On Friday 5th of February I went on a Primary Link Teacher's day, as the Young Ambassador for sports in Hertford and Ware, to visit the sites soon to become the venues for the 2012 Olympics. We started the day at the White Water Canoe Centre, soon to be in the site of the Olympic canoe slalom competition, although at present only a muddy field, you could really grasp the scale of the site, we could see the start point of the course and although only in total a five metre drop this was still an impressive site to see the paths outline twisting and turning down the slope. We walked along the edge and you could almost imagine the crowds, the athletes racing down, the site was a hive of activity and there was a sense of real sense of excitement about the place.
Next we travelled to the Lee Valley Athletics Centre, this building is already completed and already in use as a training site for athletes and also for national and regional competitions. I felt a sense of excitement at the fact I was watching people who would be competing for their country train in such an intimate place. We were shown the Olympic record for high jump here, I was amazed at how high it was something you could only grasp when compared to your height, suddenly the hard work and the talent these athletes had and put into their sports seemed so much more impressive and worth celebrating.
The last stop on the agenda was the by far the highlight for me. We travelled to
Rachael Bygate
H&WSSP: PRIMARY SPORTS AMBASSADORS
Following on from the introduction of the Young Ambassador Programme set up by the Youth Sport Trust in response to
The SSAs have come up with the idea of Primary Sports Ambassadors (PSA) - two per primary school, one yr 6 and one yr 5, preferably one boy and one girl. The yr 5 pupil would then stay 'in post' in yr 6 and a new yr 5 PSA would be appointed for 2010/11.
The role of the PSA is to bring the inspiration and magic of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to other young people in their school. They are to be your best young people - advocates, role models and natural leaders of other young people. PSAs will be supported by the relevant Secondary SSAs and will receive a T-shirt.
For this year we would expect their main functions to be:
I hope you will all agree that this is a valuable step forward in engaging our youngsters with the rapidly approaching London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.