Car park 12 at Warwick University may be next to the athletics track, but never before had the site seen such a range of sporting activity going on as it did on Bank Holiday Sunday when the 2012 Roadshow took up all the parking spaces! Sharing the date with the final day of events at the UK School Games in Coventry, was always going to be a recipe for success and the amazing backdrop of a clear blue sky set the scene for the Roadshow’s second visit to the West Midlands.
 With Sport England offering taster sessions across a great range of sports including rowing, boccia, canoeing, basketball and tennis to name a few, there were soon crowds of people coming down to have a look and ‘join in’. Perhaps new to the Roadshow was the chance to watch the current Senior European Champions at single rope skipping, the West Midlands’ very own Blue and White Rope Skippers, demonstrate their skills and give people a chance to jump the ropes under their careful instruction. This was something that Tessa Jowell, Olympics Minister, was keen to see when she paid a visit to the Roadshow, asking the team to give her a demonstration of their championship winning skills.
Sport England’s Sporting Champion James Hillier was on hand to give a master class in hurdling techniques to volunteers from the audience. There were some promising first time hurdlers that were put through their paces by James. The crowd was also enthralled by the football skills of Colin Nell, who juggled golf balls, tennis balls and did amazing manoeuvres whilst keeping a football on the move! The crowds all wanted to learn the skills and enthusiastically lined up to learn how to do it.  The numbers trying their hand on the rowing machines made it seem as though the ARA was running its own mini regatta and the canoe ‘ergos’ were also in great demand.
A great endorsement for the day was a comment made by one governing body representative at the event, “all the sports should be here to give people a chance to have a go”.
Great if we could have made room for everyone, but we did try to fit in as many sports as we could and hopefully everyone went away having tried something different!
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