Flintshire Primary Schools Farewell At Indoor Athletics Final

Flintshire primary schools ruled the roost during the North East Wales Dragon Sport Indoor Athletics Final, held at Deeside College on Friday 30 January.
Flintshire had two representative schools in the final; Ewloe Green, who went on to win the large schools final and Ysgol Derwenfa, Leeswood who finished a respectable second place in the small schools final. 

Both schools had qualified from area festivals, before representing their areas in the Flintshire County Final for the right to compete against teams from Wrexham, Denbighshire, and North Powys at the North East Wales Finals.  According to Sportshall Athletics, North East Wales is the only area in Wales to host this type of event, which requires schools to qualify through county rounds.

Active Young People Officer, Ceri Shakespeare said, "The Dragon Sport Indoor Athletics Final this year in Flintshire has been fantastic.  From the get go, we had 40 primary schools, from all over the county, participating in the area festivals that were held in November.  From this we held a County Final to determine which teams would represent Flintshire in the North East Wales Finals.

 
“All schools that have competed in the events have embraced the Dragon Sport ethos of fair play and enjoyment and the children have worked hard to improve their performance at each event.  The results of the North East Wales Final are a marvellous achievement for Flintshire Schools, and we hope that the enthusiasm for Indoor Athletics continues for years to come."
The lottery funded Dragon Sport scheme – Wales’ biggest campaign to get primary school children hooked on out-of-school-hours sport – is helping draw more children into sport and increase activity levels.

At its launch in October 2000, the scheme was billed as the biggest ever recruitment drive in Welsh sport – and it has exceeded all expectations, with 93% of primary schools in North Wales now actively involved in the scheme, which equates to nearly 46,000 children getting active.  Over the last year alone, an additional 16,000 children have taken part in Dragon Sport, thanks to National Lottery funding.

One of the main aims of Dragon Sport, is to recruit and train volunteer sports organisers, leaders and coaches to spend time introducing youngsters to sports like rugby, tennis and hockey – especially parents and teachers who are the real experts on getting children out onto the pitch.
If you want to find out more about Dragon Sport in your area, contact your local authority and ask for your Dragon Sport Coordinator or check out www.dragon-sport.co.uk.
 

26/02/2009