London 2012 Olympics: School Games Competition Launched To Rival US System

Games Competition Launched To 'Rival US Spirit'

Up to 12,000 schools will take part in a new school games competition which the government hopes will replicate the US system of bolstering competitive sport in schools.

The three levels of competition range from class versus class, school versus school and then county or city-wide sports festivals.

These lead up to the finals at the Olympic Park from May 6-9. So far 24,000 out of 30,000 tickets to the finals have been sold since going on sale on 25 January.

The winners will get a pair of tickets to either the 2012 Olympics or Paralympics from a government allocation.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "The more ways that a sport is played the more chance you have of motivating and encouraging people to play more of it.

"If you look at the US system, the inter-school and the inter-university competition is a major driver of the excitement and enthusiasm."

Baroness Campbell, chair of the Youth Sport Trust in charge of delivering the competition, said: "At high school level [in the US] it is driven by this competitive inter-school framework. It draws the parents in a way that we have not done as much as we could.

"We believe this will be the first time we have a chance to put in place a true Paralympic pathway for young people with disability.

"It is a massive step.

"The most successful school sport structure in the world in terms of talent development is the American system. What drives the system is the competition framework.

"If we can get some consistency in the competition framework around the country I hope we can transform the future for many young people - both with disability and not."

She hopes it may also counter the drop-off parental support.

Campbell added: "I think this is as good a shot as we can get at it.

"The 450 School Games organisers who are on the ground are very excited.

"We want to move the competitive structure forward but we also want to be incredibly sensitive to this not becoming a system which only provides for a small minority of competitive youngsters.

"This is the criticism of the American system - that it crushes it very quickly and you are either in the team or you can forget it.

"We think we can drive something very special here, particularly around disability."

Funding for the Sainsbury's sponsored School Games includes a £10 million funding package from the supermarket giant and more than £152 million of Lottery and Government investment.

More than 100,000 children across England will take part in competitions including 31 current and future Olympic and Paralympic sports.

Around 1,600 elite youngsters nationwide will compete in the finals in 12 of the sports. These will be held in 2012 venues including the stadium, aquatics centre, velodrome and ExCel.

Organisers are also hoping to build stronger links between schools and clubs to help youngsters continue to take part after they have left school.

Plans are still being finalised for the closing ceremony which will be a "grand finale" attended by up to 8,000 people, at the basketball arena on May 9, according to Hunt.

The aim is to create a uniform competition structure that would allow governing bodies to do better talent identification and link more effectively in to talent squads.

The number of schools taking part in the project, plus surveys about the number of people who have a lifetime habit of playing sport will be used in the future to help measure the success of the School Games.

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