Athletes enjoy success at School Games Paralympic Festival 2023

Posted: Wed, 3 May 2023 09:00

On Thursday 20th April, the School Games Paralympic Festival was back!

We welcomed over 300 young athletes from over 35 schools across Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland (LLR) to Loughborough University to take part in a day of activity. Delivered by Active Together in partnership with our School Sport & Physical Activity Networks (SSPANs), the School Games Paralympic Festival was a multi-sport inclusive event, tailored specifically to be appropriate to a range of students from special and mainstream schools across the school sport network.

Athletes qualified from the 10 district areas across LLR to compete against one another in the County Finals of Sportshall Athletics, Boccia and New Age Kurling.

The non-competitive Activity Carousel returned for it's second rendition, and included wheelchair and inclusive sports, judo and archery as it's activities. There was also a Motor Activity Training Programme opportunity on the day for young people with more complex needs to take part in and experience activities that aim to develop their motor and cognitive skills and abilities.

An Awards Ceremony took place for each Sportshall Athletics, Boccia and New Age Kurling County Final, and the winners, runners up and third place were announced as well as a 'Spirit of the Games' winner, for the Team best representing the School Games values of Determination, Honesty, Passion, Respect, Self-Belief and Teamwork.

The event showcased the value of disability sport and provided an exciting and inspiring atmosphere for disabled young people to enjoy and excel within sport. We also had BBC Radio Leicester at the festival interview young people and Active Together staff on the day.

Matt Hackfath, a Sports Development Officer at Active Together, has gone on to say:

"The day was a great success. It was fantastic to bring together so many young people from across the County to take part in a variety of competitive County Finals. Importantly, we also had a large number of participants whp were able to have a go at a variety of different non-competitive activities. This aligns with our vision of inspiring yougn people across Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland to become physically active"

A huge thank you to Lutterworth High, Stamford College, Beaumont Leys School and Forest Way for providing Young Leaders for the Sportshall Athletics, Activity Carousel, Boccia and New Age Kurling events. They were all fantastic and did an amazing job with and supporting the athletes.

We also had Team Leicestershire Talent Ambassador Ben Higgins and England Celebral Palsy Development Squad footballer Freddie Lamb in attendance, who spoke to the athletes and took part in the award ceremonies. Please find the results below.

The School Games action doesn't stop there, as Loughborough University will also host the School Games Summer Festival on Thursday 29th June 2023 where we will also announce our winning School Games Partnership!

Results

KS2 Parallel Sportshall Athletics