The Salford Fair-Trade Sports Festival Finale, held in mid August in Salford Sports Village, was for young people aged 8-12 who had participated in Salford Community Leisure’s summer sport and leisure programme at a variety of venues across the city.

The event gave young people the opportunity to enjoy competition and to represent the area where they live, giving them a sense of being part of their community.

The day began with an opening ceremony, where each team represented a Rugby World Cup country by producing their country’s flag, which they had created. The flags were later displayed with a lap of the playing facilities for all to see!
 
The Games enabled young people to learn new skills and participate in a new sport or a sport that they enjoyed with the opportunity to take part in a competition. They were all awarded with medals for taking part, which the young people were especially thrilled with! Information regarding local clubs was passed on to the young people after the event.

There was also a ‘fair play/fair-trade’ trophy, which was awarded to the team who best demonstrated fair play throughout the day. As participants were made aware of this at the beginning of the Games, both those taking part in the event and the audience enjoyed great sportsmanship throughout, which included shaking hands with the opposition, respecting to the referees’ decisions and cheering for other teams!

The Games were supported by Salford City Council’s Fair-Trade steering group, who attended the event to promote fair-trade within the city.

The sports programme allows young people who have a shared common interest to come together and have fun. Sport keeps them active and discourages anti-social behaviour. It has been a success so Salford Community Leisure are looking to host a city wide sports festival again as part of their summer holiday programme 2014!