Last week, over 300 children, from 36 primary schools, converged together at Sandown High School and took part in a mini Island Games, a Olympic style event for the Isle of Wight.

In good weather the games started in a blaze of colour and music with Greenmount Samba band leading the teams onto the athletics track for the formal opening ceremony.

Six representative “Island Games” teams were formed of which:

Bay link schools from Sandown, Shanklin, Brading and Bembridge competed as the Cayman Islands, Ventnor area schools chose Greenland, West Wight area schools were Gibraltar, Cowes area schools, Menorca, Ryde link schools were Rhodes and Ryde area schools represented St Helena.

Following the traditions of the Island Games and Olympics each team was then individually introduced and invited to march past to the 500 strong crowd and VIP’s that had gathered to welcome the teams.

Off the track, a ‘Challenge Zone’ was provided to give children additional activities and information during the day. This included rock climbing and an inflatable tennis court.

The sport of tennis meanwhile provided an excellent playing area of 8 mini courts for the children to play a round robin style competition.

The winner of the tennis event was Rhodes (Ryde Link schools). The Basketball programme was very well supported and provided some exciting matches during the day. In a very close final the Cayman Islands (Baylink schools) just edged Menorca (Cowes area) for the gold medal.

On the track a very strong Greenland team for Ventnor proved too strong across all events to win the Gold. The St Helena Island (Ryde area) fielded a very strong team across all sports and won the remaining 3 sports events, Netball, Tag Rugby and Girls football to take the overall trophy.

Isle of Wight Council Cabinet member for Children and Young People Alan Wells said:

“The council is delighted that so many children took part and were inspired by the event, whether it was the experience of the opening ceremony, feeling part of a team or winning a medal.

The aim of the day was to bring a taste of the Island games and Olympics direct to Island’s community and what better place than to engage directly with our school children. The feedback has been exceptional and I offer my congratulations to all those involved”.

Over 100 volunteers and helpers were present to help ensure the event and sport programmes ran smoothly. Every sport included a number of highly professional young leaders.

Lee Matthews, Community Development Manager at Isle of Wight Council said:

“A huge thank you must go out to all the schools who provided the teams and the helpers and volunteers who worked so hard on the day to make the games so special. This will be an annual event, and the council, along with dozens of primary schools, are already looking forward to next year”