Black Country School Games Summer Festival – It’s back

This summer, over 1,500 aspiring young athletes from over 80 Black Country schools will be going head-to-head in 10 events at an Olympic-style competition on Friday 29th June at the University of Wolverhampton, Walsall Campus.

The Black Country School Games Summer Festival showcases the energy and passion young people have for sport, leadership and competition. The Festival is the culmination of a 6-month programme and includes 10 sports, an opening and closing ceremony and a variety of events, for which young people have been at the heart of its planning and delivery.  The Festival will feature over 1500 young people for which 200 will be the workforce organising and delivering the Festival.

The pupils are from all across the Black Country, and will represent their schools and local authorities, whilst competing in Sportshall Athletics, Multi Skills, Rounders, Rugby, Cricket, Dodgeball, Tri Golf, Multi Skills SEND, MLD Football and Duathlon. Schools have been competing over the academic year to win their local competitions and qualify through to this event, with the hope of being crowned Black Country champions and winning the ‘Joel Richards Black Country Schools Games Festival Cup’.

The day will kick off with an Olympic inspired opening ceremony, hosted by Julian Jones from Heart FM, along with a gymnastics performance from pupils at Wodensfield Primary School in Wolverhampton and a dance showcase from students at The Phoenix Collegiate, West Bromwich.  All participants during the day will be able to completely experience the event with a chance to visit all the additional activities taking place such as an inflatable golf activity with Penn Golf Club, activities from Albion Foundation, Walsall FC Community Programme, West Midlands Judo, a graffiti wall and media station hosted by Kick FM, England Boxing, Change4Life and much more.

Local Organising Committee Chair Steve Lanckham said: “The Black Country School Games is a fixture in our schools annual sporting calendar and all our pupils look forward to the culmination of a year of competition in school. It showcases the energy and passion young people have for sport, leadership and competition, with this year’s event promising to be the biggest and best yet, with over 1,500 competitors from schools across the length and breadth of the Black Country. As Chair of the LOC I am delighted to be involved in this year’s games and wish everyone the best of luck”.

We are delighted that young people from the Black Country Young Coach Academy will also be supporting the event and will be taking VIPs on guided tours of the sports competitions and talking to our guests about their Young Coach Academy experiences.

Ian Carey, Active Black Country Director said: “We are privileged once again to be able to use the fantastic facilities at the University of Wolverhampton and I would like to thank our hosts for their support for these games.  The School Games festival showcases the best of school sport in the Black Country and these events are about inspiring young people of all abilities to achieve their potential, and I would like to wish every competitor the very best of luck.”

The School Games Summer Festival 2018 is organised by a Local Organising Committee in conjunction with Active Black Country with funding from Sport England through National Lottery.

To find out more about the annual Black Country School Games visit https://www.activeblackcountry.co.uk/i-am-a-school/school-games/

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Active Black Country is one of 43 County Sports Partnerships (CSPs) in England working to provide opportunities for people to participate in sport and physical activity across the Black Country.

Active Black Country aims to: “Make it easier for individuals and communities to be physically active.  To be safe, secure, healthy and passionate about sport”.

For more information visit http://www.activeblackcountry.co.uk/ or follow us on twitter @BCBeActive and use the hashtag #bcschoolgames