Youngsters battle it out for glory at West Yorkshire Youth Games
Published on: 29th June 2011
THE name of the game was victory for 1,000 sport-mad kids who gathered in Leeds for this year’s West Yorkshire Youth Games.
A total of 127 teams from 90 schools across the county took part in the largest-ever games organised by West Yorkshire Sport, the county sports partnership.
Ten sports were represented including athletics and tennis, with Wimbledon fever having gripped the nation for the past week-and-a-half.
Youngsters also locked horns in competitions in cricket, tag rugby, badminton, new-age kurling, netball, cheerleading and boccia – a sport closed related to bowls and petanque – with the game staged at two venues in the city.
The majority of the sports took place at Leeds Metropilitian University’s Carnegie Headingley campus, with the Kwik Cricket competition held at the University of Leeds’ Weetwood campus.
The games were opened by Hannah Cockroft, 4-time world record holder and member of the 2012 GB Paralympic squad, and on hand to encourage the athletes through the event was former Bradford Bulls and Huddersfield Giants captain and one-time New Zealand international rugby league player Robbie Hunter-Paul.
Nigel Harrison, Director of West Yorkshire Sport, said: “These games are the sporting highlight for hundreds of young athletes across the five districts and are often the first time many of them will taste the excitement of a major event.”
The games, organised as part of the Lloyds TSB National School Sport Week, were sponsored by Leeds Trinity University College in Horsforth.
Next year, the games will continue as part of the national schools games framework, an Olympic legacy programme.
Leon Wobschall - Published on Thursday 30 June 2011 - Reproduced from Yorkshire Evening Post
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/west_yorkshire_youth_games_youngsters_battle_it_out_for_glory_1_3527695
