Identified as one of the UK's best sports stars of the future, Nathan who trains at the local Kendal Judo Club, will receive a grant of £500 from Asda which he plans to use for travel expenses for competitions abroad as he trains towards a successful future in judo.

Asda, with the help of SportsAid, has compiled a list of the best emerging young talent in the UK and Nathan was chosen along with over 300 other sporting stars across the country.

Over the next five years, Asda Kendal will be giving out a further nine ?500 grants to promising athletes in the area and will provide further support to each of these sports stars.

Talented 16-year-old Nathan learnt the first moves of Judo at the tender age of 6. Since then he has been competing in judo events throughout the UK and Europe including tournaments in Spain, France and Germany.

More recently he took home the bronze medal in the Midland Area championships and was the winner of the Cadet Trials in the Under 55kg category.

Nathan is delighted that he was selected to receive the £500 grant from Asda and said.

He said: "To be recognised by Asda Sporting Chance as an 'up and coming talent' is a great compliment and I really appreciate the support the Asda store in Kendal is showing me. I spend a lot of money on travelling to competitions around the country and in Europe so this grant will really help me out with my travel expenses for these tournaments.

"I'm really excited about what lies ahead for me in judo and I hope that this will involve representing Great Britain in the 2012 Olympics in London."

Sporting Chance aims to link children with free sports sessions over the summer. Local sporting venues in the area are offering children a wide range of sports lessons over summer – from fencing to football, badminton to basketball or trampolining to table tennis.

To find out more information about these free sporting sessions, please pick up a leaflet from the Asda store on Burton Road or log on to www.asda-sportingchance.co.uk.