Street Games
The inaugural North-West Street Games 04 took place at Manchester’s SportCity venue on Monday August 16th 2004. The NDC Sports Development Team took a coach full of youngsters from the Charlestown & Lower Kersal area to enjoy the day as part of the area’s Summer Fun campaign.
Ann-Marie Pickup, local resident and Chair of the NDC said of the event, “This was a wonderful opportunity for our local youngsters to get involved with productive activities that will not only improve their health, but also develop their social skills.”
What are Street Games?
Street Games are coached sporting activities for young people in regeneration areas, organised at a local level in partnership with neighbourhood renewal agencies. The Games provide a positive outlet for young people’s energies, encouraging them to be physically active and to mix with others in their local community. Everything is relaxed and informal, with the emphasis on having fun and taking part.
Youngsters from communities in Manchester, Liverpool, Salford, Oldham, Huyton, Heywood, Tameside, Bolton and Morecambe – which were all supported by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s New Deal for Communities (NDC) or Neighbourhood Management (NM) regeneration projects – formed teams representing Olympic nations.To encourage mixing, instead of representing their own areas the young athletes were be split into teams representing Brazil, Japan, Sweden, Canada, Portugal, Jamaica, South Africa and Greece.
Competitions were run in athletics, football, cricket, golf, tennis, rugby and the duathalon – a triathalon without the swimming. There were also cheerleading and dance performances
The £34,000 event was organised by the New Deal for Communities and Neighbourhood Management projects and the Government Office for the North West, in partnership with Sport England, UK Athletics, the Rugby Football League, the Football Association, the Football Foundation, the Lancashire Tennis Association Manchester Leisure, the British Triathalon Association and Play Golf. Although prizes were awarded to athletes, the emphasis was on fun and fitness, rather than winning medals.
Photos from the Games
This page was last updated on 17 April 2008
