Humber Sports Partnership - News

County festivals of sport get £4 million of National Lottery funding

Chris Warkup — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:21:35 +0000

Forming part of the School Games, the annual county festivals of sport are the third level of the School Games structure and are a culmination of the ongoing programme of intra-school and inter-school competition.

More than 100,000 competitors and nearly 14,000 young volunteers will take part in the country festivals of sport.

The funding will be used to establish 46 local organising committees, who will be responsible for organising and delivering the festivals.

Each committee will be made up of representatives from local schools, county sports partnerships, young people, and national and local sports providers.

“The School Games will help inspire a generation of young people to take part in sport," said Mike Diaper, Sport England’s Youth and Communities Director. “The local organising committees will showcase and deliver the finals of the all-year-round inter school competition across 30 sports.

“Alongside our Olympic legacy programme, Places People Play, this will ensure we build a lasting sporting legacy beyond next year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

The committees will also be supported by the Youth Sport Trust, which has been commissioned by Sport England to develop and deliver the School Games until 2013.

Greater Manchester School Games was one of nine regions chosen to pilot these events. More than 1,500 young people from 200 primary, secondary and special schools competed in 11 different sports at some of Manchester’s most prestigious 2002 Commonwealth Games venues. The event was supported by more than 250 student volunteers, who formed the School Games crew helping run and promote the event.

“The Greater Manchester School Games were an outstanding success bringing together so many volunteers and competitors in some of the country’s best World Class sports facilities,” said Richard Saunders, Greater Manchester Sport’s Chief Executive.

At least 60 festivals are expected to take place in the first year and will involve more than 100,000 competitors and nearly 14,000 young volunteers. As a key part of the School Games, the county festivals of sport will help ensure a lasting sporting legacy for young people beyond London 2012.

School Games receives huge boost with additional investment over the next four years

Chris Warkup — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:45:57 +0000

A further £14 million from the Department of Health plus a further £8 million from Sport England will extend funding for School Games organisers from two years to four years, up to 2015. And sponsorship from adidas means that the 1,600 young athletes will be provided with sports kit.

The unprecedented funding package, which will ensure that the School Games have a lasting legacy beyond 2012, was announced today by Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt and Sainsbury’s Chief Executive Justin King.

Mr Hunt said:

“We are absolutely determined to leave a real and lasting legacy for young people from London’s Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the Sainsbury’s School Games will help do just that. The fantastic funding package announced today – from Sainsbury’s, Adidas and the Department of Health - shows the commitment to completely transform competitive sport in schools. I want to thank Sainsbury’s and adidas for their huge generosity in helping to secure the future of the School Games beyond 2012.”

Sainsbury’s was previously headline sponsor of the UK School Games and this new sponsorship sees the supermarket build on its involvement in school sport. The deal includes support for a new School Games teacher training programme, which helps to ensure more disabled children in mainstream schools experience structured activity and sport so creating a lasting legacy for disabled children following the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Through its Active Kids programme, London 2012 Paralympic Games sponsorship and this new initiative, Sainsbury’s aims to make sport accessible to children of all ages and abilities.

The additional investment from Sport England comes on top of the £35.5 million of National Lottery funding already being invested in the School Games, including £4 million for the 2012 Schools Games finals at the Olympic Park in May.

Richard Lewis, Sport England Chair, said: “The School Games is bringing the magic of a home Olympic and Paralympic Games to tens of thousands of young people and will inspire them to make sport part of their lives. Sainsbury’s is leading the way in showing how the private sector can help us achieve our mission to get more young people enjoying sport.”

Justin King, Sainbury’s Chief Executive, said: "We are thrilled to announce our support for the School Games over the next four years. It will complement our Paralympic Games sponsorship perfectly and will add extra weight to our hugely successful Active Kids Scheme which is now in its 8th year.

“We have promoted a healthier and more active lifestyle for all for many years now and this new sponsorship will see us continue to build on that in 2012 and beyond.”

Creating a sporting habit for life

Chris Warkup — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:52:41 +0000

Between 2012 and 2017 over £1 billion of National Lottery and Exchequer funding will be invested to create a meaningful and lasting community sport legacy by growing sports participation at the grassroots level.

Under the new strategy, every secondary school in England is set to host a community sports club, and £10 million will be made available to open up school sport facilities for wider public use.

In 2017, five years after the London Olympic and Paralympic Games, we want to have transformed sport in England so that playing sport becomes a lifelong habit for more people and a regular choice for the majority. In particular, we want to raise the number of 14- to 25-year-olds playing sport.

National governing bodies (NGBs) will continue to play a pivotal role in increasing participation, particularly among young people. And, as the Secretary of State has outlined today, a tougher regime of payment-by-results will be a fundamental feature of our performance management system. This will be coupled with a new incentive fund to enable those doing exceptionally well to achieve more.

County sports partnerships will support NGBs, foster local links and help transition young people into clubs. We will support and work with local authorities through our advocacy tools and investment including a new community activation fund.

