At Birmingham 2022, a total of 265 former School Games athletes competed for the home nations, winning a total of 100 medals (126 medallists). Nine School Games alumni represented their nation in the historic first ever appearance of wheelchair basketball at the Commonwealth Games.
Team Northern Ireland and GB athlete James MacSorley competed in the first ever editions of the School Games Finals in 2011 and 2012. Alongside James competing in Birmingham was Conn Nagle (2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018) and Nathan McCabe (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2021).
Winning bronze in both the men’s and women’s competitions, Team England also had a score of School Games alumni out on the 3×3 court in Birmingham.
Charlie McIntyre, who competed in the 2021 School Games Finals, won bronze with Team England Men’s in Birmingham and will be competing this year in the 2022 School Games Finals. Alongside Charlie, Tyler Baines (2018) and Abderrahim Taghrest (2018 and 2021) competed in Birmingham with the England Men’s team to win bronze.
Team England Women’s 3×3 team featured three School Games alumni, with Joy Haizelden and Charlotte Moore having both competed in the 2013 and 2014 editions of the Games. Jade Atkin (2018) will be returning to the games this year with the England squads as part of the team staff.
On the 2022 School Games, Jade commented:
“My time at the School Games helped me prepare for the future as it helped me get an idea of what a future tournament would be like.
“A memory I have from School Games is having a place to watch the games and all the athlete zones we could go into. I think that was really cool as it helped us make lots of friends and socialise.
“Coming back to School Games is a proud moment for me to be able to go back and look at the next generation, and to socialise with all of them is very exciting to me.”
The School Games Finals take place 1st – 4th September, with over 1,300 athletes descending on the Loughborough University campus to take part in the Games across ten different sports. The wheelchair basketball competition begins Friday 2nd September through to Sunday 4th, and will be played in the 3×3 format seen at the Commonwealth Games.
Tickets are available here: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/2022Schoolgamesfinals
