Hertfordshire Youth Games

St Albans

Team St Albans 2008 finish 4th after battling hard!

The 15th Hertfordshire Youth Games was held over the weekend of the 10th and 11th May attracting over 2000 young athletes, representing the 10 local authorities of Hertfordshire.

The Games act as the celebration of Sports Development across the county, seeking to raise the profile of sport for everyone. Over six hundred St Albans youngsters attended high quality free training leading up to the main games, with two hundred being selected to represent the City & District of St Albans at the Hertfordshire Sports Village in Hatfield.

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The weekend proved to be a huge success, with Team St Albans having another great year with good finishing positions from all the teams.

Some of the key results were as followed:

2nd Under 13s Netball coached by Karen Stubbs and Fiona Harrall, Abbey Flyers Netball Club

2nd Under 14 Boys Hockey coached by Niall and Sarah McAlister, Harpenden Hockey Club

Other results included:

3rd Under 9s Athletics coached by Ellen Baldwin, St Albans Athletics Club

3rd Under 11s and Under 12 MLD Athletics coached by Ellen Baldwin, St Albans Athletics Club

3rd Under 12 Girls Basketball coached by Anne-Maree Fogarty, West Herts Warriors

3rd Girls Kwik Cricket coached by Jemile al-Derraji, Shenley Village Cricket Club

4th Under 12 Boys Basketball coached by Tony Marmo, West Herts Warriors

4th SLD Football coached by Dan Rogers, St Albans City Football Club

We would also like to thank the participants who took part in the following sports:

Under 11 Girls Tag Rugby coached by Brad Cox, OA's Rugby Club

Under 11 Boys Tag Rugby coached by Alistair Mort, OA's Rugby Club

Under 12 mixed Badminton coached by Kelly Matthews and Liz Bateman, Marshals Badminton Club

U13 Netball

Boccia coached by Adam Garland

Under 14 Girls Hockey coached by John Knight and Nathan Murley, St Albans Hockey Club

Under 15s Netball Club coached by Karen Stubbs and Fiona Harrall, Abbey Flyers Netball Club

Table Tennis coached by Pat Bachelor, STAGS Table Tennis Club

Under 11 Mixed Pop Lacrosse coached by John Eager (2nd - non scroing event)

Under 13 and Under 15 Aquathlon coached by David Dawson, Tri-Force triathlon club

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The combined points from these successes meant that St Albans finished 4th overall.  This is a great result with some of the highest level of competition ever seen in the Herts Youth Games.  All the medalists recieved their medals from Colin Jackson, Olympic, World and Commonwealth Hurdles Champion and Dr Alison Mowbrey, Olympic Rowing silver medalist.

All squads were selected through open trials and free training programmes run by qualified local coaches.  Everyone who competed will have the option to join local clubs after the games.

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Thank you to the clubs and individuals that helped!

We would like to thank the following individuals and local clubs for managing the indiviual teams:

U9 and U11/U12 Mixed Sportshall Athletics- Ellen Baldwin (St Albans Athletics Club)

U12 Mixed Badminton - Kelly Matthews and Liz Bateman (Marshals)

U12 Boys and Girls Basketball - Tony Marmo and Anne-Maree Fogarty (West Herts Warriors)

U18 SLD Football - Dan Rogers (St Albans City Football Club)

U13 and U15 Netball - Karen Stubbs and Fiona Harrall (Abbey Flyers)

U14 Girls Hockey - John Knight (St Albans Hockey Club)

U14 Boys Hockey - Niall McAlister (Harpenden Hockey Club)

U11 Boys and Girls Tag Rugby - Alistair Mort and Brad Cox  (OA's Junior Rugby Club)

U18 Table Tennis - Pat Batchelor (STAGS Table Tennis Club)

Aquathlon - David Dawson (Tri-force)

Kwik Cricket - Jemile al-Derraji (Shenley Village Cricket Club)

Pop Lacrosse - John Eager

Boccia - Adam Garland

A big thank you also goes to our Young Reporters and Young Ambassadors!

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St Albans Sport Development Officer and Team St Albans Coordinator Clare Baker said " An amazing weekend had by all!  I would like to thank all the athletes, all the coaches and team managers, parents/guardians and teachers for all their hard work and also their dedication to our team - all these people helped make the team successful!  i hope that all the hard work put in by all especially the athletes over the last few months has inspired everyone to continue in sport and physical activity."

If you would like more information on the event call 01727 827667

or

email - clare.baker@leisureconnection.co.uk

Herts Sport Partnership

Young Reporter - Jack Otway

Hertfordshire Youth Games 2008

The sun was shining on the stunning facilities at Hertfordshire university as athletes across Hertfordshire, from St Albans to all the way to Welwyn, were preparing to compete at the Herts Youth Games. Young athletes, some as young as seven, turned out for the day in mass numbers, ready to enjoy themselves and compete for team and individual honours. The heat would only add to the difficulty, so on the way inside it wouldn't be unusual to see bottles of water, chalk powder and sun cream all around the place.

