Black Country school games to honour Tunisia terror attack victim Joel Richards
The Black Country school games summer festival will return to Wolverhampton this month and will honour a teenager killed in the Tunisia beach attack.
Up to 10,000 young people from across the region will descend on the University of Wolverhampton's Walsall campus for the sports extravaganza on June 24.
The festival will celebrate the life of 19-year-old Joel Richards, who died alongside his uncle Adrian and grandfather Patrick in Sousse last year.
The games will be raising money for the Smile for Joel campaign set up in tribute to the teenager, who was one of the young ambassadors who had previously helped organise the annual event.
The festival is the culmination of a six-month programme and includes ten school sports, an opening and closing ceremony and a variety of events, for which young people have been at the heart of its planning and delivery.
All the participants will receive a special award on the day to mark being involved in the event.
In addition, the event will count down to the Olympic Games in Rio, which take place six weeks after the festival.
Teams taking part in the event will compete in a variety of different sports including athletics, track and field athletics, cricket, dodge ball, rounders, rugby, tri-golf, football and triathlon sports.
"It's quite a packed day" said Ross Taylor, one of the organisers. "This is the eighth year that we've done it. The aim is to get more people involved in sports at a young age in the hope that they'll carry on into adulthood."
