Olympic athletes urge children to get active

It’s part of a Sports for School project which involves a fun fitness session before a talk and assembly.

Staff and children at Weedon Bec Primary School are looking forward to welcoming Grant Turner on Febaruy 3.

The Sports for Schools scheme was set up in 2005 by former Great Britain gymnast Ben Brown.

Ben featured heavily in the Back the Bid Campaign which eventually saw London win as host nation of the 2012 Olympic Games.

He was forced to quit his passion and dream of competing at an Olympic Games due to the lack of much-needed funding in his sport.

Ben was motivated to ensure that this did not happen to other sporting hopefuls and has a desire to inspire children across the UK to take up sport and lead healthy lifestyles.

In 2013, Michael Ledzion took over Sports for Schools.

Since then the company has tripled the number of events run each year, and extended the scheme across the UK.

Michael said: “This country has a problem: too many people are overweight.

“The solution is simple: we need to eat better and eat less; and we need to do more exercise. Children need to do a minimum of one hour of moderate to vigorous exercise each day - which means breaking a sweat. It’s up to us adults to solve that problem.

“As a social enterprise, Sports for Schools puts social impact at the heart of everything we do.

“Our contribution is to bring GB international athletes into primary schools to inspire children to take up more sport and lead a healthy life.”

The programme operates through a fundraising initiative and helps raise money for PE equipment.