20 March 2006
Greenwich Council was joined by Olympic legend Sir Steve Redgrave at the launch of a programme to get more young people involved in sports.
Sports Search is a web-based scheme that looks at the strengths of individual young people and identifies the sports that might be most suitable for them.
Greenwich is the first borough in London to be piloting the scheme, which also provides online links to local sports organisations.
Sir Steve, winner of five Olympic gold medals, was at Woolwich Polytechnic for the launch along with Councillor Jackie Smith, Cabinet member for children and family services.
Working with Sports Hub, the company that has developed the scheme, the Council is making Sports Search available to more than 14,000 11 to 17-year-olds across the borough.
Cllr Smith said: “Sir Steve is one of this country’s greatest sporting heroes and I am sure young people in this borough will be able to draw inspiration from what he has achieved.
“But it is important to emphasise that sport is not just for those with ambitions to appear in the Olympics. It can be a positive force across ability levels, helping to develop social skills and teamwork.
“By finding the most suitable sport for each young person, Sports Search makes it more likely people will carry on participating in sport throughout their life.”
Sports Search creates an individual profile for each person, based on his or her physical and mental attributes, and then comes up with a list of sports suitable for their profiles.
This includes an analysis of physical suitability through a series of 11 physical tasks, and an online questionnaire.
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For media information, call Richard Evans on 020 8921 5039.
Notes to editors:
- Greenwich is one of the five host boroughs for London 2012.
- A third of all the Olympic events in 2012 will be held in the borough.