32 athletes from Berkshire have been selected to compete at the 2022 School Games National Finals.
The games will take place at Loughborough University from Thursday, September 1- Sunday, September 4.
This year over a thousand young athletes at the event hope to follow in the footsteps of Adam Peaty, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Hannah Cockroft who formerly competed at the National Finals and this year went on to compete at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
School Games National Finals alumni secured 100 medals at Birmingham 2022 between them.
The four-day event will host over 1,100 aspiring 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.
Following the pandemic, the School Games National Finals will this year welcome back spectators for the first time enabling families, friends and visitors to see the launching pad for future Commonwealth Games stars.
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.”