YOUNGSTERS TO LEARN VITAL LESSONS AT SCHOOL GAMES
More than 200 of the country's most promising young swimmers
are aiming for success when they take part in the inaugural
UK School Games in Glasgow this weekend.
The Games, which see the UK's top youngsters compete for
honours in swimming, athletics, gymnastics, table tennis and
fencing, open this evening with swimming topping the programme
on Saturday at Tollcross Pool.
Athletes have been selected from eight regions across England,
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and swimming is one of
only two sports to include disability events in the programme.
For many of the young swimmers, aged 16 and under, the UK
School Games will give them their first taste of a multi-sport
competition, while for others, it will be a chance to build
on experience already gained at major championships this year.
One such swimmer is Bexley's Xavier Mohammad who has just
returned from silver medal success at the World Youth Games
in Rio. Mohammad has a packed programme on Saturday and swims
for the South West in the 100m Backstroke, 400m IM, Freestyle
and Medley relays.
Ellen Gandy, who won five gold medals at the European Youth
Olympics in 2005, is another of Britain's rising stars and
will represent the South East at the Games this weekend. The
Beckenham swimmer has a busy day of action ahead of her and
will compete in the 200m and 400m Freestyle events as well
as the Freestyle and Medley relays.
"This is the first time I have competed for my region,
so I'm really looking forward to the Games," she said.
"To have a competition like the UK School Games is a
really great idea. I've competed at the European Youth Olympics,
which is a multi-sport competition, so I'm really looking
forward to mixing with people from the other sports and competing
against swimmers from the other regions.
"I've had a couple of weeks off in August, but everyone
else has too, so we'll all be in the same boat, but I'm just
going to go there and give it my best."
Eleven-year-old Eleanor Simmonds of Boldmere is the youngest
swimmer competing in Glasgow and will use the event to prepare
for the IPC World Swimming Championships in Durban this December.
The UK School Games are organised in conjunction with the
Youth Sports Trust and will run every year until 2011. The
aim of the Games is to give some of the country's top young
athletes a taste of a major Games environment, incorporating
opening and closing ceremonies and an athletes' village, to
prepare them for international competition and ultimately,
the Olympics.
Richard Caborn MP, Chair of the Millennium Commission and
Minister for Sport at Westminster, said:
"The UK School Games is a significant step forward in
the evolution of competitive school sport, and it will be
a showcase for our future Olympic and Paralympic Champions.
"Over a thousand young people will come and compete
and feel the excitement of being part of a major sporting
event. This experience will hopefully inspire many to go on
to further greatness on the world stage - and in London in
2012. I want to thank all the competitors, organisers and
volunteers for helping make this, what I'm sure will be a
truly successful event and a solid foundation to build on
for future years."
The four teams swimming for England at the UK School
Games are as follows:
England - Midlands
Sophie Allen (Grantham)
Rebecca Harrison (Belper)
Anna Hodt (Stourbridge)
Rachel Lefley (Gainsborough)
Jodie Le Resche (Solihull)
Louise Sanders (Leigh)
Olivia Sefton (Sandiacre)
Eleanor Simmonds (Aldridge)
Emma Smithhurst (Ripley)
Natasha Turner (Shifnal)
Tara Walsh (High Peak)
Emma White (Stratford)
Matthew Cope (Walsall)
James Doolan (Salford)
Paul Ellard (Urmston)
Oliver Froud (Derby)
Gareth Keating (Lutterworth)
Adam Mallet (Market Deeping)
Daniel Mills (Mansfield)
Rikki Morris (Nuneaton)
Daniel Sliwinski (Preston)
Russell Smith (High Peak)
Richard Tullett (Coleshill)
England - North
Charlotte Broadbent (Sheffield)
Jenny Starling (Sheffield)
Rachel Jack (Leeds)
Lucy Worrall (Chester)
Katherine Venters (Kirklees)
Aimee Wilmott (Middlesborough)
Amy Spencer (Sheffield)
Ashleigh Forster (Stockton)
Rachel Haigh (Newcastle)
Rebecca Turner (Sheffield)
Olivia Rawlinson (Isle of Man)
Ryan Bennett (Bolton)
Robert Bale (Carnforth)
Paul Morran (Leeds)
James Radcliffe (Gattica)
James Cowburn (Winsford)
Nicholas Tawn (Carnforth)
Peter Thompson (Middlesborough)
Matthew Allison (Stockton)
Valentin Kokerin (Newcastle)
Richard Butler (Kingston-Upon-Hull)
England - South East
Alexandra Adams (Maidstone)
Katie Ambridge (Croxley Green)
Hannah Askew (Tring)
Gemma Bannister (Camberley)
Sarah Bowling (Kings Lynn)
Petra Chomicz (Kings Lynn)
Jo-Jo Cranfield (Westcliffe-on-Sea)
Ellen Gandy (Beckenham)
Chloe Hart (New Eltham)
Hannah Jemielity (Flackwell Heath)
Hannah John (Cardiff)
Liesje Van Der Velde (Sevenoaks)
Louise Watkin (Redhill)
Matthew Corbett (Banbury)
Owen Coughlan (Southend-on-Sea)
Alistair Davis (Cranleigh)
Christopher Ferguson (Newbury)
William Holland-Levin (Peterborough)
Jay Lynch (Canvey Island)
Dominic Kwok (Esher)
Thomas Norgate (Slough)
Roberto Pavoni (Brentwood)
Jonathan Quinn (Potters Bar)
Alexander Rust (Welwyn)
Mark Stevens (Woodbridge)
Chris Walker-Hebborn (Bury St Edmunds)
England - South West
Sophie Collier (Plymouth)
Rebecca Cottrell (Dorchester)
Bryony Dunne (Millfield)
Louisa Farrer-Fisher (Stretham)
Rebecca Heavyside (Millfield)
Erin Jeffrey (Bristol)
Lydia McManus (Swanage)
Sophie Nash (Southampton)
Sarah Owen (Portsmouth)
Emily Pollard (Bristol)
Sophie Shaw (Millfield)
Kathryn Willis (Yateley)
Stephen Beckerleg (Plymouth)
Thomas Brown (London)
Jonathan Fox (St Austell)
Adam Harrington (Crawley)
Matt Henry (Okehampton)
Robert Holderness (Millfield)
James Houston (Millfield)
Thomas Howe (Bideford)
Anthony James (Plymouth)
Louis McBride (Gosport)
Xavier Mohammad (London)
Jeremy Osbourne (Guernsey)
Thomas Parris (Bexhill-on-Sea)
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