Youth Sports Trust

OLYMPIC heptathlete gold medallist Denise Lewis has joined forces with a major charity to help promote promote sport in schools.

 Denise, who won the gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, has taken up a position as Early Years Ambassador for the Youth Sports Trust and is also helping to raise awareness of Zoneparc, a primary school playground development programme that is proven to increase children's activity levels and their enjoyment of the playground, as well as improving playground behaviour. 

As a mother of two young children, Denise understands the importance of active play to help develop children's imagination as well as getting them into the habit of living an active lifestyle. She said: 'I can still remember my first PE teacher, Mr Moyle, who inspired me to be the best I could. I've no doubt it was because of his influence that I succeeded at the heptathlon, and I hope that I can help inspire the next generation of British athletes.' 'I understand that, for some children, the playground can be a daunting place.

Zoneparc has had some great successes in reducing common problems associated with playtimes as well as being an important step to help get all young people active.' The Zoneparc programme has been funded by the Department for Children, School and Families, along with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, working in partnership with local education authorities and School Sport Partnerships.  Zoneparc playgrounds are custom-designed especially for the varying needs of each school, but the principle remains the same in each school: to have activity areas coded for different types of activity. The red zone is a sports zone for small-sided court games – for example, children can set up goals or practice cricket.

The blue zone is the action zone, with markings for targets, hopscotch and the like, while the yellow zone is the 'chill-out zone', with benches for table-top games. Research shows that, in schools that have installed Zoneparc equipment, incidents of bad behaviour have decreased by 63 per cent among children aged seven to 11, with 89 per cent of schools reporting that children in the same age group have become more active. Denise has recently spent time at several schools that have installed Zoneparc equipment, seeing for herself what a difference it can make.

At the Inglehurst Junior School, in Leicester, she joined in with the fun at lunchtime, as well as taking part in a Year 4 PE class in the playground.  The school's head teacher Christine Glass explained that, as well as installing the equipment, the school had committed to funding two Zoneparc 'leaders' - playground supervisors who are particularly sporty and able to enthuse young people. Older children are also developed as leaders, with Year 5 and Year 6 pupils given the responsibility of arranging group activities as well as acting as mentors for younger children and those who are having problems socialising. 

Mrs Glass said: 'There is no point in installing equipment like this unless you are ready to commit to making it work – otherwise it's just a posh playground. The school governors were more than happy to fund the playground supervisors, though, and they have made a huge difference in getting the kids active. It is immensely rewarding to watch the children developing as young sports people. Behaviour has improved no end, both in the playground and in the classroom, so it has been a great result all round.' Denise concluded: 'The school visits have been truly inspirational and, after each one, I went home a happier person. The enthusiasm of the staff and children is truly infectious and the impact made by the Zoneparc equipment has obviously been immense. Of course schools have an academic role - but sport can help to get the very best out of young people and there's no doubt it helps them in the classroom as well. It gives them confidence and happiness –  and this spills over into the rest of their school life. I'm delighted to be involved with this very worthy project.' 

For more information on Zoneparc and the work of the Youth Sports Trust visit www.youthsportstrust.org