This July Active Lincolnshire was thrilled to be able to run two, in person, School Games events for secondary school students.

In previous years, and prior to Covid, our School Games programme has culminated in a one day Summer Festival event which mostly involved primary students, and as such these two events included the highest number of secondary students we have ever had.

In total 15 schools took part in the two days with over 200 students taking part in inclusive activities including:

• Boxing/kick boxing – delivered by Suggys Gym
• Cricket – delivered by Lincolnshire Cricket
• Dance – delivered by Dance at The Hub
• Golf – delivered by The Golf Foundation
• Netball – delivered by England Netball
• Skipping – delivered by Dan the Skipping Man
• Wheelchair basketball – Active Lincolnshire Wheelchair Basketball programme
• Football – delivered by The Girls Football Partnership of Greater Lincolnshire

Year 7 School Games event

The 139 students who participated at the first event on the 2nd of July were year 7 students who were identified by their school to take part because they have struggled to settle into secondary school life following covid.

The day was a fantastic celebration of sport and activity, and it was the icing on the cake following a 6 week programme of physical activities that were delivered in the participating schools after consultation with the young people who took part. These students, who in many cases had few or no friends, then came together at Yarborough Leisure centre after the 6 weeks for a day of activities and fun. Throughout the course of the day confidence grew, the students communicated with each other and friendships were formed.

Feedback from the teachers at the year 7 event included:

‘Absolutely fantastic. We have involved students today who would not usually take part in events. They have gained confidence and communication. Lots of smiles and thumbs up.’

‘Fun, engagement and new friends’

‘Increased confidence, now chatting to each other and speaking to the coaches. Lots of smiles! Thanks so much for today, my students have loved it!’

‘Students were engaged, wide variety of activities. Coaches kept students interested. Excellent event, especially for specific students’.

It has improved their ability to work together, given them more confidence and focused activity for those who wouldn’t normally be involved’

Year 9/10 This Girl Can School Games event

Based on insight from the Active Lives Children and Young People survey that teenage girls are more likely than other groups to have lower levels of physical activity, our second School Games event was a This Girl Can event.

This was a stand-alone event that took place on the 7^th of July at Yaraborough Leisure centre and was run in partnership with the Girls Football Partnership of Greater Lincolnshire who provided 3 young leaders to help run the activities on the day.

It was a multi-sport, non-competitive event that was relaxed and had an emphasis on fun, inclusion and having the opportunity to try some new sports/activities. Any traditional sports were given the brief to deliver their activity in a way that fitted with the ethos of the event.

The 82 participants who were chosen by the schools to take part in the This Girl Can event were, for whatever reason, those who generally didn’t take part in physical activity or were less confident in their physical activity ability.

Feedback from the students included:

‘The Wheelchair Basketball and boxing were good, and the cheering on other people’

‘The wheelchair basketball and boxing was really good fun and I would like to it again. Also I liked the support given’

‘Thank you very much, we appreciate the day’

‘My favourite activity was the wheelchair basketball and the enthusiasm of the people’

‘I liked spending time doing different sports’

‘fun to do things I haven’t done before’

‘The variety of activities inclusive of all abilities’

Active Lincolnshire staff were overwhelmed to see the confidence and engagement of students grow throughout the day, with many students smiling, chatting and working together at the different activities. Events like these remind us all why sport and physical activity are important for all and of the powerful effect it has to bring people together, create new friendships and promote a healthy mind as well as a healthy body.