HUNDREDS of children have been getting in the sporting spirit and raising their game as they prepare for the Olympics.
Staff and children at Helsby High School have competed in triathlons, dribbled their way through football competitions and carried makeshift torches through their classrooms to raise hundreds of pounds for charity.
As well as enjoying competitions and learning about the science behind the Games, the school is getting ready to support one of the sporting students competing in a national basketball competition at one of the Olympic stadiums next month.
In two weeks time, Nathan Maguire will be one of the first to experience the sporting spirit of the capital when he stays in the Olympic Village as he competes in the Sainsbury’s UK School Games at the EXCEL stadium.
The 14-year-old, who is hoping to net gold as he competes in the wheelchair basketball competition, will be playing his favourite sport at the spot where his heroes will compete in the 2012 Paralympic Wheelchair Basketball Championships later this year.
Nathan, who has played for the Manchester Mavericks for six years, was recently chosen to play for the North of England Paralympic team after being spotted by a talent scout during a series of training sessions.
While he prepares for the competition, Nathan is striving to improve his skills to compete in the Paralympic Games in 2016.
Meanwhile, the rest of the school enjoyed an Olympic-themed science and engineering week where they studied athletes’ reaction times, the design of canoe courses and the mathematical problems of a staggered race start.
Pupils and teachers took part in Olympic-themed fundraising events which raised £600 for Sports Relief, with forms across the lower school taking it in turns to carry a torch for the day and take part in relay races, sponsored silences and a 24-hour famine.
Teachers also took part in a sponsored triathlon, running, rowing and cycling events.
Earlier this year 16-year-old Helsby High School student Lucy Doherty was named as one of the torch-bearers to carry the Olympic flame through Chester after blasting the competition out of the water in swimming competitions across the county.
