'Ruby's 1st Week at Secondary'

My name is Ruby, I am eleven years old and I can't wait to share my adventures with you! I love all sports but running and football are my passions. I took part in London Youth Games cross country in 2019 and Havering girls won gold! It was a fantastic achievement.

This week I started at a new school and I'm now in year 7, I couldn't wait to start secondary school, I was really excited and eager to learn. I was even the first pupil to enter the school on the first day!

Secondary school is much larger than primary school but I think I have adjusted well and I'm really excited. At the moment because of Covid-19 Year 7 are in a bubble and in only one section of the school: E Block. We must stay positive though! There are more lessons and a different teacher for each subject. Most of my primary school friends go to my new school but I have made some new friends. I even got voted sports captain by my class for my class, I can't wait to get started!

On Saturday, I took part in trials for a local football team, I really hope I make the team. It was good to play with the girls who play for my age group and learn new tricks.

I also received my medals and certificates for my dancing exams, it was great to be back at my dancing school for the first time since March.

It was hot this week and on Sunday I enjoyed a lovely roast dinner at a restaurant in Leigh on Sea to celebrate my nan's birthday. I saw a war ship and enjoyed a vanilla whip ice cream, delicious!

'"Enjoy what you do"'

Ruby Xx

The numbers are in....

This week we got some really positive feedback from London Youth Games regarding our participation in the Virtual Games competition last month.

We are proud to confirm that 751 children and young people represented Team Havering from 85 schools across the entire 4 week campaign! WOW!

The Virtual Games 2020

Over the last four weeks, young competitors from across Havering have been taking part in a unique competition set by London Youth Games.

Typically, at this time of the year, we would have competed in a variety of different sports tournaments across the city including both Redbridge Weekend and The Finals Weekend at Crystal Palace, in a bid to capture the Jubilee Trophy. However, due to the challenges associated with Coronavirus, all of that had to be cancelled and The Games went virtual.

Each week the team at London Youth Games HQ set three online challenges and our job was to rally as many competitors as we could for Team Havering. Being a virtual event, the idea was for everyone to complete the challenge, film and post their efforts across social media as well as submitting final scores which count towards our overall tally. It was a fantastic opportunity for many to represent the borough and get creative with the sport-related challenges. These included a 60 second Burpee Challenge, Kick-Ups Football Challenge, a Dance-Off Challenge and Throwing Accuracy Challenges.

We were blown away to see so many jumping on board and simply having a go. The local schools played a major role in helping spread the word with teachers uploading their own example videos and encouraging the students to complete their attempts from home, school or whilst out for their daily exercise. We even had Mums, Dads and Grandparents getting behind the movement. Our youngest participant was just four years old and his videos were a massive hit.

The biggest incentive, no doubt, were the Nike prizes that were up for grabs. At the end of every week, London Youth Games announced an MVP based on the creativity of a video or an exceptional result whereby the winning individual was given a pair of shoes of their choice. Incredibly, two Havering participants received this award. Ollie from Marshalls Park Academy was named MVP of Week Two thanks to his Basketball Crossover entry and Jak from Abbs Cross Academy picked up the award in Week Four for setting the fastest 1 mile run. Out of the 40,000 competitors that took part, this is a fantastic achievement for Havering.  

Whilst we finished in 13^th out of 33 boroughs, we discovered so many talented, passionate and enthusiastic young people along the way. A huge thank you goes out to everyone that dedicated time to participating week after week. We appreciate all of you.

Looking ahead, we are hopeful that the 2021 Youth Games season will be able to kick-start safely in November as planned with the Cross Country event at Parliament Hill. But in the meantime, please be sure to look out for all updates across our social media platforms and the Havering Active website for information about future trials and the restarting of leagues.

Until then, “Mission LYG Gold is still GO” – Abbigail Cleary

Sincerely,
Your Sports Development Team 

BIG NEWS!

We are very excited to let you know about a brand new competition launched by London Youth Games this week. If you have kids at home right now who are cell phone/social media mad then this could be the perfect thing for them!

The London Youth Games have just announced the launch of ‘The Virtual Games’ – an online competition in place of the regular 2020 season which was cancelled due to Coronavirus.

Young people across the borough are encouraged to jump online and take part in the challenges that are set with weekly prizes up for grabs (like pairs of Nike trainers!) and points going towards Havering’s score and the overall trophy.

The Virtual Games are open to all children and young people from London. You do not need to be a footballer to complete the football challenge or a netballer to complete the netball challenge.  All of them will come with suggested adaptations for space, equipment and ability to ensure they are as inclusive as possible.

The first challenge will be released Monday 8^th June and participants are asked to upload their videos to any of their channels (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok etc) using the hashtags #ThisIsLYG and #TeamHavering as well as tagging London Youth Games to be in to win. 

If you want to head across to our pages then we will be posting the challenges and updates regularly:  

Facebook: @Havering London Youth Games Team / @Havering Active
Instagram: @HaveringLYG
Twitter: @HaveringActive
TikTok: @HaveringLYG

Find out more about the competition here: www.londonyouthgames.org/virtual-games