The 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and major sporting events around the globe have been cancelled – but the Viking Academy Trust summer Viking Games Challenge is forging ahead.
The third annual competition between children from Upton Juniors, Chilton Primary and Ramsgate Arts Primary is now underway as a virtual event.
Children learning from home and those in school are taking part in the Trust’s ‘isolation games’ where they represent their team houses that contain members from each school.
They are sent a series of challenges and fun activities to take part in their own home via online streaming. Participants wear their Viking Games team colour shirts – red, blue, green, yellow – and they are invited to send photographs and videos of their performances into the school’s respective sports coaches.
These will become part of the Viking Games blog and gallery that will run online on each school’s website and will be updated each week.
The challenges will run for the whole of Term 6 with the trophy winners announced when the coaches have totalled the points for each activity at the end of July before the summer break.
Executive Head Teacher Michaela Lewis said: “It is on your marks, get set, go for the Viking Games, but this year with a twist. The event, which was started in 2018, is usually run over four days and is one of the high points of the school year for the three schools.
“We are determined for our third annual games to go ahead and our sports coaches created the VAT isolation games in which our children – and their families – can take part, exercise and have fun.
“The continuation of this event underlines and strengthens the community bond between our schools that has been so apparent and which has worked so well during the last few months of lockdown.”
Sports coaches Jenny Horrigan (RAPS), Emma Knight (Chilton) and Callum Noble (Upton) said: “We hope the children have fun as well as enjoying the competitive part of the Isolation Games. We can’t wait to see how imaginative they will be with some of the challenges that will be set in the coming weeks.”
Challenges include traditional sports like cycling and running to more fun activities like tossing a tea bag into a cup from different distances.
Callum added: “We have been so inspired by the children in these unforeseen times. They have been showing us how they have challenged themselves at home with the PE activities set via each of their own schools sports coach – it gives us a real sense of achievement too”
Jenny and Emma agreed. They said: “It is wonderful that even in these isolated times, we can still give the children challenges, encouragement and fun ways to still enjoy sports activities, plus reinforcing their sense of belonging to the Viking Academy Trust community.
“We thought it was important to try our best to give them a little bit of normality, as this is what they would be involved in, at this time of year.”