Mandeville School take part in a 2012 Inspire Day

Ciaran Wells, a year 10 student from Mandeville School, wrote this report about the day.

2012 Olympic Trip

On the 21st of March 2011, a select group of Mandeville students (including me) went on a school trip to see some Olympic events and venues. We started at the Guttmann Sports Centre where we met members of the Great Britain Sitting Volleyball team and had a go at playing Sitting Volleyball. The technique was quite hard to get used to but after about five minutes we were all starting to get the hang of it and were taking part in a friendly game in which our teacher, Miss Thompson, got very competitive.

After we finished at the Guttmann, we went to Dorney Lake where we visited the venue where the rowing at the 2012 Olympics is gong to be held. It was over 3000 metres long and it was very impressive. We got told some information about the lake including that is was a freshwater lake and it took over 15 years to complete, this was very informative and we found out a lot about an important venue for team GB at the 2012 games.

Once we had our photo taken and had a chance to look around Dorney Lake, we went down to the River and Rowing museum in Henley where they showed us the history of rowing and how the diets changed over time and how the rowers kept fit and what their training regime was. We then took part in some activities where we measured how fit we were compared to a rower. We found out that rowers are incredibly fit and healthy. We then proceeded to the museum where we found out the origins of rowing and how it became an Olympic event. We also saw what types of boats they used and how they changed over time.

All in all I felt this trip was very informative and very fun. We found out a lot and I am looking forward to the Olympics in 2012.