The Maltese Olympic Committee hosted the first group session of its Passing the Torch mentorship programme this week, bringing together young female athletes and their mentors for an interactive Financial Literacy seminar. The session focused on practical money management skills, exploring how young athletes can approach budgeting, spending habits, and long-term financial decisions. The interactive format enabled mentors and athletes to discuss real-world scenarios affecting their financial wellbeing. Facilitating the seminar was Petra Ellul Mercer, a behavioural science and financial capability educator specialising in cognitive science and behavioural economics. Mercer works with young and older adults to improve their financial decision-making and understand how everyday habits shape long-term wellbeing. Her expertise is grounded in first-hand sporting experience: she is a former elite badminton and fencing athlete and currently competes as a Masters swimmer nationally and internationally. Jo’Anne Cassar, the MOC’s Director of Finance, outlined reporting procedures and guidelines for making financial claims. “Financial literacy matters in everyday life but isn’t discussed enough. We wanted to prioritise it from the start of the programme and we are very satisfied with the response and outcome to this session” remarked Charlene Attard, MOC Director of Sport Passing the Torch was launched by the Maltese Olympic Committee, earlier on this year,  to support female athletes aged 14–18 who are competing for selection to the Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026 and Commonwealth Youth Games Malta 2027. The programme -which is supported by Eurosport – pairs young athletes with experienced female athletes who offer holistic guidance on their sporting and personal development journey.