On your marks for the 2012 Games

Jul 12 2006 By Poppy Brady, Birmingham Mail

THERE may still be 2,000 days to go - but youngsters at a Birmingham school are already counting down to the biggest sporting event ever to be staged in Britain.

Hamstead Hall School, in Handsworth Wood, had the honour of being the first port of call outside London for the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games campaign bus.

The 2012 message is being taken to every corner of the UK with the roadshow bus visiting cities as part of its 3,000-mile jounrey across the nation.

Olympic gold medallist Jonathan Edwards, now a member of the Olympic Games organising committee, met youngsters at the school in Craythorne Avenue to inspire them to aim higher.

Mike Watson, community club project manager at the school, who manages all out-of-hours sporting activies at the school, said: "The roadshow is a great way of involving youngsters in the Olympic Games and what it will mean for them.

"The school itself has a very strong ethos of community involvement in sport. Local people can enjoy a wide variety of sports after school hours such as tennis, gymnastics, archery, football and hockey.

"It means that the school's excellent sporting facilities are not lying unused once the school day is finished."

Lord Coe, who chairs the organising committee for the games, said: "The great thing about the Olympic and Paralympic Games is that pretty much everyone wants to be involved in some way.

"The roadshow will help people feel part of the 2012 experience."

* Have your say on this story at www.birminghammail.net/news/yoursay