Sporting extravaganza set to dazzle in Exeter

A loud, colourful Rio themed parade will kick off the Devon School Games which are coming to Exeter for the first time in their four year history this Wednesday 29th June.

The Devon Summer School Games will take place across 3 sites: Exeter Arena will host the RIO themed opening ceremony with St Luke’s Science and Sports College hosting all the Inclusion Sports and the Exeter Saracens pitches providing the location for a variety of sporting competition.

The School Games, which are the County Finals and mark the exciting culmination of months of inter-school competitions, showcasing the best sporting talent in the County. With four School Games Competitions throughout the year, Active Devon lead a team of local organisers who work hard to keep the competitions and themes fresh, innovative and relevant.

Four years ago almost to the day, the legacy of the 2012 London Olympics gave birth to the School Games and now, in 2016, well over 1100 young people will be competing in eight sporting disciplines including athletics, Grass track cycling, golf tennis, rounders and Tag rugby during this exciting Olympic and Paralympic Year.

An additional 500 local primary school children from Exeter will light up the opening ceremony as they join in the procession around the Exeter Arena track. They have been working hard for weeks on making flags, costumes, banners and other colourful items for parade which is set to be truly spectacular. Pupils from Woodlands park primary school in Ivybridge have been invited along to build the momentum and atmosphere of the approaching competition with steel drums, taiko drums and a variety of other instruments.

Throughout the day there will also be a range of inclusive sports competitions such as inclusive Mini Red tennis, football and T ball (a form of rounders). All children attending on the day will get the chance to try out a variety of taster activities, including the Exeter Chiefs and Exeter City FC Inflatable pitches, Wheelchair rugby, Taiko Drumming, Volleyball, Inflatable golf net, Table tennis and Boccia.

The day kicks off at 09.45 with the opening ceremony, which will involve around 80 schools from right across Devon.

Each year the Games invites some prominent national sporting champion along to inspire and motivate the young competitors to do their best, show good sportsmanship and make their schools proud. For these Games the sporting champions are Heather Fell who is an Olympic Silver medallist in Modern Pentathlon(fencing, swimming, horse riding, shooting and running – with all the events taking place on the same day) and Keryn Seal - England Blind Footballer who is one of the country’s most capped blind footballers, with 80 caps for England and Great Britain who has competed in 2 Paralympic Games.

During the day the sporting champions will be guided around by young leaders from the St Luke’s School Sports Partnership  Leadership Academy who have also been tasked not only with assisting Heather and Keryn during the event, but also with giving local dignitaries a tour around the activities and getting stuck into the competition by leading some of the activities. All those who join the Leadership Academy have been involved in the Games as young volunteers before so have wisdom, experience and personal stories to bring to the event.

Lisa Alford, Active Devon’s School Games development coordinator said “I’ve been involved in organising the School Games for one year and I have never felt this level of excitement. Rio fever is in the air and this is a golden chance not only for Devon’s young sporting stars to compete in a range of very varied sports but also for our 150  or so young leaders to shine as Games Makers, helping to run the event that we are all so proud of”.

Backed by National Lottery funding from Sport England, the Games have inclusiveness at their heart and are a successful means for young people to take part in sport across the school year. There are four levels of competition; school, local, regional and finally national level.

More information about the School Games is available on Active Devon's website www.activedevon.org