Outstanding engagement success for Nottinghamshire

The team behind Nottinghamshire’s successful county-wide School Games has won the Sport England Award for Sainsbury’s School Games Outstanding Engagement in Competition.

In front of a sporting stars and honoured guests, Sport England’s Mike Diaper, Director of Community Sport, presented the Nottinghamshire Local Organising Committee with the award at a ceremony on Tuesday 16 October at the School Sport Conference.

The committee which involves a number of Nottinghamshire head teachers, sports governing bodies and young people, received the award in recognition of their excellent partnership working. They staged a hugely successful School Games Festival for hundreds of young people across a wide variety of sports as part of The National School Games Festivals which motivates and inspires millions of young people to take part in more competitive school sport. They were also commended for involving young people in the planning, managing and organising of the School Games Festival as well as their excellent work to build connections into community sport for young sports people and volunteers.

On stage with Mike to present the prestigious award and a £1,000 voucher for Youth Sport Direct were John Steele, Chief Executive at the Youth Sport Trust, and Young Ambassador Tracey Lamb (pictured). Mike said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the achievements of the dedicated members of the Nottinghamshire Local Organising Committee. Not only did they create an inspirational festival of sport for hundreds of young people but they have also led the way in putting young people at the heart of planning and delivering the event. Congratulations to everyone involved.”

School Games Festivals will be held across the country throughout 2013 culminating in the Sainsbury’s 2013 School Games finals which is being supported by £2 million of Sport England National Lottery funding. The competition, to be staged in Sheffield, will see over 1,500 disabled and non-disabled school children competing in 12 sports across four days in September.

The School Sport Conference, which is organised by the Youth Sport Trust, was called Inspiring the Next Generation. It was attended by Olympic rowing gold medallist, Alex Gregory, Paralympic silver medallist archer, Mel Clarke and GB hockey bronze medallist, Alex Danson as well as county sports partnerships, sports governing bodies and School Games organisers.

The conference included workshops, seminars and networking opportunities that allowed schools to share ideas on how sport can be used right across the curriculum to improve attainment and achievement.