Partners including the National Partners, StreetGames, the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust, the Youth Sport Trust and others will add value and support our work.

“Changing the sporting behaviour of a generation is a major challenge which has not been achieved by any other Olympic host nation,” said Sport England Chief Executive Jennie Price. “With a new focus on young people and an even tougher, Government-backed, regime of payment by results, Sport England and its partners are determined to deliver.”

Under the strategy:

Every one of the 4,000 secondary schools in England, will be offered a community sport club on its site with a direct link to one or more NGBs, depending on the local clubs in its area
County sports partnerships will be given new resources to create effective links locally between schools and sport in the community
All secondary schools who wish to do so will be supported to open up, or keep open, their sports facilities for local community use and at least a third of these will receive additional funding to make this happen
150 College Sports Makers working across most of the 347 general FE colleges
Three-quarters of the university student population (aged 16-24) – that’s over 900,000 young people - will get a chance to take up a new sport or continue playing a sport they enjoyed in school or college
A thousand of our most disadvantaged local communities will get a Door Step Club
Two thousand young people on the margins of society will be supported into sport and to gain new life skills by the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust
There will be a new £40 million local sport fund to help local authorities improve sport provision
Building on the early success of Places People Play, a further £100m will be invested in new facilities for the most popular sports, for example new artificial pitches and upgrading local swimming pools
A minimum of 30 sports will have enhanced England Talent Pathways to ensure young people and others fulfil their potential.
In future, NGB investment will start at age 14 to ensure a better transition from school sport and create a sporting habit for life through increasing participation overall.

Alex Horne, General Secretary of the FA, said: “Football welcomes the Sport England strategy and the increased focus on youth. A priority will be taking 2,000 local football clubs into secondary schools across the country, offering expert coaching and creating the strong ties that will help young people make the move from school sport to community sport.”

Ian Drake, Chief Executive of British Cycling, said: “Looking ahead to the next funding cycle, we have ambitious plans to build further on the success we’ve achieved over the past few years, and to capitalise on the inspirational impact of London 2012 to increase participation. We look forward to continuing to work closely with Sport England on turning these plans into reality under the new strategy outlined today. We take our responsibilities seriously in terms of maximising the impact of the public money we receive. We fully appreciate the fact this funding is a privilege and not a right, and with that in mind it makes sense to tie-in continued funding to the achievement of agreed goals and objectives to help ensure the best return on investment across all sports.”

David Collier, Chief Executive of the ECB, said: “The ECB welcomes the new Sport England strategy and the reach down to 14 year olds. This very much mirrors cricket’s own strategy to get more young people playing at school and in clubs and keep them involved in the game throughout their lives.”

Paul Clark, Chief Executive of England Netball, said: “The success we’ve had in growing adult netball participation through our Back2Netball programme has clearly demonstrated that the participant-focused approach we take at England Netball is the right one. Our key challenge over the next four years will be to apply that approach and learning to drive increased participation in netball amongst young people aged between 14 and 25 years of age. This age group is critical to our ambition of encouraging and enabling engagement in Netball for Life.”

The sporting legacy was given a further boost today when Sainsbury’s pledged a £10 million package to support the new School Games Competition over the next four years, alongside other additional funding including £8 million from Sport England.

Jeremy Hunt said: “We are absolutely determined to leave a real and lasting legacy for young people from London’s Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the Sainsbury’s School Games will help do just that. The fantastic funding package announced today – from Sainsbury’s, adidas and the Department of Health - shows the commitment to completely transform competitive sport in schools. I want to thank Sainsbury’s and adidas for their generosity in helping to secure the future of the School Games beyond 2012.”

Sport England is investing up to £35.5 million of National Lottery funding in the School Games.

To find out more about today's School Games announcement click here

To download a copy of our new Youth and Communities Strategy click here

Watch, learn and play with The Games and Beyond

Chris Warkup — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:03:43 +0000

Next summer hundreds of the world’s best athletes will descend on London for the greatest sporting show on earth, and The Games and Beyond will help ticketholders prepare for this marvellous spectacle.

Over one million Olympic and Paralympic ticketholders are being given the opportunity to discover the stories behind the sports on show and also find out how they can play the sports themselves.

Anyone who has purchased a ticket for London 2012 will receive a series of newsletters signposting them to www.thegamesandbeyond.com - a website that is open to everyone and packed full of need-to-know information, exciting Games news and guides to help people take part in each sport.

The Games and Beyond is part of Sport England’s London 2012 legacy programme which aims to build on the excitement of a home Olympic and Paralympic Games to increase sporting participation across the country.

Jennie Price, Sport England’s Chief Executive, said: “London 2012 will offer over a million people the opportunity to enjoy the drama of watching live competition, learn more about the events and be inspired to go out and play sport.

"With the help of The Games and Beyond, every Olympic and Paralympic spectator will be able to become a participant and discover a sport that they enjoy playing, ensuring that the excitement of London 2012 is sustained to create a lasting legacy.”

he Games and Beyond has been developed by Sport England in partnership with all of the national governing bodies of Olympic and Paralympic sports and is supported by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG).

