Sportshall 2021 is virtual success and Langholm receive trophy

Friday 9th July 2021

Langholm Academy won the 2019 Giant Heptathlon for Secondary Schools

Back in 2019 Langholm Academy won the scottishathletics National Giant Heptathlon Finals when they were due to be presented with the winner’s trophy, COVID and the first lockdown had started!

Now in 2021, 16 months after winning the scottishathletics Giant Heptathlon for Secondary Schools, the team finally received their trophy and athlete visit by Olympic athlete, hammer thrower Chris Bennett.

Before presenting the team with their trophy, Chris talked about his life as an Olympian, answered their questions and offered advice for young athletes.

He then made a surprise visit to meet the children in Langholm Primary 5, 6 and 7 classes who had plenty of questions to ask Chris about his sport and career.

+++

Sportshall 2021

The 2021 Sportshall finals recently took place . . . but with a twist!

This year, the event was delivered virtually with schools holding their own heats and finals. All the results were submitted online which highlighted who the winning schools were.

Due to the ongoing restrictions, both primary and secondary schools were invited to take part in the virtual Sportshall event.

In total, 11 Scottish regions took part in the qualifiers with 85 schools submitting results. Special mention must go to Clackmannanshire with a very impressive 22 school/class results from the ‘Wee County’. Many Local Authorities also reported that they had schools adopting the programme for some fun.

The top schools in each Local Authority were then invited to take part in the virtual finals, with 35 schools taking part.

The winning schools were:

• Primary West: Newington A (Dumfries & Galloway)
• Primary North East: Fintry (Dundee City)
• Primary Central: Simpsons (West Lothian)
• National Secondary Langholm Academy (Dumfries & Galloway)

We would like to say a big thank you to all the Schools, Active School Co-ordinators, PE staff and Local Authorities for making this event happen, especially under the ever-changing situation.

We would also like to that our Sportshall Co-ordinator Harry Baird and Adam Burgess from Sportshall for pulling this together.

Scottish Disability Sport – in partnership with scottishathletics – ran a virtual National Disability Sportshall Championships which replaced the traditional championships held most recently in Grangemouth each year.

Over 500 athletes with a disability competed across five athletic disciplines in a programme that encouraged and facilitated participation from across the country by people of all ages and impairment groups.

It allowed us to offer an outlet for a return to sport and physical activity in an accessible and inclusive manner as participants could take part in their own home environment, locally in a safe outdoor space or at their school or club.

Further positive outcomes included families being able to participate in the same event together and installing a unique scoring system that allows each impairment group to compete on a level playing field.

Furthermore, classmates in schools around Scotland were able to be active together as non-disabled categories were added alongside disability categories and an autism spectrum disorder category.

The Team Trophy was awarded to Team Fife who claimed the most points in the team events.

The team event featured teams made up of 10 athletes that met specific criteria. Once all their total points were added together the team with the most points emerged victorious.

+++

 

 

 

Tags: Chris Bennett, Langholm Academy, National Giant Heptathlon, Sportshall