International sports stars and professional clubs come together to support the first School Games Virtual Summer Championships

Across the county school sports days have been cancelled, after-school sports clubs put on hold and a summer of professional sport has been postponed.

But we at Leicester-Shire and Rutland Sport won't let this be a summer of forgotten sport for our young people. Therefore we are hosting our first School Games Virtual Summer Championships and we want you to get involved.

Our virtual event will give even more young people the opportunity to participate and represent their school in this interactive county-wide competition, as the challenges will be open to all and accessible whether they are taking part individually at home, or are now back in a school environment.

This first ever Leicester-Shire and Rutland School Games Virtual Summer Championships is being supported by a range of professional sports teams and sports personalities from across our county and beyond. Leicester City star and England international James Maddison has pledged his support for the event along with a host of talented sports stars and Team GB Olympians & Paralympians, including those that should have been heading out to Tokyo themselves this summer. They are recording messages of support and taking part in the challenges to motivate and challenge the young people taking part in our event. These videos will be used to not only explain the challenges but give young people a chance to engage with and try to beat the professional.

Supporting Clubs & Athletes:

Clubs:

Leicester City Football Club – James Maddison (Leicester City FC and England international)

Leicester Tigers – Team members

Leicester Tigers Wheelchair Rugby Team - Team GB, Leicester Tigers Wheel Chair players

Leicester Riders – Team members

Leicestershire County Cricket Club – Team members

Athletes:

Sam Ruddock – GB Paralympian (London 2012 - 200m sprint, Rio 2016 - Shot putt, Tokyo 2020/21 – Cycling)

Kathryn Fudge – GB Olympian (London 2012)– GB Handball team

Sarah Evans – GB (2018 Commonwealth Games) – Bronze (Tokyo 2020/21 – Hockey)

Giles Moore – GB Paralympian – (Rio 2016) – Football - England/GB Paralympic GK

Jack Rutter – GB Paralympian (Rio 2016) – Football - England & GB Paralympic captain

LRS Go Gold Ambassadors:

Lizzi Rigley – England/GB women's cycle speedway vice captain

Maisie Elliott – 100 & 200 metre swimmer

Starting on Monday 22nd June (the start of National School Sport Week) and running throughout the week, young people will be able to take part in our challenges and upload their scores at any time during the week. Friday 26th June will be the culmination of the week. We will be hosting on the 26^th June an Opening Ceremony, interactive Daily Boost warm-up and distributing the results & awards as well as providing regular coverage via LRS social media platforms all week long. There will be awards for Individuals, Schools & SSPANs. These awards will celebrate both the engagement of children, as well as performance, and will also highlight the School Games Values.

Rob Paternostro Head Coach of the champion Leicester Riders said "We at the Riders are delighted to support this initiative to find virtual champions. Maintaining an active lifestyle in these challenging times is more important than ever, and we look forward to helping promote a very successful games."

Scott Clarke, Head of Community & Global Partnerships Leicester Tigers says, "It's been a tough spring and summer for all sporting activity and we have ourselves cancelled many festivals and events that were planned to get the Leicester and Leicestershire young people moving and enjoying fun and physically active games. It's great to see the continued work of our partners at Leicestershire and Rutland Sport in keeping opportunity, competition and participation in sport at the forefront of our daily routine and we are delighted to support the School Games Virtual Summer Championships. Good luck to all who take part and compete."

Mark Barber, Head of Community Development, Leicestershire County Cricket Club says, "We at Leicestershire County Cricket Club are delighted to be able to support first ever Leicester-Shire and Rutland School Games Virtual Summer Championships. Ordinarily we would be gearing to support the huge spectacle that we have become so familiar with by delivering the Kwik Cricket competition on the day and it is a real shame that we are not able to do that this summer. We will of course be supporting the virtual games through our digital media, particularly with the week also coinciding with National Cricket Week too. We're really excited to supporting all of the cricket activity taking place during the week."

Paralympian and LRS Ambassador, Sam Ruddock (London 2012 - 200m sprint, Rio 2016 - Shot putt) who will be heading for his third Paralympics competition in Tokyo said, "We're really upset that we at LRS can't deliver the magical School Games that we normally do at this time of year. The format may have changed, but the fun is going to stay the same. Good luck with everything you try your hand to, stay safe, stay cool and have fun!"

Amanda Dent, Bringhurst Primary School PE/School Sport Lead says, "I have used google classroom to promote this fantastic opportunity. I am lucky to have a lot of sporty children who have done really well this year with sports events until Covid19. I find my competitive streak rubs off on my pupils so we are very excited this competition has come up."

LRS Sports Development Officer, Liam Drake who runs the County-wide school sport offer has said, "The last few weeks and months have been a really challenging time for everyone and with very few children being in school and not really allowed to play sport, we have had to think completely differently about how we deliver our County School Sport competitions, both in the short term and potentially moving forward into the future. This has meant looking at more individual and personal best type challenges and activities that can be completed with social distancing in mind.

The School Games Summer Championships is a huge flagship event for us each year and there was no way we wanted to just let the date pass by without giving young people the opportunity to represent their school and district – for some of them, it might be the last opportunity they get before they move on to a new school. The week of our event is the annual National School Sport Week, so it was imperative that we gave schools and young people something to look forward to with the opportunity to take part and compete prior to the end of the academic year.

In a strange way, the whole situation might actually have the positive impact as those young people who might never represented their school at sport previously, can now do so. We are really looking forward to delivering the Virtual Summer Championships and whilst it will be different to last year, we really hope to get lots of schools and young people involved."

Further information:

How to take part: Simply choose ONE of the HiFIVE challenges from the resource for each of the 4 sports categories*, record and submit your score on our website upload your photos and videos to social media.

*There are also adapted challenges available for those participants who require it.