School Games Kicks Off A Summer Of Sport

Two thousand aspiring young sports stars turned up at Keele University last Friday (24 June) to go head to head in 15 events at an Olympic-style competition.  Pupils have been taking part in months of competition and preparation to finally be selected as the cream of the crop from their local districts.  This Level 3 School Games Festival was the final competition in this sporting journey where all pupils were competing to become county champions.

The day kicked off with an Olympic inspired opening ceremony with performances from students at Newcastle-under-Lyme College Performing Arts Centre.  With a rendition of ‘We Are The Champions’ the crowd were pumped and everyone got to their feet for a mass warm up.  Competitions took place in tag rugby, netball, rounders, golf, volleyball and cross country.  The cross country event was the biggest to date with over 600 pupils from Years 3-6 tackling the course and working as a team to gain points.  On completion of the competitions schools eagerly anticipated the announcement of the results which were met with huge roars of excitement as each school was presented with their medals on the main stage.

A Change4Life multi skills festival also took place involving 300 participants. This festival provides a series of multi skill activities for children of all abilities enabling them try something new whilst also enjoying the electric atmosphere of the School Games event.

Olympian and double Commonwealth Gold Medallist gymnast, Craig Heap, found time to support the event just before he is set to join the gymnastics commentary team in Rio for the Olympic Games.  Craig was on hand to provide words of advice and encouragement to athletes along with plenty of much loved ‘selfies’.

Craig Heap said “Today’s event is fantastic, it is important for all children to be given to opportunity to take part in sport and reap the benefits it has to offer. The motto that I have used throughout my sporting career is ‘dare to dream’ something that I hope all of the children here today can take away with them”.

The event also played host to some of the county’s most promising rising stars.  The ‘Talent Inspiration Programme’ brings together young national and county standard athletes from across the county.  During the day these athletes took part in goal setting activities as well as receiving advice about nutrition and balancing busy training schedules with school work.

Please see the full event results

For more information contact:

Nadine Barnard
(School Games Coordinator & Club Development Manager)
T: 01785 619726
E: nbarnard@stafford.bc.gov.uk

Visit www.staffsandstokeschoolgames.co.uk