 If the beautiful weather was a fantastic sight, the venue was just as stunning, the university a fantastic choice to host the event and the facilities being put to good use, both outside and inside. On the way through the doors of reception the place was remarkably clean, something quite surprising considering the amount of people that had come to watch, support their friends or family, and compete.
  
So I arrived around 10:00, ready to have just as fun a day as the athletes, ready to interview as many people as I could, including celebrity athlete Colin Jackson, who would be attending the event. St Albans' team leader, Clare, handed me my t-shirt and name badge, and the event became quickly underway, everything from archery to rock climbing, hockey to netball. Each and every athlete was determined to win something but, more importantly, to enjoy his or her day. After all, it's not winning that counts, it's the taking part that matters.

 As I walked round the venue, either watching events or interviewing people, one particular thing came clear to me. That everyone was enjoying their day, none more so than St Albans team leader Clare. "It is quite stressful but also great fun." Spectators, from mums and dads to grandparents, were also enjoying their day, cheerful and extremely supportive of all the athletes.

   With the heat reaching boiling point, it was time to interview Colin Jackson, who had earlier been playing lacrosse with some youngsters. The former 110m hurdles champion was only too happy to answer the following questions:

   Q: What did you find harder? Training for a major championship or Strictly Come Dancing?

A: Strictly come dancing by a mile, because with running you always know what your training for, whereas with Strictly Come Dancing was different.

Q: Did your parents have to make any sacrifices for you to follow your dream?

A: I'm not sure you'd have to ask them. I suppose they did, for me and my sister, but like I said you'd have to ask them.

Q: Are there any athletes that you are tipping for success in Beijing?

A: Peters is definitely in with a shot in Beijing. My only worry is how he's recently changed his coach, but hopefully that won't affect him to much.

After the interview Colin and the rest of the young reporters had their photo taken, and then it was time to do some more interviewing. I asked the St Albans badminton team about their day, and they replied enthusiastically, "We've had a great day today, and we would definitely go again. The team have lost count of the number of games we've won, and badminton is definitely better than tennis."

  Out in the sunshine were the netball team, who went on a fantastic cup run, all the way to the final where they were unluckily and unfortunately beaten. "Despite the defeat we have all had a wonderful day, and although for most of us this is our first time, we would certainly go again." The hockey team were also upbeat about the day, quoted saying, "This day has been great, although we didn't win we did really well and would, without doubt, go again."

 

Young Reporter - Liam McGarry

Beijing is just months away, preparations for the games in London are already well under way. But as well as the millions pounds being pumped into brand new running tracks, swimming pools, aquatic centres and transport systems, there are other, more important developments occurring all over the country. The athletes that take part at the Olympics in 2012 are, as I write, growing and shaping into the success stories that we as a nation want and arguably need them to be. Proof of this can be seen at The Herts Youth Games being held at the University of Hertfordshire's ever improving sport facilities. In their 14^th flourishing year, the atmosphere surrounding the games is one of change.  No longer are teenagers happy to be confined to the new digital lifestyle. There is no room for Ipods and Playstations this weekend, for this weekend is about sport in its very purest form. The sun makes a very well timed appearance for the first major event of the weekend the Aquathlon, a demanding event consisting of a high intensity swim followed by a middle distance run. After two hard fought contests were both won by the East Herts side. Other lesser known sports are being brought to the forefront this weekend, with games such as Pop Lacrosse being introduced to the St Albans and Broxbourne participants, Broxbourne claiming victory. 

It is not just lower profile sports on show this weekend. High profile, national sports such as Football, Netball, Hockey, Rugby and Basketball are all hugely popular throughout the weekend. The games also continue their strong commitment to disability sports with Boccia, a game similar to bowls, being participated in throughout the weekend.

For the last four years, the Herts Youth Games organisers have been privileged to welcome Colin Jackson to the games. Jackson, an Olympic medallist, world champion hurdler and more recently BBC's Strictly Come Dancing Finalist, said of the games, "All we can do as a nation is attempt to encourage young people to take part in sport and if events like the Herts Youth Games can inspire future athletes in their development, then we are obviously moving forward".  Jackson went on to rubbish Victor Conte's recent remarks, stating that there are no true professionals left in athletics which is corrupt and rife with drug abuse. "Frankly, for someone like Conte, a convicted drug cheat, to come out and say these things is ridiculous and an insult to the young people attending this weekend".

Because attending this event has been an inspiration. Young people in the modern age are wrongly criticised as being, as one older celebrity put it, "lazy trouble makers with no sense of direction". Based on what we have seen here this weekend there is a definite direction, toward a successful London Olympics. The cry from those here this weekend is simple. Bring on 2012.