policies and works together with teachers, leadership and boards to implement strategies that create an environment where everyone thrives and achieves their best.

Anna can work with your school to review your DEI policy and help you ensure that it underpins everything the school does: curriculum delivery, staffing, facilities and planning. DEI strategies that are visible and high on the agenda demonstrate that everyone in the school community feels valued, respected and supported. Whatever their background or characteristics considered diverse.

It is all too easy for young people to accept labels that become self-fulfilling prophecies and exclude themselves from opportunities. Anna creates ways of working that support them to break free of their limitations just as she did. She helps schools implement inclusive interventions that help all pupils to get better results, enjoy sport more, want to be more active and healthy, and work with others to everyone’s benefit.