The School Games (formerly known as UK School Games) is an annual sporting competition for elite school-age[ clarification needed ] athletes in the United Kingdom that began in 2006.
The event was based on an Olympic Games model, with multiple sports events held across an intensive four-day period. The Games were organised by the Youth Sport Trust, sponsored by Sainsbury's, and from 2008 received funding from Legacy Trust UK, a charitable trust set up to ensure that the 2012 Summer Olympics generate a lasting legacy across the UK.
In 2011, 1,600 elite school-aged athletes participated in the event across twelve sports: athletics, badminton, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, hockey, judo, rugby sevens, swimming, table tennis, volleyball, and wheelchair basketball.
Following the 2011 UK School Games, the event changed its name to the School Games. [1]
The structure of the event also changed from previous years. The UK School Games was an annual event for the most talented school-age[ clarification needed ] athletes, whereas the new School Games is a year-round, inclusive sports competition that’s designed to get young people of all ages[ clarification needed ] and abilities enjoying the benefits of competitive sport. There is a new pyramid structure in place and school-aged pupils will compete at four levels:
The number of sports involved in the games will also increase to around 30.
The 2012 School Games started in September 2011 and culminated in the national event being held in May 2012 in London. The four-day national event took place across a range of sporting venues around London, with the final day of action set in the Olympic Park in Stratford using some key Olympic 2012 venues, including the main stadium.
Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross-country running, and racewalking.
The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, was an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August 2002. The event was to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coincide with the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II, head of the Commonwealth, and Manchester was selected for the 2002 Games ahead of London using a recycled part of the project, which lost the 2000 Summer Olympics and Paralympics to Sydney, Australia. The 2002 Commonwealth Games was, prior to the 2012 Summer Olympics, the largest multi-sport event ever to be held in the UK, eclipsing the London 1948 Summer Olympics in terms of teams and athletes participating. The 2002 Commonwealth Games had the largest number of events of any Commonwealth Games in history, featuring 281 events across 17 sports.
Loughborough University is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when Loughborough Technical Institute began with a focus on skills directly applicable in the wider world. In March 2013, the university announced it had bought the former broadcast centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as a second campus. The annual income of the institution for 2021–22 was £328 million of which £39.2 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £379.4 million.
Ponds Forge International Sports Centre is a leisure complex in Sheffield, England, that contains an Olympic-sized swimming pool with seating for 2,600 spectators, family and children's pools, water slides and other sports facilities.
Sport in the United Kingdom plays an important role in British culture and the United Kingdom has played a significant role in the organisation and spread of sporting culture globally. In the infancy of many organised sports, the Home Nations, England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland were heavily involved in setting out the formal rules of many sports, and formed among the earliest separate governing bodies, national teams and domestic league competitions. After 1922, some sports formed separate bodies for Northern Ireland, though many continued to be organised on an all-Ireland basis. For this reason, in many though not all sports, most domestic and international sport is carried on a Home Nations basis, and England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland are recognised as national entities.
London 2012 was the successful bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, held in London with most events taking place in Stratford in the borough of Newham. The British Olympic Association had been working on the bid since 1997, and presented its report to government ministers in December 2000.
The English Institute of Sport is a multi-sport facility in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The facility designed by FaulknerBrowns Architects was opened in December 2003 at a cost of £24 million. Its main feature is a 200m indoor track, but it also hosts several other sporting arenas as well as a large gym and extensive sports medicine facilities. It is in the Lower Don Valley between the Sheffield Arena and Don Valley Bowl. It is managed by SIV.
Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill is a retired British track and field athlete from England, specialising in the heptathlon and 100 metres hurdles. As a competitor in heptathlon, she is the 2012 Olympic champion, a three-time world champion, and the 2010 European champion. She is also the 2010 World Indoor pentathlon champion. A member of the City of Sheffield & Dearne athletic club, she is a former British national record holder for the heptathlon. She is also a former British record holder in the 100 metres hurdles, the high jump and the indoor pentathlon.
