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The future of school sport in Sussex was debated by over 100 stakeholders from the education, health and sport sectors at the Amex Stadium on 1 May at the first Sussex School Sport Summit.

The summit was organised by Albion in the Community and Active Sussex in response to the government’s announcement in March of a new £150 million funding package for school sport and PE provision – the equivalent of approximately £9,250 per year over the next two years for every primary school in England.

Over £4 million of the government’s funding, which will come from the Department of Education, Department of Health and Department of Culture, Media and Sport, will be allocated to primary schools in Sussex.

Guests at the event examined the issues around the new funding. The general consensus was that pupils should be at the heart of the plans so they can be inspired by a high quality first experience of PE and school sport. A real interest was expressed to work inpartnership to maximise the opportunity presented, and create a sustainable legacy. Delegates recorded the hot topics on Twitter, allowing interested parties who could not attend to participate remotely.

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The familiar crowd of cyclists, footballers, rollerbladers and keep fit fanatics on Hove Lawns’ iconic seafront will have a genteel addition of golf this Bank Holiday Sunday.

A whole selection of golfing tasters will be taking over Hove Lawns for the duration of Bank Holiday Sunday featuring nets for big hitting, putting greens and three tri golf holes featuring artificial trees, bunkers – even a lake!

Pro golfers will be there to provide top tips to anyone trying out the sport for the first time.

Sussex Golf Week launch event, Sunday 26 May, 10.30am-4.30pm. Hove Lawns, Hove Seafront. Free admission

http://www.sussexgolfpartnership.org/

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Calling all Sport Makers – Active Sussex has a pair of tickets up for grabs for the AEGON International Tennis Tournament in Eastbourne this June.

In partnership with the Lawn Tennis Association, Active Sussex is offering a lucky Sport Maker the opportunity to win two tickets to the AEGON International Tennis Tournament, which takes place 15-22 June.

To win the tickets we are asking you to complete 10 Sport Maker hours specifically through tennis. So dust off those racquets, don some shorts, if you dare, and enjoy the summer season of tennis!

You could head to your local park with your mates and have a game, or help out at your local tennis club. This is your opportunity to make tennis happen at any level, and you could be in with a chance of winning this fantastic prize.

How to Enter

Email Gina Rogers at grogers@activesussex.org outlining what you have done to achieve your 10 Sport Maker hours through tennis. It may be that you have already completed a few hours and you need to top up the rest. This is absolutely fine – as long as you complete the full 10 hours you will be eligible to win. Please also include your contact details: full name, email address, postal address (suitable for receiving tickets) and a contact telephone number.

Pictures of you playing tennis are welcome and encouraged! Share your photos on our Sussex Sport Makers Facebook page

For further information on clubs and courts in your area please visit www.lta.org.uk/allplaytennis/ type in your postcode and away you go.

The closing date for the competition is Friday 31 May. You will need to be available on Monday 17 June to attend the tournament.

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People across the country are coming together in celebration of the Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relay's one-year anniversary with a unique programme of events and celebrations retracing the journey of the Olympic flame.

Starting on May 19 in Land's End, the Community Games "shine a light" relay will follow the route of last year's Olympic and Paralympic torch relay route across England,

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Wakeboarder Lily Mcbride, who coached last year's Sportivate Wakeboarding for Girls at Hove Lagoon Watersports, funded by Active Sussex

Sport England has allocated £24m worth of funding to extend its Sportivate programme. 

The scheme, which will run until 2017, has been designed to help 14- to 25-year-olds to get involved in sports by offering discounted and free sessions in sports ranging from judo and tennis to wakeboarding. It is delivered by the network of 49 county sports partnerships, working with local clubs and providers.

It aims to give young people - who currently aren't playing sport in their own time - the chance to find a sport they like. The young people are then helped to find a club or venue where they can keep taking part. Research shows that most of the young people are sticking with sport three months after they've completed the Sportivate course.

New figures published today show almost 190,000 teenagers and young adults have so far benefitted from free or discounted six- to eight-week sport courses through Sportivate. Of these, 156,547 have successfully completed their coaching course, missing no more than one session.

Sport England chief executive Jennie Price, said: "Sportivate's success is built on listening to what young people want from sport and then giving them great opportunities to get involved.

"With dozens of traditional and non-traditional sports on offer, lots of young people are getting active and discovering a sport they really enjoy and want to keep playing."

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England Basketball's Miguel Tello chooses his top five places to play ball in Sussex.

1. Brighton Beach Seafront Court

Free to use and open year round, the court on Brighton's iconic seafront is the unofficial hub for street ball in Sussex.

Miguel says: " A fantastic location, with load of passers by, means this is busy all year round with a readymade audience to watch your skills."

Best

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Schools from the nine School Games areas did their regions proud at the Sussex School Games Winter Finals, which took place on 6 March at Lancing College.

The Winter Finals is an annual seasonal competition focusing on team sport. It features just four disciplines – football, hockey, netball and rugby sevens – with the best teams drawn from Sussex schools competing for regional and individual honours. Over 400 children took part on the day.

Active Sussex and the Sainsbury's School Games Local Organising Committee are delighted to announce the final results for first placed and runners-up and the overall standings for each region are as follows:

Year 5/6 Girls Football

Winner: West Green Primary School (Crawley) – pictured
Runner-up: Sacred Heart Catholic Primary (Hastings & Rother)

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Sport England has announced 'favoured' areas for the latest round of its Inspired Facilities fund. In Sussex the areas are: Hastings, Adur, Eastbourne and Mid Sussex.

