West Midlands school pupils are good sports

Over 200 school pupils from primary and secondary schools across the West Midlands have taken part in the Birmingham Team Challenge to help raise awareness of disability sport in the region, in association with the Birmingham Competition Development Team.

The two-day event, now in its third year, took place at the Doug Ellis Sports Centre in Perry Barr and the children, who all have either physical disabilities or learning difficulties, competed in games such as the high stepper, javelin, target throw and relay races.

Over twenty volunteers from the Cadbury site in Bournville helped to run the activities which were led by members of the Birmingham Competition Development team.

Gillian Robertson, from the Birmingham Competition Development team, said: “We were also able to invite coaches from England Athletics as part of the Playground to Podium scheme which is designed to identify disabled young people and adults with the potential to become an elite athlete.

“I would like to thank everyone from Cadbury who volunteered over the two days, Sportshall Associates Ltd for facilitating the two day event, and the Doug Ellis Sports Centre for hosting us.”

Donna Lilley, a teacher at Forest Oak Primary School in Solihull, said: “The Birmingham Team Challenge is a brilliant way of promoting disability sport in the West Midlands and our students have really benefited from participating in the day. The event brought together a lot of different sporting disciplines which made it open to everyone and helped to showcase the breadth of talent we have in our schools.”

For more information about the Kraft Foods Community Programme, please visit www.kraftfoodseurope.com.