Sir Mo Farah Inspires Local School Teachers

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Addresses conference about the importance of physical activity

Running legend Sir Mo Farah joins Hounslow schools sport conference

Multiple Olympic gold medal winner Sir Mo Farah was back on home turf recently to address a schools conference on the importance of sport for children.

He joined more than 200 representatives from schools across the borough of Hounslow to champion the role that physical activity plays in the lives of young people.

The annual conference, which was hosted by Sport Impact and funded by Hounslow Council, aims to promote the importance of children being active and developing a lifelong love of activity and sport.

The event was held at Twickenham Stoop Stadium and the teachers attending were offered a host of workshops.

Sarah Mander, P.E Subject Lead from Isleworth Town Primary School, said, “The conference yesterday was fantastic! The workshops were informative and we came away enthused and ready to look at different areas for implementing ideas cross curricular.”

Local and national sporting partners from the FA, Youth Sport Trust, Lampton Leisure, More Than Rugby and many more were joined by special guest Sir Mo, to hear about his incredible journey from local pupil to sporting legend. As a child Farah attended Isleworth and Syon School, and Feltham Community College.

His athletic talent was first identified by then P.E teacher Alan Watkinson, who is now Director of Sport Impact. He said, “. The overriding message was the need to ensure children from all backgrounds had full access to opportunities to be physically active.

“This has never been more important because of the pandemic and we hope that delegates had some excellent insight into, not only why we need to do this, but how they might apply this to their schools. It was great to be able to access some outstanding key-note speakers and to round the day off with an interview with my famous ex-pupil Sir Mo Farah. That was the icing on the cake!"

Other key-note speakers included Hounslow’s Director of Public Health, Kelly O’Neill, she said, “It was my privilege to speak at the conference last week and outline how physical activity and your health are explicitly linked.

“The physical and mental health benefits of playing sport and keeping active are astronomical. And we all know that developing a love of sport begins in childhood.

“In my speech, I addressed the key health inequalities and how we can create opportunities for children of all ages and backgrounds to participate in sports.”

And with the UEFA Women’s Euros due to be hosted at Brentford Community Stadium in July, an FA Girls workshop sought to inspire local girls to play the beautiful game.

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February 4, 2022