Gold, silver and bronze at P&G Surrey Youth Games

Around 180 children from the length and breadth of the borough participated in over a dozen sports and more than 20 events in the annual Olympic-style sports competition which took place at the world class Surrey Sports Park in Guildford. They competed against teams from the other 10 Surrey boroughs and districts in sports including hockey, table tennis, netball, boccia and cricket, among others, winning gold in five events, silver in four and one bronze.

Congratulating the Reigate & Banstead team, Cllr Ros Mill, Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Wellbeing, said: “Our young people have shown a fantastic team spirit participating in the P&G Surrey Youth Games, each competing to the very best of their ability. I am enormously proud of their hard work and their amazing achievements. We take part each year in the P&G Surrey Youth Games as it is a way for children, regardless of their sporting background, to try out a new sport for free with expert coaching. Winning so many medals is a wonderful bonus!”

The results were a particular highlight for Reigate & Banstead’s hockey teams who were trained by volunteers from Horley Hockey Club. The teams were made up children and young people from Banstead, Reigate and Horley, drawn from three different clubs and 10 different schools. Some children had no prior experience of hockey before coming to the first training session. They won gold in both the boys’ and the girls’ events.

Free training offered by Reigate & Banstead Borough Council and supported by Better, Osborne, Esure and Total Gas began after Easter and was taken up by around 350 children in Reigate & Banstead. Local sports clubs provided the training which has taken place after school and at weekends over the past two months.

“I’m very grateful to our coaches and local clubs who did an excellent job of training the children and to our sponsors. I know that parents were impressed with the calm and supportive approach of the coaches at the Games, making sure that all the children had the chance to play,” said Cllr Mill.