Wanted:
David Beckham understudies for next England XI - BBC Sport Academy
opens
Kids all over the country who've been desperate to find out how
Beckham curls the ball into the top corner, how Warne bowls a googley
or how Henman hits a cross-court winner can now find out all the
tricks of the trade and inspiring stories from the stars with the
opening of the new BBC Sport Academy.
Denise
Lewis, Tim Henman, Jonny Wilkinson, Mark Ramprakash, Colin Jackson
and Matthew Pinsent are just a few of more than 60 high-profile
sporting heroes supporting the Academy to show youngsters how to
get started and what it takes to be the best, in nine different
sports.
Sport
Academy is available to everyone in the UK at www.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy
and designed to encourage kids of all ages to discover new sports
and get even better at the ones they already love with the
help of a few professional secrets along the way.
The
slick new website opens its doors today bursting with hundreds of
pages including video masterclasses where the stars show you how
it's done, animated skills and training drills to improve technique,
rules and equipment guides, interviews with sporting legends, coaching
tips, games and details of what sports are on near you.
Football,
rugby union, basketball, swimming, tennis, cricket, golf, rugby
league and athletics are all spotlighted on the site, as well as
a fantastic bank of information to help kids get started in the
gym, skills and fitness training drills, healthy eating advice for
the perfect body machine and a virtual treatment room if pulling
on the jogging pants proved to be too much too soon.
For
those working up to getting physical, there are ten different interactive
sports games on the site such as training up an athlete TamagotchiTM
style, or being Denise Lewis in the Olympic heptahtlon, plus weekly
SMS challenges where players can try and beat high-scores set by
Nick Faldo putting blindfold or header keep-ups with Michael Owen,
for example.
James
Cracknell, Olympic Gold medal winning rower in the coxless fours
said: "If you want to be a winner you need commitment, enthusiasm
and focus. The BBC Sport Academy is the first step for the next
generation of stars to become real winners."
The
UK's most famous sporting heroes plus the biggest sporting bodies
such as the FA, RFU, British Swimming Association and LTA have come
together with BBC Sport to create the Academy.
It's
a long-term plan with the aim of developing grass roots sport throughout
back yards, leisure centres and schools to advise Britain's stars
of the future.
Peter
Salmon, Head of BBC Sport said: "It's been a great summer of
sporting excellence and what better time for the BBC to launch such
a great initiaitive to really fire up youngsters to get involved
in grass-roots sports.
"It's
vital to start grooming stars of the future well in advance and
BBC Sport Academy is a brilliant way for all the governing bodies
to begin working towards a single goal in sports development.
"We're
immensely proud of BBC Sport's role in the Academy and delighted
that we're able to bring such a raft of the best information to
so many young people in one site."
Notes
to Editors
BBC
Sport Academy is a joint iniative between BBC Sport and BBC Learning
with links across BBC Wales, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland
working together to provide a unique resource for budding sports
stars and schools throughout the UK.
The
BBC Sport Academy website is designed and managed by a dedicated
team within BBC Sport.
Further information about Sport Academy is available below in pdf
format. You may require Adobe Acrobat Software to read PDF files
which can be obtained here.
Introduction (99
KB)
What's on the site (175
KB)
Special Features (89
KB)
Support for Sport (181
KB)
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