Nathan French (born 20 April 1990) is a British

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

player. French was born in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

and he competed for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

at the 2012 Summer Olympics. French was the youngest member (at age 22) of the men’s team and started playing the sport in school when he was 13. French has also played professionally in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Background

French started playing volleyball when he was 13, and at age 16, he decided to dedicate his life to it. He was attending the Boswells School in Chelmsford at the time. It was during his teens when the school formed an academy for the sport. The volleyball academy at the school is now considered to be one of the best in the country. French said of his time at the school; "I wasn't any better than anyone else. It wasn't like that at all. I maybe wasn't even as good as the others." In July 2005, when

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

announced their winning bid for the Olympic's, French decided then that he was going to be a part of it.

Team GB

In June 2012, it was announced that French would play for Team GB at the Olympics. French, who was 22 years old at the time, was the youngest member of the team. French said after the announcement was made that "it's a twenty minute ride on the train...and for it to be in London just up the road from me, just a stone's throw away...it's incredible." French has also played professionally in

for

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

and in southern

for Avignon.

Current

Nathan has seen more than 70,000 young people across the UK to inspire and raise awareness of childhood obesity, delivering healthy workshops and fun volleyball activities to more than 250 primary schools. He is a qualified life coach and is a director of Your Marketing Guy; a

digital marketing Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the Internet and online based digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones and other digital media and platforms to promote products and services. Its development d ...

agency and consultancy to help business improve their online presence and generate more leads and sales through various online strategies.

Summer Olympics

The volleyball tournaments were played between July 28 and August 12. The indoor men's competition took place at

Earls Court Exhibition Centre Earls Court Exhibition Centre was a major international exhibition and events venue just west of central London. At its peak it is said to have generated a £2 billion turnover for the economy. It replaced exhibition and entertainment grounds, ...

, in west London. The men's volleyball squad did not win any of their games and were eliminated from the tournament. The medal winners were (men's division): * - Gold * - Silver * - Bronze

References

External links