Rugby star Racheal Burford recently inspired an array of youngsters at the School Games event in Ipswich.

The School Games is an exciting, fully inclusive competition for school children in England, designed to motivate, enthuse and inspire young people across the country to take part in more competitive school sport. Every school in England has been given the opportunity to get involved, potentially giving every school child the chance to take part.

At a local level the School Games are delivered by schools, School Games Organisers, clubs, County Sports Partnership Suffolk Sport, NGBs and other local partners.

School Games-Rachael Burford

Rugby supremo Racheal (pictured above, center) , an Olympic medallist who is perhaps best-known for winning the Womens Rugby World Cup in 2014, visited the School Games event on 28th June 2016.

Racheal attended the event in her capacity as a Sport England Sporting Champion and interacted with the young people at the event.

"Having represented England at major events like the world cup, I feel it is really important for me to give something back to sport because it has given me so much. That is why I love being a Sport England Sporting Champion and working with young people."

Rachael enjoyed her visit and was excited to meet all the young participants and volunteers in attendance. Her aim was to raise their aspirations of what they can achieve and to inspire them to compete in sport. Her passion was evident as she interacted with many of the youngsters in attendance at the event.

James Payne, Sports Development Officer and organiser of the School Games event in Suffolk added "We were delighted to welcome Racheal, a World Cup winner, to be a part of our School Games day. She proved very popular with our young competitors and spent time engaging with them and sharing stories as well as signing countless autographs and added to what was a fantastic event. We would like to thank the schools, School Games Organisers, clubs, NGBs and other local partners who helped to make the event a great success."

Local organising committees, chaired by head teachers and actively supported by Suffolk Sport and other county sports partnerships and London Youth Games, oversee the county festivals.
There are over 20,000 schools registered as part of the School Games and there are around 80 School Games County Festivals due to take place in this academic year.

Suffolk Sport are proud to be a part of this national event, promoting the fun and competitive elements of sport to young people, helping them to get active and to potentially grow the sporting stars of tomorrow.