London 2012 inspires Winchester - University of Winchester

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VENTA / Issue 26 / Summer 2012 LONDON 2012 INSPIRES WINCHESTER The ‘12 for 12’ project was devised by Sports Coaching lecturer Richard Cheetham and is delivering 12 sports events in the run up to the 2012 Olympics. All the events are designed to incorporate the Olympic and Paralympic values of respect, friendship, determination, inspiration, equality, courage and excellence. ‘12 for 12’ was launched in September 2011 by former Olympic swimmer Kathy Read who held a special presentation assembly for the Personal Best programme at one of the University’s partner schools, Castle Hill Junior School in Basingstoke. Personal Best is a year-long initiative that highlights the importance of sporting and cultural events to the pupils and recognises sporting improvement, as opposed to being the best athlete. The project has involved University staff and student volunteers from Winchester’s BA Sports Coaching and Development programme. The volunteers will coach the children in preparation for an Olympic Sports Day in the summer when the children will aim to beat their personal bests and those who make the greatest improvement will become medal winners. The Olympic Lecture Series was launched in November 2011 by Dr Martin Polley, author of The British Olympics: Britain’s Olympic Heritage 1612-2012 (English Heritage 2011) and was attended by all second and third year sports undergraduates as well as members of the general public. A Fencing taster session was organised in November by Winchester Sports Studies graduate Jonathan Rhodes (2002 to 2006), currently lead strength and conditioning coach for the British Sabre Team. He was joined in the University Sports Hall by GB Fencing Junior Commonwealth gold medallist Katie Dolan and Tom Bennett, ranked 3rd in UK for épée fencing. The Leisure Review Coaching Insight Conference in November was hosted by the University of Winchester at The Stripe. The conference brought together a range of coaches from across the region working at Level 2 or above from a variety of sports to examine specific coaching skills for different age groups. Inspirations Day for Universities Week in May featured a wide range of guest speakers for the general public to attend. These included Lucy Rivers Bulkeley, the first European woman ever to complete Racing the Planet’s ‘4 Desert Grand Slam Challenge’ and Colin Javens, who despite being paralysed from the neck down, completed a vehicle-driven overland African Expedition form UK to Cape Town, South Africa. The ‘12 for 12’ project supports three charities selected by Winchester students; The Rainbow Centre, Anna’s Room and Age UK. Lucy Muldoon – Production Manager Olympic Torch Lucy Muldoon, 30, (Performing Arts, 2000 to 2003) will be covering the Olympic Games through her role as Production Manager at the American network NBC. “Being part of the biggest sporting broadcaster’s team in the world, I have the opportunity to see how the best producers make the greatest sporting TV. I am looking forward to it all,” says Lucy. “The opportunity to work on the London 2012 Olympics is like a dream come true,” explains Lucy. “The opportunity to be part of this in my home country is quite unbelievable.” The Olympic Torch will pass through Winchester on Wednesday the 11 July. The exact route will be confirmed nearer the time, but to find out when the torch will be visiting a location near you go to: www.london2012.com/torch-relay Lucy’s role will involve carefully monitoring the coverage of sports and certain athletes, making quick changes to production schedules if top athletes go out or surprise athletes go through. She will also be covering news related to the Olympics including concerts, royal guests, public attendance figures and any other stories that occur. 8
VENTA / Issue 26 / Summer 2012 Vytas Jakimavicius – Director of Sport Vytas Jakimavicius (PGCE, 2005 to 2006) is Director of Sport at Prince’s Mead School in King’s Worthy, Winchester. The school was the first Prep School in Hampshire to be awarded the London 2012 Get Set Mark, the official London 2012 educational programme’s marker for schools who are providing opportunities and activities for their pupils to get involved in London 2012. Vytas explains; “ We have been doing lots of activities, children have designed team GB kit for various sports, children have choreographed dance routines for Wenlock and Mandeville (Olympic mascots) and designed balanced meals for the athletes to eat to help their performance. “The children I teach are too young to remember much beyond the 2008 Bejing Olympics but they will remember the London Olympics for the rest of their lives. This generation of children will see and hear about the fastest, strongest, most athletic, most skilful people in the world and aspire to be like them. It is our responsibility after the games to do all we can to help children realise their dreams.” In honour of the Paralympics also happening this year in London, the school has also introduced the sports Boccia and Goal Ball both of which are current Paralympic sports. “We are trying to make as many sports as we can accessible for the children,” explained Vytas. “We have started putting on festivals of sport for local schools, and have linked with lots of local clubs to provide a base for their fixtures and training sessions.” The school is also taking part in the celebrations to mark the Olympic torch arriving in Winchester with every child making their own Olympic torch to take down to the city centre, and their choir and brass band attending to entertain the crowds. Winchester Street Arts students perform at Olympic Stadium A group of talented Street Arts students from the University of Winchester were selected to perform at the Olympic Stadium in May with an audience of around 35,000 spectators. The 20 performers, all students from Winchester’s BA Street Arts programme, entertained the crowds at the Sainsbury’s 2012 School Games on 9 May with seven different walkabout and interactive acts. This inaugural UK schools event ran from 6-9 May at the Olympic Park and was organised by the Youth Sport Trust. Almost 1,600 young sports stars competed across 12 different sports. The students were recommended by a representative of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad who had seen their work The Art of Demonstration at Winchester’s Performing Arts Studios earlier this year. The University was awarded the London 2012 Inspire Mark in January for the project which involved workshops with the internationally-acclaimed performance company Periplum. In addition to performances in Winchester, students have recently returned from the 15th Artois International University Performing Arts Festival in France where, amongst other pieces, they performed Ka-dunk-a-junk. This act has now been adapted to ensure it is suitable for an even larger audience at the Olympic Park. “We’re all hoping that performing at the Olympic Stadium will lead to future opportunities,” said second year BA Street Arts student, Emma Nias from Bournemouth. “However, on a personal level, whatever happens, this is something we can take with us forever.” “This is an incredible opportunity for our students,” said John Lee, Programme Leader for BA Street Arts at Winchester, one of the first courses of its kind in Europe. “We encourage them to get as much experience in public performance as possible but this is the biggest venue we’ve had yet. Performing at the Olympic Stadium is a chance of a lifetime. We’re hoping this event might lead to an engagement at other events that surround and include the Olympic Games.” Street Arts students performing at the Olympic Stadium. Image courtesy of Keith Van-Loen. 9
Page 1 and 2: Issue 26 Summer 2012 National Civic
Page 3 and 4: VENTA / Winter 2011 VENTA / Issue 2
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London 2012 inspires Winchester - University of Winchester

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