Wednesday 29th June 2011
Paralympic bronze medallist Ade Adepitan London 2012 and Paralympic Mascot Mandeville joined 700 school children from 12 Sheffield schools today as they tried out a range of Olympic and Paralympic sports at the English Institute of Sport (EIS) for Lloyds TSB National School Sport Week.With world heptathlon champion and favourite for London 2012 gold Jessica Ennis also busy training at EIS at the same time, Ade commented: “It was fantastic to see the kids enjoying themselves and trying something new. Seeing those guys who are the future stars, alongside Jess Ennis a current star, and then me a former star, means the future, past and present have all been covered, which was great.”
A little further north at Leeds Met University, over 1000 young people were taking part in sports ranging from athletics to cheerleading as part of the West Yorkshire Youth Games. The areas of Kirklees, Leeds, Bradford, Calderdale and Wakefield were represented, with the secondary school children kicking things off in style with an opening ceremony. Rugby league legend Robbie Hunter-Paul was on hand to answer questions and the former New Zealand star admitted he was itching to get involved.
“The whole thing is fantastic and it is such a good experience for all the kids here and as soon as you see the excitement on their faces it takes you back to your school days,” he said.