Thousands of school children ‘Get Set’ to take their 2012 seats

Thousands of school children across London will find out today (March 15th) which London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic sports their school has been awarded tickets for, thanks to LOCOG’s ‘Get Set’ Ticketshare scheme.

Two years ago the Mayor, pledged that one in eight school children across London would be able to see the action first hand when the Games come to the capital this summer. Since then more than 125,000 tickets have been set aside for them and their accompanying adults at no cost to the schools, to parents or to the taxpayer.

Today the 2,419 schools, attended by over 90 per cent of the capital's 10-18 year olds, who joined the London 2012 ‘Get Set’ Education Network, will receive a letter from the Mayor and Seb Coe today telling them exactly what sports, which sessions and what venues they have been allocated tickets for.

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson made the announcement while visiting the Ravensbourne School in Bromley, which has been allocated 168 tickets including 103 for Olympic and Paralympic athletics at the Olympic Stadium, 22 for basketball and 26 for football.

65 per cent of the tickets that have been made available will give school children and their accompanying adults access to the Olympic Park in Stratford. This includes 18,800 tickets for Olympic Sports in the Olympic Park including Athletics, Cycling, Basketball, Handball and Hockey and 60,000 Paralympic athletics tickets for the Olympic Stadium. There are also 18,004 tickets to watch football at the iconic Wembley stadium and 654 tickets for equestrian events in Greenwich.

The Mayor Boris Johnson said: “We’re heading into what will surely be the most exciting and inspiring summer of sport this country has every seen, and it is only right that the capital’s young people are at the heart of the action. Working with LOCOG we’ve secured a huge variety of tickets, across a diverse range of sports for one in eight London school children. But this has always been about more than witnessing a moment of sporting magic, it’s about building a lasting sporting legacy which will benefit London for years to come, motivating these youngsters to strive for gold in their own lives and motivating others to get involved in sport in their local area.”

LOCOG Chair Sebastian Coe said, ‘Today is an exciting day as thousands of schools across London and the UK will find out what sports they will be seeing this summer. The opportunity for young people to see world class sport close up is something that was a core part of the bid and through our Get Set programme and the London 2012 Ticketshare scheme, thousands will be part of the Games.’

Building a last sporting legacy is central to London’s role as Host City. As well as insuring that London’s young people have access to the Games, the Mayor of London has already invested more than £15 million in grassroots sport across the capital, through his Sports Legacy Programme, helping to build or refurbish 61 sports facilities; fund over 10,000 people to train as sports coaches and officials; and support large-scale participation projects such as Parkrun and the London School of Basketball that will engage around 200,000 Londoners in sport.

Over the next few weeks nine sports facilities that have been funded through the Mayor’s Sports Legacy Programme will open their doors. These include a new sports hall at the University of East London, a new artificial grass pitch at the Samuel Montagu Youth Club in Kidbrooke, and new nets and wickets at the OD Cuaco Cricket Club in Beckenham.