Youth athletes from Bucks qualify for National Games

17 athletes from Buckinghamshire have qualified to compete at the 2022 School Games National Finals - the UK’s biggest youth athletics event.

Previous competitors at the Games include Adam Peaty, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Hannah Cockroft, who have gone on to compete at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

In fact, School Games National Finals alumni secured 100 medals at Birmingham 2022 between them, which would place the multi-sport competition 3rd in the medal table if it were a country.

The four-day event, to be held at Loughborough University between 1^st September – 4^th September, will host over 1,100 athletes aged between 13 and 18, who will compete across ten sports, four of which include disability disciplines.

The School Games National Finals is one of the many initiatives led by children’s charity, the Youth Sport Trust, to create a future where every child enjoys the life-changing benefits of play and sport.

The opportunities outside of competition include the Athlete Education Programme which sees the charity’s athlete mentors and high-profile athletes, including, Paralympic Games gold medallist swimmer, Liz Johnson, and former Olympian in rowing, Toby Garbett, provide innovative workshops aimed at providing young athletes with skills for life.

Focused on improving athlete wellbeing, competitors can also engage with partners such as Loughborough University and UKAD to access its clean sport education programmes, alongside the chance to continue competing post-games to help them embed their learnings.

Following the pandemic, the School Games National Finals will this year welcome back spectators for the first time, but it will also be live-streamed on the Youth Sport Trust YouTube channel.

Roman Neveykin, Development Manager for Sport at the Youth Sport Trust and event lead for the School Games National Finals, said: “We are delighted to be welcoming back spectators to this year’s School Games National Finals. The addition of family and friends at this year’s event will help further create the atmosphere of a major multi-sport event we want our young athletes to experience.

“This year’s School Games National Finals will once again help develop the young athletes taking part on and off the field of play through high quality competition and valuable education sessions to ensure they gain skills for life to become future changemakers.

“Following the success of the Commonwealth Games, we are excited to see what the future holds for these young athletes and who we might see compete in Australia in 2026 as a result.”

This year, the School Games National Finals 2022 is taking place thanks to funding from Sport England as part of the organisation’s Birmingham 2022 legacy investment.

Tickets are available here: www.ticketsource.co.uk/2022Schoolgamesfinals