Paralympic wheelchair rugby champion Steve Brown has been named as one of the new Athlete Mentors for the nationwide Sky Sports' Living for Sport programme.

The 28-year-old, from Sittingbourne, who has represented Great Britain in wheelchair rugby and was part of the victorious European Championships Squad in 2008, will visit schools around the country and share his experiences as part of his involvement in the project.

Steve was picked alongside 16 other Sky Sports Living for Sport Athlete Mentors, to use his own stories and experiences as a young person and an athlete to engage and motivate the pupils they visit.

The athletes will parallel the British Athletes’ Commissions “Six Keys to Success” with the lives of the pupils by instilling values such as belief, determination, people skills and time management.

Steve, who will be an Athlete Mentor until September 2010, said: “I am excited and honoured to be taking up the role of Athlete Mentor for Sky Sports Living for Sport.

"Through my own involvement within sport, I have first hand experience of how finding something you are passionate about can open the doors to success.

"I hope that my involvement will encourage young people to follow their dreams to be the best that they can be.”

Sky Sports' Living for Sport is a free online initiative developed by the Youth Sport Trust in partnership with Sky Sports to provide schools with the chance to create flexible and tailored projects to inspire and motivate young people aged 11 - 16 years.

Through the project, pupils take part in a range of sporting activities to help achieve personal goals. As they develop their skills and confidence, they also get the chance to create a sports event themselves.

To date, 20,000 young people in over 600 schools have benefited since the programme began in 2003 and over 200 schools have already signed up this year.

The ambition of the project is for 2,000 schools and 30,000 young people to register with Sky Sports Living for Sport by 2012 and to build the activities into curricular and extra curricular activities.

Schools, community centres and organisations in Kent which would like to learn more about how to become involved in Sky Sports Living for Sport are invited to register their school online