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Regional StreetGames Festival Success

Hundreds of young people from across the region came together for the annual ‘Regional StreetGames Festival’ at The Sporting Club of Cramlington in Northumberland. Professional coaches including representatives from Newcastle Eagles were on hand to inspire young participants throughout the day.

This built on the success of last year’s inaugural festival in Middlesbrough and this summer’s local StreetGames events, from which partcipants were selected from across Tees Valley, Durham and Tyne & Wear to join those from Northumberland to partake in a range of activities including street dance, handball, tennis factory, climbing wall, triathlon, ultimate frisbee and cricket. Teams were also selected by co-ordinators throughout the region to compete in basketball, street cheer and football challenges which proved to be very rewarding and enjoyable for all involved.

The festival was organised by StreetGames, a charity dedicated to developing sporting opportunities for young people living in disadvantaged communities. This was supported by the Northumberland Sport Partnership, who currently host the StreetGames Development Officer, Carl Andersen, for the North of the Tyne area.

Carl, who organised this year’s festival, said “We were delighted to have hosted this year’s Festival in Northumberland. It was great to see so many young people gaining enjoyment from activities such as Street Dance, Ultimate Frisbee and Handball. This will hopefully encourage these young participants to now make sport a regular part of their everyday lives.

I would also like to thank the Co-Operative for their continued support with the Co-operative StreetGames volunteering scheme to tackle social exclusion and of course the young volunteers themselves on the day, who demonstrated their skills to learn what it takes to put on a major sporting event.”

Su Cumming, the regional representative for StreetGames, was very keen to see the festival build on the success of last year;

Su said, “This was a fantastic opportunity for all our young people to show their sporting talents in a fun and friendly environment. The event was a fantastic finale to this summer’s StreetGames events and demonstrates how StreetGames continues to grow across the region providing sporting activities to many young people who would not usually have access to these kind of opportunities.”

Lee Sprudd of Northumberland Sport, said “It was fantastic to see so many young people enjoying themselves, trying out new activities and being able to represent their local communities and youth groups. Hopefully this experience and information made available on the day will encourage further participation in local clubs and community groups in the region for many years to come.”