Every year Active Schools in Edinburgh take great pleasure in hosting the largest sports day in the city: Games @ the Hub. The aim of the event is to celebrate Active Schools and inspire young people to take part in physical activity and sport, motivating them to stay active.
1,400 primary pupils
Games @ the Hub is a citywide event and all primary schools in Edinburgh are invited to participate. This year almost 70 primary schools, including 4 special schools, came along, which meant over 1,400 primary pupils attended. Each primary school brings teams of up to 10 pupils, boys and girls, to take part in their chosen sports. This year there were 13 sports represented and we saw the addition of Gaelic Football and Dance, both of which proved extremely popular with the pupils.
The teams took part in a skills based session to start the day and then progressed into a competition environment in the afternoon with a Games @ the Hub shield up for grabs in each sport. Additional sports involved in the day included hockey, football, rugby, basketball, netball, cricket, volleyball, Lacrosse, swimming, Judo and athletics.
Stewart Harris, Chief Executive of sportscotland, said: “The annual Games @ the Hub event is an incredible opportunity to inspire children and young people to participate in sport and physical activity. It is encouraging to see so many pupils taking part from a wide range of schools in the largest sports day in the city and many sports and activities being included.
"This event is a great example of the dedication and hard work of the Active Schools teams and volunteers.
“Our partnerships with local authorities help strengthen our Active Schools network across Scotland and together we will continue to ensure that children and young people in Scotland have access to opportunities to get involved and progress in sport and physical activity at every stage.”
Power of partnership
Games @ the Hub day would not be possible without strong partnership working between Active Schools and governing bodies, local colleges, local community clubs and secondary schools, all of whom provide volunteers not only to deliver in the many extra-curricular programmes across the city but also to deliver and support many events including the Games @ the Hub.
Active Schools in Edinburgh currently work with more than 1,100 volunteers, 450 of them being senior pupils from the secondary schools across the city. The volunteers played a crucial part in the day, with some delivering alongside governing bodies and local clubs and others officiating and assisting with the coaching sessions throughout the day.
Sport for all
Four of Edinburgh’s special schools attended the event, including Redhall, Rowanfield, Kaimes and Prospectbank. Pupils had the opportunity to take part in three sports throughout the day.
The morning session began with the children being introduced to judo by Judo Scotland’s Regional Disability Development Officer, Johnny Imrie. Johnny is an ambassador for judo within the special schools and annually delivers a programme of taster sessions as well as leading a weekly ASN Judo Club.
This was followed by an athletics session delivered by a team of qualified coaches from local community clubs. Pupils took part in a number of fun relay races, javelin, sprints and standing long jump.
The day ended with all schools participating in a basketball session delivered by Boroughmuir Blaze Basketball Club and players participated in a range of skills based activity including shooting, passing and dribbling.
Find out more
The Active Schools team would like to thank all the schools who took part in this incredible celebration of sport. They look forward to welcoming everyone back next year. Be sure to save the date: Wednesday 23 May, 2018.
