Sky Andrew | |
Fullname: | Skylet Andrew |
Birth Date: | 31 March 1962 |
Birth Place: | Upton Park, London, England |
Height: | 6 ft 3 in |
Skylet Andrew (born 31 March 1962), often known as Sky Andrew, is an English former Olympian who won three gold medals at the 1989 Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships[1] and was the first Black British sports agent.[2]
Andrew was born in Upton Park, London, to a London Transport bus driver father, and a mother who worked in an East End pie factory.
He represented Great Britain at the 1988 Seoul Olympics in the doubles event with Des Douglas[3] [4] and won 3 Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship gold medals in 1989 .[1] [5] Andrew retired from competitive table tennis after the 1994 European Championships.[6]
While training at Lilleshall Hall in his youth, Andrew met young footballer Sol Campbell, with whom he struck up a friendship.
After retiring from table tennis, Andrew wanted to get into show business, but ended up becoming an agent, representing acting clients including Martine McCutcheon.[7]
In the mid-1990s at Campbell's suggestion, he became the first licensed Black British football agent, engineering Campbell's move from Tottenham Hotspur to Arsenal.[7] Andrew has since represented Jermaine Pennant, David Ginola, Frank Bruno, Jay Bothroyd and Jermain Defoe. His TV and film clients include Nathalie Emmanuel, Sarah-Jane Mee, and Natalie Sawyer.
In September 2016, in a deal with football agency Platinum One Group, Sky Andrew moved his football business across.
Currently he is also a "Soccer Agent" instructor for the online sports-career training school Sports Management Worldwide, founded and run by Dr. Lynn Lashbrook.[8]
Andrew won a Barclays Bank "Man of Merit Award" in 2002, and was named the BEA Entrepreneur of The Year in 2003.