Norfolk athletics chair says future of grassroots sport is bright, with 10 featuring at Olympics' trials
There's rowing, fencing, badminton and shooting events taking place tomorrow, in the French Capital
Last updated 26th Jul 2024
The chair of an athletics club in Norfolk is telling us the future of the local sport's never been brighter, with ten athletes at the Olympic trials, coming from the county.
The games in Paris officially gets underway, today with the opening ceremony taking place at the heart of the city, and competitions running until mid August.
"You don't know what you're good at until you try it"
Clive Poyner is from Athletics Norfolk and also coaches in Norwich:
"We've got Henry Jones who's qualified for the World Juniors and we've got Conrad Winter who's knocking on the door, for that".
"Fifteen years ago, there was a lad who was running around thinking he was going to a 200 or 400 metre runner. But then he went over to the hammer circle, picked one up and really enjoyed it.
"Then he was English Schools Champion for three years and top ten in the country for 10 years. You don't know what you're good at until you try it and we find that all the time.
"Since the pandemic, the number of volunteers has become an issue. People seem less willing to give up their time and prefer to do other things.".
"I'm a little bit concerned that we're going to a get a wash of young people coming in, ready to try things after the Olympics but that we won't have the people to service that"
What happens now?
There's rowing, fencing, badminton and shooting events taking place, tomorrow. The full schedule can be found here.