The latest round of Inspired Facilities is now open for applications and will close on 29 April. Billed as "an easier way to access facilities funding", 70 per cent of the fund is earmarked for community and voluntary organisations – including sports clubs – who can apply for grants worth between £20,000 and £50,000. Local authorities, statutory bodies and education establishments such as schools, can apply for grants between £20,000 and £150,000.

Due to the popularity of the programme, and based on experience from earlier rounds, Sport England has chosen to favour applications from certain areas and sports that have not received significant funds in the first three rounds. These two additional priorities will only come into effect when Sport England is considering a small number of projects on the cusp of being funded.

In Sussex, the four local authority areas to be 'favoured' are Hastings, Adur, Eastborune and Mid Sussex. 

Needless to say, this does not mean that if an application is received from one of these areas that it will automatically be successful. It still has to be a very good project and will be assessed in the same way as all other applications.

Further details on local authority areas yet to submit a successful application can be downloaded here: inspiredfacilities.sportengland.org

Read on and apply

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Primary schools across Sussex will each receive a cash boost worth £9,000 a year to spend on sport, the government announced on Saturday.

The ring-fenced money, totalling £150m nationally, will go directly into the hands of heads and teachers who will decide how the money is best spent. 

Sport England, the national agency for community sport, is committing £1.5m a year of lottery funding

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Project 500 is a new campaign to address the imbalance in the numbers of male to female coaches. Devised by the seven South East county sports partnerships, the project aims to recruit 500 women to coaching over the next two years.  

Launched on 8 March to mark International Women's Day, Project 500 is a pilot scheme, with plans to roll it out nationally after an initial trial period. Key to

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Competitors warm up at the inaugural Sussex School Games, K2 Crawley, July 2012

School sport in Sussex is set for a boost after Sport England announced additional National Lottery funding for Sainsbury's School Games Festivals.

The Sainsbury's School Games, which is delivered by the Youth Sport Trust, is jointly managed in Sussex by Active Sussex and the local organising committee as the Sussex School Games.

Sadie Mason, chief executive of Active Sussex, said: "We are very pleased to acknowledge the extra investment from Sport England in the Sussex School Games. The Games are a chance for Sussex schools to come together for a day of competition and celebration.

"Building on the incredible debut event in 2012, which saw 1,200 school children take part at K2 Crawley, we are thrilled that this year we will host two events in Sussex – a winter and summer games. Active Sussex is particularly proud that the first of these is being hosted by Lancing College."

The local organising committees for School Games festivals in the South East, which include Sussex, Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Kent, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Isle of Wight, are each to receive at least £45,000 of Lottery funding from Sport England which will help make their events a real celebration of sport.

In 2012, 14,660 young people took part in Sainsbury's School Games festivals across the South East, inspired by the incredible year of sport that the country witnessed. The events in the South East were made possible by the hard work schools and 1,247 volunteers, most of whom were young people themselves.

Sport England's Director of Community Sport, Mike Diaper, said: "Young people can look forward to an inspirational sporting experience at their local Sainsbury's School Games Festival, thanks to this lottery funding. Last year's events were a huge success - something everyone involved should feel proud of – and they're set to be even better in 2013."

John Steele, Chief Executive Officer at the Youth Sport Trust, said: "The Sainsbury's School Games Festivals offer young people a fantastic opportunity to take part and compete across a range of sports against their peers. The funding for these festivals will help make the events an exciting and inspiring occasion for those taking part."

The Susssex School Games Winter Finals take place on Wednesday 6 March at Lancing College. Special guest is Team GB Olympic hockey star Alex Danson

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Hockey international Alex Danson is the special guest at the Sussex School Games Winter Finals, Lancing College, on 6 March.

The 27-year-old was joint top scorer in the London 2012 hockey side and her opening goal in the play-off against New Zealand helped Team GB to Olympic bronze. She made her international debut at just 16 and was named in the FIH World All Stars Team in 2011.

What do you love about your sport?

It's fast, physical and requires a high level of skill – but most of all I love playing in a team, competing alongside my team mates.

What has been the highlight of your hockey career so far?

Standing on the podium at London 2012 was incredible and a moment I will never forget. We had worked so hard for so long to get there. It was a combination of excitement, relief and total pride to share that moment with my friends and team mates.

What's the biggest setback you've faced and how did you overcome it?

I have dislocated my shoulders on a number of occasions, often close to major tournaments. Being injured is a very isolating time as you are so used to be around training with all your friends. Suddenly you are training alone and desperately trying to rehab over short time periods. The best way I have dealt with it is to plan methodically, work closely with my physio and set very clear, measurable targets.

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Active Sussex hosted a coaches' breakfast on the last Friday of Brighton and Hove's TakePart festival, adding a vital networking element to the successful fortnight of sporting events.

Over 20 coaches made their way to the Yellowave Beach Cafe on Brighton seafront at 7:30am on 8 July for coffee and pastries, before an hour of networking and discussion.

"We wanted to see if the breakfast meeting format, already well-established in the business world, would transfer to the coaching community," said Active Sussex's Anthony Statham, who organised the event.

"Judging by the turnout and feedback, this is clearly something we would look to repeat elsewhere in the county, as well as here in Brighton."

For more information on coaches' network meetings, contact Anthony Statham on astatham@activesussex.org or 01273 644149.

See all the photos from the coaches' breakfast

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