Inspiration from Nottinghamshire School Games

• 26

  Jul

  Inspiration from Nottinghamshire School Games

  On Wednesday 4 July over 1000 children from 80 schools across Nottinghamshire competed across 13 sports to try and elevate their school to the status of ‘County Champion’ at the Nottinghamshire School Games.

  The day started at the University of Nottingham’s Park Campus Sports Centre with a spectacular opening ceremony which included a Paralympic inspired performance from the Oakfield School Dance Group, a London 2012 inspired cheerleading display from The Elements (Garibaldi College), a torch relay inspired performance from Ellis Guildford School Dance Group and finally a London 2012 and Rio 2016 inspired display from a Brazilian martial arts group called Capoeira Cordao de Ouro Nottingham.

  Click here to watch video highlights of the Nottinghamshire School Games.

  At all levels of the School Games there are increased opportunities for all young people regardless of ability or disability to compete on a local, regional and national level and to be inspired to continue to play sport throughout their lives.

  The young athletes were encouraged by meeting and hearing about the hopes, dreams and experiences of Simon Wilson who had recently learned of his selection to the 2012 Paralympic Fencing Team and also from Julz Adeniran a UK top five ranked 110m Hurdler who’d missed out on selection due to injury. Julz had a simple message for the children ‘Things don’t always go your way, what’s important is to learn from your experiences and come back stronger than before’.

  With that amount of inspiration even the rainy conditions didn’t deter spirited and outstanding performances in all the sports.

  The Nottinghamshire School Games was supported by 120 young leaders from across the City and County.

  Rob Cook, event director said about the event. “With the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics rapidly approaching, this really is a special moment in time. The level of commitment and determination we have seen at the School Games really does represent the values that Pierre de Coubertin laid down all that time ago of respect, excellence and friendship. We hope the event has been memorable for those young people who participated and for some we hope it will be part of a journey toward greater things."