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 Summ ...

player. French was born in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a 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 Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

and he competed for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. 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 Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

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 city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

and in southern

for

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

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 Information technology, digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones, and other digital media and platforms to promote products and service ...

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 in London, England. At its peak it is said to have generated a £2 billion turnover for the economy. It replaced exhibition and entertainment grounds, original ...

, 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

Your Marketing Guy
Digital Marketing Agency in Chelmsford, Essex
Nathan French profile
at British Volleyball
Arsenal's 2012 Olympians: Nathan French
interview with French at

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...