October 11, 2010 2.59 pm This story is over 160 months old

Lincoln schools hold 2012 Olympic games

Sports day: Lincoln schools will test out a scheme to bring Olympic style competitive sports to all UK schools.

Lincoln has been named as one of the locations that will host Olympic-style school competitions as part of a scheme for the 2012 Games.

Lincolnshire is the only county in the East Midlands to have got into the pilot scheme by the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport Jeremy Hunt.

In the next few months, schools will partake in sports such as badminton, volleyball and rugby, with different sports added in January 2011.

The scheme aims to give children a range of competitive sports that boost their ambition and confidence, helping them once they leave school.

After the scheme has been tested in chosen areas, all sporting activities will be rolled out across the country by summer 2012, if successful.

The scheme will continue to run even after the 2012 Olympics too.

Other places in Lincolnshire that will pilot the scheme are Grantham and the Wolds Region in south Lincolnshire.

Senior Competition Manager for Lincolnshire Tom Mapp helped get Lincolnshire into the pilot scheme.

He said: “To be part of a pilot project leading up to biggest sporting event this county has ever seen is something to be proud of.

“The theory behind the project is to get more children involved in competitive sport more often throughout the academic year.

“We are introducing structured leagues that will enable children to compete against other schools in league structures across a number of different sports.

“This is Lincolnshire’s chance to really show what it can in the development of sport across the sporting landscape”

Secretary of State Jeremy Hunt said in a recent speech that it will be an Olympic legacy: “The success of this project will not be a Schools Olympics in 2012.

“It will be a Schools Olympics in 2013, 2014 and 2015. A lasting Olympic legacy. A lasting increase in the number of children playing competitive sport. And a lasting boost to values that will help every child make the most of his or her life.”

Source, Photo: Lincolnshire Sports Partnership