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Three Island Games athletes have been back at their former primary schools this week, meeting pupils and talking to them about their sports, and the benefits of living active lives.
Yesterday, the group - including athlete Darcy Hodgson - were at La Houguette, the school she left just four years ago.
Earlier in the day, the group - which also included swimmer Molly Staples - were at Castel, the primary school she had gone to, while athlete Sarah Mercer joined the group for a visit to her old primary school, Amherst, earlier in the week.
Triathlete Andrea Nightingale and athlete Ulriche Maisch were also among the group, which paid a visit to St Mary and St Michael primary too.
Pictured (l-r): The pupils from St Mary and St Michael School met Andrea, (Triathlete) Tanya (Eat Well Specialist) and Alun (Be Active Lead).
The Health Improvement Commission arranged the visits to spread their message about the importance of leading health lives. They plan to visit more primary schools in the run up to the Games, next month.
Athlete Sarah has competed at five Island Games and a Commonwealth Games which gave her plenty to discuss with the pupils at her old school Amherst.
Swimmer Molly and athlete Darcy are both still at school - studying for their A-Levels and GCSEs respectively alongside training in their sports. Molly swam at the previous Island Games in Gibraltar while the Guernsey Games will be Darcy's first.
Alun Williams, Be Active Lead at the Health Improvement Commission, has coached D'Arcy through Guernsey Athletic's Club - she said she and the other competitors are all inspirational.
“The theme of the 2023 Island Games is Inspiring Islanders and our five competitors have been true inspirations for our primary school pupils," he said.
"They have a range of experiences and have been honest in sharing some of the challenges of competing at such a high level. All have made clear that leading healthy lives has been a key part of their sporting success.
"It is especially pleasing that all the athletes are female. We know that girls, in general, have been less active than boys in the past. At the Commission we want a legacy of the 2023 Island Games to be that girls increase their levels of activity. Hopefully these assemblies will be a step towards achieving that legacy.”
Pictured: The visit to Amherst was earlier in the week.
Triathlete Andrea Nightingale enjoyed attending these assemblies, and was questioned by one enthusiastic boy after the one at La Houguette, who wanted to know more about her cycling. She was telling him about the risks involved with her sport, especially the cycling, and also about the different bikes involved for the different types of cycling events she enters.
“It is wonderful to think that at 61 I am able to compete within my age group at a world level. I love the training (most of the time!) and more importantly I have looked after my body by eating and drinking healthily which allows me to race like I do,” she said.
Bananas were given out to the pupils at the assemblies, by the Eat Well team at the Commission.
They are running a new ‘Food 4 Sport’ programme to support sports clubs to offer healthy food, and fresh fruit will be handed out to people watching some of the events during Island Games week to help keep them refreshed while watching.
Pictured top (l-r): Darcy Hodgson, Andrea Nightingale, Ulrike Maisch, Molly Staples, and Alun Williams.
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