Forget London 2012 or Glasgow 2014 for the moment. The place to be this summer is Lanarkshire, for the prestigious International Children’s Games (ICG) 2011.
The ICG is a multi-sport, Olympic style event for participants aged 12 – 15 years old. This year will be the 45th Games and it will be the first time it has been held in Scotland. Up to 1,500 competitors will descend upon Lanarkshire, from around 80 different cities between 3rd and 8th August.
There will be nine sports on show – Athletics, Badminton, Football, Golf, Judo, Sailing, Swimming, Tennis and Volleyball, held across a number of North and South Lanarkshire venues.
The Volleyball event promises to be a spectacular affair. Our host teams – Lanarkshire Boys and Lanarkshire Girls will face teams from all over the world including USA, Canada, Poland, Slovenia and Israel, as well as competition in the Boys section from rival city Edinburgh. The event will be held over two courts at Wishaw Sports Centre, with pool matches starting on Friday 5th August and culminating with the finals on Sunday 7th August.
Our three Scottish sides have been working hard over the last year, and only recently have the full squads been selected. The Lanarkshire Boys, coached by Greg Coburn, are experienced and strong and will be looking to be medal contenders come August. The Lanarkshire Girls, coached by Nicola James are fast and tactical and again will be pushing for a medal position in August. The Edinburgh Boys side, coached by Heather Darling bring experience and speed to the game and will surely be on track to be one of the top teams.
Last weekend, the three Scottish sides played a friendly tournament in preparation for the ICG. Competing against experienced North Riding Eagles from England, our three finalised squads were able to put into practice all that they have been working on over the past year.
Final squad announcements will be made in the near future and details of the event schedule will be available closer to the start of the event. But put the date in your diary folks and get along to Wishaw Sports Centre from the 5th – 7th August 2011. This promises to be a fantastic display of youth volleyball and we want to show our visiting cities how well we do things here in Scotland.
Bring your flags, bring your drums and bring your whistles. Be in the crowd to cheer on Team Lanarkshire and Team Edinburgh or volunteer to help out at the event. Prove that Wishaw Sports Centre will be the place to be for a top class sporting event!
For more information on the ICG, visit http://www.icg-lanarkshire2011.com/