International Youth Sport Festival, Schorndorf
22 May to 25 May 2008
Background
More than 800 athletes took part in the 17th International Youth Sports Festival hosted by Germany.
About Schorndorf, Germany
A picturesque medieval market town, Schorndorf is a municipality in the district of Cham in Bavaria in Germany and is approx. 30km from Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Warttemberg. The town is also the home of Gottlieb Daimler, inventor of the "light and fleet petroleum engine", born there in 1834.
Team Bury
A team of 62 young people aged between 12 and 16 showcased their sporting talents at this year’s event accompanied by four staff from the Bury Leisure Sports Development Team, Assistant Director Leisure Services, the Mayor and Mayoress of Bury and ten volunteers from local clubs.
Sports and activities at the festival
- Basketball
- Badminton
- Gymnastics
- Tennis
- Volleyball
- Football
- Judo
- Athletics
- Swimming
- Handball
- Badminton
- Table Tennis
A summary of Team Bury's competition
Athletics
A team of 19 young athletes from Bury Athletics Club enjoyed a sporting and cultural experience not be forgotten winning Gold in the Track and Field competition. All athletes now know what it is like to be on the podium after they all received medals for their achievements against teams from Tulle France, Dueville Italy, Renteria Spain and Lousada, Portugal.
Swimming
Rick Wesolowski, head coach from Ramsbottom ASC and his support staff of Mary Cahill, Rick Denny and Derek Bevin lead a strong Bury Metro swim squad made up off swimmers from the towns three clubs, Bury & Elton, Radcliffe, and Ramsbottom. The team made a great start with a string of first place wins from David Cahill, Will Salt and Tom Jackson for the boys and from the girls team Bryony Denney, Beth Kinsler, Victoria Donohoe and Chloe Evans. The 18 strong team contested every final with two or three swimmers battling it out for the medals.
The final 8 x 50 metre medley relay event saw the closest finish of the all day gala with the Bury squad touching out the team from Dueville, Italy. Numerous personal best times were set and all swimmers' represented the town to the highest of standards, both in and out of the water, and were a credit to the town, their clubs and most importantly themselves.
Swimming results:
First place - Bury, England (78 points)
Second place - Schorndorf, Germany (50 points)
Third place - Lousada, Portugal (49 points)
Fourth place - Renteria, Spain (29 points)
Fifth place - Dueville, Italy (27 points)
Gymnastics
For the first time in almost a decade a team of six gymnasts travelled to take part in the festival. Lucy Cunliffe, Mollie Gamble, Grace Cherowbrier, Charlotte Dutton, Siobhan Murray and Lucy Timperley, all members of Bury Gymnastics Club, competed against five teams from Germany, Austria and France. Although competition was strong the Bury team finished in a very creditable fourth place. With competition taking place on Friday, this left plenty of time to enjoy Schorndorf which must be one of the most picturesque towns in Germany. A great number of firm friendships were forged both within the Bury contingent and with our competitors. An experience that will live long in the memories of those involved.
Basketball
Bury Blue Devils Basketball Club, girls team, found their stride after the first game and went on to win each of their remaining fixtures. The European game is much more physical compared to England and the girls adjusted well to finish a commendable second to Lousada, Portugal.
The boys basketball team started well in their first group match with a 43-16 win over Tulle 1. The team then followed this result up with a 26-13 victory over Lousada to finish top of Group A at the end of day 1.
The boys started day 2 where they left off in day one, with great defence and smart offensive play from Alex Jones led to a 27-9 victory over Tulle's 3rd team. In the final group game, Matthew Carr and Michael Hinton created great opportunities and led the team to the top of the group with a 36-30 victory over Dueville 2.
However, in the semi-final stage, a tough test from Dueville 1 proved too much for the Bury side as they began to show fatigue and failed to score a field goal in the second half, losing 39-8 to the Italians.
This left the Bury team in a 3rd/4th playoff with Dueville 2, the team that they had beat in the group stage. However, after an energetic start, fatigue caught up on the Bury side again as they lost a 10 point lead to lose 44-40 in overtime.
