The fifth edition of the Youth Sport Trust’s Sainsbury’s UK School Games, which were inaugurated in 2006 in Glasgow, begins today in the North East at venues across Gateshead, Newcastle and Sunderland with the Opening Ceremony at the Gateshead International Stadium.

More than 1,600 elite school aged athletes are set to compete across ten sports with an athletes’ village, doping control and elite athlete role models helping to replicate the atmosphere of a major multi-sport event.

However, the competition is only set to run until 2012 in its original format before it is restructured as part of the new Olympic and Paralympic-style schools sports competition announced by Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Education Secretary Michael Grove in May.

The Government claims that the new schools competition will be a better alternative to the UK School Games, which is only open to the most talented youngsters, because it will provide an opportunity for every single child going through the school system in England to play competitive sport.

Grainger, who today attended a launch for the Sainsbury’s UK School Games in Performance Square at The Sage Gateshead alongside Olympic gold medallist Darren Campbell and Sainsbury’s Zone Managing Director Dean Clegg, admitted he believes the new schools sports competition will be a success as long as if it builds correctly on the successful foundations laid by the UK School Games.



Grainger told insidethegames: "The new Government’s announcement has left us working very closely with them to try and make sure that we can properly integrate the UK School Games into the School Olympics so that they can build on their success.

"The UK School Games has got a committed life up to 2012 so we see the recent announcement as a fantastic opportunity to build on the great work of the event and hopefully improve it yet further beyond 2012."

Grainger added that having a sporting competition at regional level feeding into a national competition, as planned in the new Olympic schools event, is potentially a fantastic move and will offer a real legacy from London 2012.

He said: "Our job here is to make sure that these youngsters at the UK School Games get the best possible experience in order that they will hopefully continue participating in sport and ultimately perform at the highest level.

"There is a huge amount of work going on at local level too but I think the concept of something at a county or regional level that can bridge the two will give more kids the opportunity compete at the top level so that’s got to be a good thing."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
August 2010: Exclusive - Talks on British School Olympics title opened with IOC
July 2010: Emms backs School Olympics to be success
July 2010: Hugh Robertson - The new school sports competition is a revolution
June 2010: New schools competition will drive revolution from bottom upwards claims Sports Minister
June 2010: Government to officially launch Dame Kelly Holmes plan for School Olympics