Queenswood’s budding sports journalists impress at School Games
Monday 5 September 2016
For three days at the start of September, six aspiring sports journalists and photographers from Queenswood had the privilege of attending the prestigious School Games at Loughborough University as part of the Young Media Team.
Over 1,600 competitors from across the UK represented their region in 12 sports, ranging from hockey and volleyball to judo and wheelchair basketball. The event was closely modelled on the Olympics and Paralympics, and there were several GB gold medallists from Rio 2016 in attendance to offer inspiration and encouragement.
They were invited to attend after Lower Sixth Sports Scholar Jess Hurley won a national blog-writing competition. They were tasked with producing a short film to capture the atmosphere and spirit of the games, in particular highlighting the crucial work of the 400 volunteers who make the event possible.
Queenswood girls meet GB’s Rio 2016 Olympic heroes
The girls amassed a range of media skills in a very short period of time, learning how to frame and capture the perfect sporting image, conduct media interviews, and work to a specific client brief and challenging deadline. They were lucky enough to meet and interview GB hockey star Alex Danson and gymnast Max Whitlock, as well as 2012 GB wheelchair rugby captain Steve Brown.
In their ‘downtime’ they had the chance to watch plenty of exciting competition action, and even got to try their hand at wheelchair basketball and unicycle hockey!
It was a tremendous experience for the young media team, many of whom are eager to return as volunteers next year, and we are extremely grateful to everyone at the Youth Sport Trust and the Reporters’ Academy for making it possible.
Watch the film put together by the Young Media Team below. Coming soon – the best of the student photography from the Games – watch this space!