Community Games
Introduction
- The West Midlands Legacy Trust programme, 'Moving Together', is
about bringing communities together from all backgrounds and
locations to celebrate the Olympic and Paralympic Games through
mass participation in sport and dance and in so doing persuade them
to get their own bodies moving.
- 'Moving Together' represents a realisation of William Penny
Brookes' and Pierre de Coubertin's visions for the modern Olympic
movement as a marriage of sport and the arts. There are two
strands of the programme – People Dancing and Community
Games.
- The Community Games will enable communities across the region
to stage their own community event, drawing on the inspiration of
Dr William Penny Brookes' original concept for the Wenlock Olympian
Games in Shropshire. The vision is for the Community Games
programme to create a region wide, street – level celebration of
sporting and cultural abilities, run by communities for
communities.
- The Community Games programme in 2009 is a pilot programme
which will help decide how best to support Community Games Events
in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Evidence
Community Games Activities
- The idea behind the Games is to bring communities together to
organise a sporting and cultural festival, creating the community's
own "Olympics"
- The Community Games events will be decided upon by each local
organising committee.
- The event might typically begin with a parade or opening
ceremony organised by local children. The parade and opening
ceremony might involve parading of flags and banners, music and
dance.
- It is envisaged that there will be a variety of sports events
for the whole community but it is also envisaged that the games
will also include fun activities, dance and music.
Sports Events and Games
- The Games can be structured in 2 ways:
- Competitions in which local people or local teams train in
advance for their chosen event
- Taster sessions and coaching sessions supported by follow up
information on local opportunities and clubs
- Competitions/taster sessions could be held in a range of
sports:
- BMX Biking
- Skateboarding
- Climbing Wall (and mini boulders)
- Basketball
- Penalty shoot-out
- Futsal
- Archery
- Tag rugby
- Athletics events
- Dodgeball
- Fishing Competition
- Tug of War
- Frisbee
- Skipping
- Boccia
- New age Kurling
- Walking
- Cheerleading
- And lots more...........
Cultural Activities
-
- The Opening Ceremony.
- Dance
- Storytelling
- Fashion show
- Talent Competition
- Poetry
- Slam Poetry
- Drumming workshop
- Dance Groups
- And lots more...........
- The opening parade might typically begin with a parade or
opening ceremony organised by local children. The parade and
opening ceremony might involve parading of flags and banners, music
and dance.
- At the front of the parade there could be a community flame,
this doesn't need to be a real flame but could be something
symbolic or a particular image that represents the community.
Geographical Impact
- This programme can be rolled out across Worcestershire,
focussing specifically on priority areas
Relationship to LAA Targets
- The Games have the potential to impact on:
- Percentage of people who feel they belong to their
neighbourhood (NI 2)
- Adult participation in sport (NI 8)
- Obesity among primary school age children in Year 6 (NI
56)
- Young people's participation in positive activities (NI
110)
Branding
- Inspiration of the Olympic brand – strength (positive buzz) of
the Olympic brand can create the potential to access new and
broader markets and add significant profile and value to a local
event.
Potential Legacy
- An annual Community Games in communities across Worcestershire
and Herefordshire up to and beyond the 2012 Games
- Local people training towards competition events with 'typical'
training programmes available to download – achieving or working
towards the 3 x 30 mins activity target
- Local people more inspired to take up a sporting or cultural
activity and greater awareness of local opportunities (e.g. clubs,
groups and leisure facilities)
- Toolkit: Each community will receive a
toolkit. The toolkit will include information on how to run
individual activities, typical target market, equipment and
resource requirements (manpower and financial). In addition,
examples of best practice will also be included. Groups can then
select a range of sporting and cultural activities from the toolkit
to suit their geographical and resource capacity and so tailor the
Games to the individual needs of communities.
Governance & Accountability
- The Games are for the community to be run by the community.
Therefore each participating community will need to create an
'Organising Committee' (or 'Project Management' group) to organise,
run and develop the Games
- The community Games will be delivered in partnership across a
range of agencies and organisations, for example, sports
sector, health sector, cultural sector, voluntary and community
sectors and local clubs (and possibly private sector
sponsorship)
Key Contacts
- Anybody who’s interested in finding out more about
running a Games event in their area should contact Naomi Temple,
Legacy Trust Programme Manager from the end of October onwards at
Naomi.temple@artscouncil.org.uk
.
- Worcestershire 2012 Opportunities Coordinator: Peter Turvey
pturvey@worcestershire.gov.uk
.
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