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Hundreds of young people from across Surrey travelled to Surrey Sports Park on Saturday 18 June to take part in the Specsavers Surrey Youth Games.
The annual event is the largest multi-sport youth event in the south east and brings together young people from all eleven boroughs and districts in Surrey. Dressed in light-blue t-shirts, Team Woking took part in friendly tournaments, matches and performances across the day.
Focussed on reaching young people who hadn’t previously been involved in sport, all participants had seven weeks of free training sessions before the games, where the emphasis was on having fun, enjoying being active, and celebrating what they had learned.
Five sports were on offer this year: judo, dance, basketball, tennis and swimming. The training sessions were led by team managers from local sports clubs Fighting Fitness Judo, Dance Woking, Blackhawks Basketball Club and Woking Park Tennis, as well as swimming instructors from Freedom Leisure.
During the day the Mayor of Woking, Cllr Saj Hussain, enjoyed a tour of the sports park where he watched matches and spoke to some of the team managers who had been training the participants.
Cllr Ellen Nicholson, Woking Borough Council’s Portfolio Holder for Living Well, said: “It is fantastic that so many young people from across Surrey were able to come together and enjoy learning a new skill and being active.
“This was the first year back for the Surrey Youth Games after the pandemic and it is great that the games provided new opportunities for young people who otherwise might not be able to access sports clubs.
“Now that the games are over, we hope that many of our participants will remain active and engaged in their chosen sport by continuing to train at their new clubs.
“Many thanks go to Freedom Leisure, Specsavers and Boz’s Fruit and Veg for sponsoring Team Woking and providing essential kit and equipment for our young people, much of which they can keep using now that the games are over. Thank you also to all our team managers who worked so hard getting our participants ready for the games day.
“Most importantly, well done to all of Team Woking who represented the borough on games day – your enthusiasm and commitment is something to be very proud of.”
The Specsavers Surrey Youth Games are run annually by Active Surrey.
Find out more about the Surrey Youth Games
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Freedom Leisure provided swimming vouchers for every participant, as well as a venue for the basketball sessions and a venue and teachers for the swimming sessions.
Specsavers provided a coach to and from Surrey Sports Park for the games day and provided tennis racquets for all tennis participants and basketballs and sweatbands for all basketball participants.
Boz’s Fruit and Veg provided all children and young people with fruit at their last training session as well as swimming goggles for our swimmers and judo kits for our judo participants.