Athletics masterclass for Erdington pupils from Louise Hazel
Jun 23 2010 by Ken Montgomery, Birmingham Mail
LUCKY pupils at Lindsworth School in Erdington were treated to an athletics masterclass with British heptathlete Louise Hazel.
Hazel, who finished 14th at last year’s Berlin World Championships, put the youngsters through their paces in running, jumping and throwing – the fundamental building blocks of the sport.
Lindsworth are one of just ten schools across the UK who have earned the right to have their pupils’ skills honed by a past or present star of the Aviva Great Britain and Northern Ireland team, thanks to the Aviva Elevating Athletics Fund.
And assistant head teacher and head of PE Heath Mason – who has been at Lindsworth for a decade – admitted Hazel’s presence has got his pupils dreaming of a career in sport.
“It was absolutely fantastic and Louise was great,” said Mason.
“We do a lot of multi-sports at the school and the lessons given by Louise will be invaluable going forward.
“We applied for a similar thing through Norwich Union about four or five years ago and I tried to get as many members of staff this time around to apply again.
“Last time around we had Ashia Hansen come out and help and we have a really big sporting culture and Louise, like Ashia, is a really influential figure.
“Everyone will be watching her at the Commonwealth Games now later in the year and hopefully we can be cheering her on to a medal.
“It is really important that because we are a special school we give people access to the opportunities sport brings and see where it takes them.
“You only have to look at football and people like Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney to see that if you have a bit of talent you can go a long way.”
And with only two years to go until the Olympic Games come to London in 2012, Hazel is desperate to make sure the opportunity to get children interested in the sport doesn’t go begging.
“I went along to teach the basics and those skills can be taken across into all sports, and it wasn’t only for the pupils, the teachers were involved as well,” she said.
“My experience of PE and PE teachers has always been a positive one.
“They were always the first point of contact for me and any advice I can give them, the better.
“I started with Year Eight and Year Ten – the older ones – then moved on to the others and it was really good.
“There was some talent around and they seemed to pick up things really quickly.”
n The Aviva Elevating Athletics Fund provides free training and support to every single teacher in the UK. To find out more visit aviva.co.uk/athletics
