Sheffield, 1 July: Olympic Silver Medallist Gail Emms joined schoolchildren in Concord Sports Centre, Sheffield, to celebrate this year’s Lloyds TSB National School Sport Week – 28 June to 2 July.
With six out of ten schoolchildren in Yorkshire and Humberside already inspired by London 2012 to take part in more sport, Gail Emms today visited Concord Sports Centre with pupils from five schools within the Forge School Sport Partnership - Handsworth Grange Community Sports College; King Ecgbert School; Birley Community College; City School and Meadowhead School - who are taking part in Britain’s biggest school sporting event.
Nearly 14,000 schools and five million young people have signed up to Lloyds TSB National School Sport Week, an initiative in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust, and part of the London 2012 Get Set educations programme, which aims to use the power of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to inspire children to take part in more sport.
Schools up and down the country will be hosting Opening and Closing ceremonies, torch relays, inter and intra school competitions by working across their School Sport Partnership and inviting local clubs to come in and give taster sessions in a variety Olympic and Paralympic sports. Find out more and help a local school win a share of £20,000 worth of sports equipment by pledging your support now at www.lloydstsb.com/london2012
Today’s event at Concord Sports Centre saw pupils participate in a number of Olympic disciplines for the first time including swimming, rowing, basketball and boccia with former Olympic Silver Medallist Gail Emms joining in and trying her hand at new sports throughout the day. It was a secondary inter school competition which built on the ‘Your Sport, Your Activity and Your Leaders’ programmes that have been taking place in the schools.
“Hosting the London 2012 Games in Britain provides us with all sorts of opportunities to introduce young people to new and exciting sports. Trying new Olympic and Paralympic sports helps to get schoolchildren, who do not normally participate in mainstream sports, the opportunity to take part for the first time. On a personal level I never had the opportunity to try boccia, but following today’s experience, it is definitely something I would be keen to do again!” said Olympic Silver Medallist, Gail Emms.
At the end of the week at 12.20pm on Friday 2 July, pupils from the five Sheffield secondary schools will be joining millions of other young people across the country with a two minute sporting showcase, celebrating the new sport they’ve tried during the week.
Sebastian Coe, Chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) said: “The fact that nearly 14,000 schools are taking part in this year’s National School Sport Week confirms what we witness every time we travel around the UK – that children are excited about trying new sports. I have no doubt that there will be an even greater appetite for National School Sport Week as we inch ever closer to 2012. The enthusiasm up and down the country; increasing levels of participation and overall support for the London 2012 Games is clear, and it is great to see the impact it is already having on school children.”
Recent research commissioned by Lloyds TSB has already demonstrated a huge appetite among young people with 80 percent of schoolchildren in Yorkshire and Humberside keen to try more sport as a direct result of the UK hosting the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The research also found that despite the enthusiasm, nearly 50 percent of Olympic sports have never been tried by 90 percent of children. But with 87 percent of schoolchildren in Yorkshire and Humberside keen to try new sports, Lloyds TSB National School Sport Week meets this demand by providing schoolchildren with the opportunity to try new Olympic and Paralmpic sports that they have never experienced before.