The 1991 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XVI Summer Universiade and generally referred to as the World Student Games, were held in Sheffield, England from 14 to 25 July 1991. The Games were the largest sporting event to be hosted in the United Kingdom since the 1948 Summer Olympics.
Legacy Trust UK was a charitable trust in the United Kingdom, established in 2007 (incorporated 29 November 2006 to support a range of cultural and sporting activities in connection with the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, with the aim of creating a lasting cultural and sporting legacy from the Games in communities across the UK.
Sport in England plays a prominent role in English society. Popular teams sports in England include field hockey, cricket, rugby union, rugby league, and netball. Major individual sports include badminton, athletics, tennis, boxing, golf, cycling, motorsport, and horseracing. Cricket is regarded as the national summer sport. Association football is the most popular sport, followed by Cricket, Tennis and Rugby. A number of modern sports were codified in England during the nineteenth century, among them cricket, rugby union, rugby league, football, field hockey, bandy, squash, tennis, and badminton. The game of baseball was first described in 18th century England.
The London 2012 Olympic Legacy is the longer-term benefits and effects of the planning, funding, building and staging of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in summer 2012. It is variously described as:
Swiss Olympic is the National Olympic Committee and the umbrella organisation for organised Swiss sport under private law. It has 104 members, to which some two million people belong, practising sports in about 19,000 clubs. Swiss Olympic has its headquarters in the House of Sports in Ittigen near Bern. Swiss Olympic represents Olympic as well as non-Olympic sports and is a non-profit organisation. The big sports federations are divided into regional and cantonal associations. Former National Council member Jürg Stahl has been President since 2017. Roger Schnegg has been Director since January 2012.
William Raymond Tancred is a leading sports administrator, academic and former international athlete. He competed at the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics in the discus and won a bronze and silver medals in successive Commonwealth Games from 1970 to 1974. He was the British National discus champion on nine occasions [16] and held the British record for 25 years his personal best being 64.94m in 1974. He also competed in the shot put and remains one of the top ten British shot putters. Athleticsweekly.com has ranked Tancred as the greatest British discus thrower of all-time by virtue of his long reign as British record-holder and profusion of AAA titles. Bill Tancred was also the first UK athlete to break the 200 ft./61m. discus barrier in 1972 which was also a UK All-Comers record for the event (61.94m) [4]. Even today he could claim to being the best all round thrower ever in British Athletics.[15].
The London Youth Games is an annual multi-sport event held in London, England. The London Youth Games offer competitive opportunities for young people aged 7 to 18 across approximately 30 sports every year. The London Youth Games are contested between the 32 London boroughs and take place at venues across the capital nine months of the year.
The British Volleyball Federation (BVF) is the national sports governing for volleyball participation in the UK. It is a Home Nations federation of Volleyball England, Volleyball Wales, Scottish Volleyball and Northern Ireland Volleyball. It lobbies the UK government for funding to help elite volleyball athletes compete internationally.
College sports or college athletics encompasses non-professional, collegiate and university-level competitive sports and games.
The organisation of sport in Australia has been largely determined by its Federal system of government – Australian Government and six states and two territories governments and local governments. All three levels play an important role in terms of funding, policies and facilities. Each major sport is managed by a national sports organisation, with state counterparts that manage community sporting clubs. Umbrella or peak organisations represent the interests of sports organisations or particular sport issues. Education sector plays a small role through universities and schools. Private sector's involvement is extensive in professional sport through facilities, club ownership and finance/sponsorship.
Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre is a sports and leisure venue located in Leyton, London Borough of Waltham Forest, to the north of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. It is regularly used for international field hockey fixtures by both the Great Britain men's and women's field hockey teams. It hosted the 2018 Women's Hockey World Cup. Owned and managed by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, the site was previously known as Eton Manor and was a wheelchair tennis venue for the 2012 Summer Paralympics before being converted for public use and reopening in June 2014.
The National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine (NCSEM) is an Olympic legacy project delivering education, research and clinical services in sport, exercise and physical activity from three hubs across England. It is a collaboration of universities, healthcare trusts, local authorities and private and voluntary sector organisations.