Our Children & Young People team get involved with National School Sport Week #nsswtogether

This week, our CYP team have been reminiscing on their time as children when it came to school sport and sports day activities. The team share their favourite things about school sport, the impact of it and how they continued it on to adult life. We spotlight the team members James Grinsted (Senior Partnerships Manager), Jayne Piller (School Sport Advisor), Sam Payne (Children and Young People Officer) and Becks Byrne (Project Coordinator - Intern).

James Grinsted: Senior Partnerships Manager (Young People)

What was your favourite thing about School Sport? Favourite thing about school sport was definitely the competitiveness of it all and constantly trying to do better than I had done before – I always like to push myself to learn new things and do better than I had previously.

What impact did School Sport have on you? School sport taught me lots of skills that have helped to shape my development and skills that I still use today in everyday life and work – things such as teamwork, determination, leadership, communication and working with others. These skills are important in all aspects of life and I first developed these during sport at school.

Jayne Piller: School Sport Advisor

What was your favourite thing about School Sport? I loved everything about school sport (well maybe not the cross country 😩) - the activities, games, teams and competition..and the fab teachers. Still friends and work colleague with my PE teacher, after 40 years! 😊

What impact did School Sport have on you? Inspired me to continue involvement in sport - both from a professional and personal level - after nearly 50 years!

Sam Payne: Children and Young People Officer

What was your favourite thing about School Sport? In all honesty, my favourite thing about School Sport was the fact that it occasionally got me out of lessons. I used to love traveling to other schools on a minibus full of my peers to play fixtures. Little did I know that these experiences would help me develop skills that benefited me academically and socially, as well as physically.

What impact did School Sport have on you? School Sport helped me understand that outcomes are a result of effort; both in sport and wider areas of life. One PE teacher in particular, who happened to be a world class ultra-endurance athlete in his spare time, helped me understand the importance of resilience when faced difficult tasks.

Becks Byrne: Project Coordinator (Intern)

What was your favourite thing about School Sport?I loved having a go at everything, being in lots of different teams and competing against others! I've always been very competitive and wanting to do my best in sport so being able to get involved was one of the best things! Sports day was also a big day at my school so that was always a day I looked forward to!

What impact did School Sport have on you? Being involved in so many aspects of school sport including participating and coaching helped me work out what I wanted to do in the future and as a career. I've also continued playing sport and I think always wanting to try by best at sport has now transferred to different aspects of my life as well!

There's lots of online challenges and activities available so you can get moving and stay active! #NSSWtogether

Virtual Activities to get involved in

• Click here to get involved with the Virtual School Games
• Click here to download our Commonwealth Challenge Map and earn PE equipment for your school by exercising at home.
• Click here to search online activities via out Activity Finder