Denise Lewis talks with
Community College, Whitstable pupils during the National School
Sport Week event at Herne Bay High School on Wednesday.
Picture: Chris Davey

by Adam Williams

Olympic gold medallist Denise Lewis
met school children from across east Kent on Wednesday as part of
national school sport week.

The event, held at Herne Bay High
School, was organised by the Youth Sports Trust and Lloyds TSB, and
saw six schools battle it out in the glorious summer sunshine in an
alternative school games.

Video: Denise Lewis
passes on tips at Herne Bay High School

Denise, 36, (pictured left)
won heptathlon gold at the 2000 Sydney olympic games and in 2004
tested out her skills on the dance floor as a contestant in the BBC
show Strictly Come Dancing.

Today, she is a school sports
ambassador for the Youth Sports Trust and admits specialist sports
colleges like Herne Bay High have raised standards in state school
sport.

She said: "I used to think I went
to a top a school and I boasted to my friends about how great my
facilities were compared to theirs, but coming here today, I’ve
just been blown away by the scale of it.

"These kids are very lucky, there’s
a huge astro-turf pitch, floodlit basketball courts and massive
playing fields and what’s also great about it, is that the rest of
the community can use these facilities and reap the benefits."

Herne Bay High were joined in the
alternative games by pupils from Archbishop’s School, Canterbury,
Community College, Whitstable, Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School,
Faversham, St Anselm’s Catholic School, Canterbury and The Abbey
School, Faversham. Events included gun running, ultimate frisbee,
handball, lacrosse and tug of war.

For more pictures, grab a
copy of next week's Herne Bay Gazette.