Chris Townsend, Commercial Director at LOCOG, said: “We have had an unprecedented level of interest in tickets for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, it shows that the British public want to be part of London 2012. We hope that The Games and Beyond will not only help people understand the sports that they are going to watch but also try out the sports for themselves.”

Even if you do not have tickets to the Games you can still view the website and find out how you can take up an Olympic or Paralympic sport, just visit www.thegamesandbeyond.com or follow @GamesAndBeyond on twitter.

OVER 100 PRE GAMES TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTERNATIONAL ATHLETES IN EVERY NATION AND REGION OF THE UK

Chris Warkup — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:25:14 +0000

The camps– organised, through formal agreements or Memorandums of Understanding (MOU), between cities in the UK, National Olympic and Paralympic Committees (NOC/ NPC) and international teams – will provide athletes with a base from which to prepare, train and acclimatise ahead of the Games.

The vision of Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the Olympic Games, to unite the world through sport and education while inspiring youth, is recognised in the PGTC agreements, which represent an opportunity for cultural exchange, education and engagement alongside provisions for international sporting teams.

In many cases partnerships between PGTC hosts and participating countries have already begun, with cities adopting their NOCs/NPCs, forging strong relations and developing exciting community engagement programmes.

Seb Coe, Chairman of the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) said: “Training Camps are essential preparation for the London 2012 Games. Each facility will provide a vital service to ensure athletes can prepare for competition in 2012 while engaging their local community with sport and culture.”

Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport and the Olympics said: “We have always been determined to make the 2012 Games not just about London, but the whole of the UK. Offering 100 training camps across the country highlights the many world class sporting facilities that can be used by athletes from around the World. I am sure that all the athletes will be given a fantastic, warm welcome.”

For full lists of all Pre-Games Training Venues visit: http://www.london2012.com/documents/venue-documents/pre-games-training-camps-agreements.pdf

Case studies:

The East Midlands plan to have two of the biggest and most high profile NOCs in the world using their world class venues in the lead up to the Games. Team GB and Japan are signed up to use Loughborough University, while Loughborough has already hosted preparation camps for Japanese athletes in various sports including Modern Pentathlon, Triathlon, Athletics and Wresting. As part of this, students in the region are learning about Japanese culture through the Musubi Project which encourages young people to take part in traditional Japanese activities ranging from Taiko drumming and sushi making to learning languages and sport.

Glasgow Life, on behalf of Glasgow City Council in Scotland, organised a three-week training camp for athletes, coaches and members of the Zambian NOC. Glasgow has focussed on attracting Commonwealth nations for pre-London 2012 training camps and is also looking forward to welcoming a delegation from Namibia next year. This is a great opportunity for Glasgow as they lay foundations for the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

The Barbados Olympic Association’s partnership with Crawley and West Sussex has been flourishing for a number of years. Two boxers from the island recently visited for an extended training camp with Crawley Boxing Club.

South West England plan to host teams from nearly 20 countries in the lead up to the 2012 Games. They include the University of Bath which was selected as the host for Paralympics GB’s preparation camps in July 2009 and has so far hosted three camps, which are a key part of the British team’s build-up to the 2012 Games. The university hopes to work with the Lithuanian Modern Pentathlon Team while the Lithuanian Swimming Team will train at Plymouth Life Centre.

Wales has truly opened its doors to the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, with ambitions to host PGTC’s for sports from at least five different countries including Paralympic PGTCs for three NPCs.

The North West of England could witness the start of medal campaigns from Ian Thorpe, as part of the Australian Swimming team’s camp, and the USA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Teams. Three NPCs and a collection of NOCs from Oceania will also reside in the region.

The Colombian Olympic Boxing team has already trained alongside young boxers from the newly launched Gateshead College Boxing Academy during a visit to the North East, where they plan to stay before the 2012 Games. The team of seven boxers and two trainers travelled to the region from South America to take advantage of the world class training facilities at Gateshead College’s Academy for Sport at Gateshead International Stadium.

The Chinese National Artistic Gymnastics teams aim to locate their PGTC at Salto National Gymnastics Centre in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. China, which is renowned for excellence in gymnastics, topped the medals table at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing with 18 medals.

In the East of England the British Virgin Islands NOC has developed a friendship with the village of Aston, near Stevenage, who have pledged to support the team as they prepare for London 2012.

The West Midlands hope to host two of the most high profile athletics teams in the world, USA and Jamaica, using their newly renovated Alexander Stadium and the Birmingham University campus.

Yorkshire has Memorandums of Understanding signed with 11 nations, constituting over 30 individual teams, including the Serbian NOC, the USA diving team in Sheffield, the Russian diving team in Leeds and the Vietnamese NOC in Bradford.

In London St Mary’s has a new £8.25m sports facility to offer athletes from South Africa and Ireland while Brunel University aims to host the