Inclusivity was the name of the game, when a diverse mix of students came together for the inaugural West Norfolk Academies Trust Kinball Tournament.

Hosted by Smithdon High School, the event was open to players from Years 7 to 11 at the Trust’s four secondary schools, which also include Marshland, St Clement’s, and Springwood in King’s Lynn.

“Kinball is an inclusive sport that can be played by everyone,” explained Smithdon Head of PE Jamie Tilley, who organised the event with the support of his counterparts Paul Swinburn from Marshland, Anna Froswick from St Clement’s, and Tracey Honey from Springwood.

“We had players from Years 7 to 11, played by mixed genders. Overall we had 40 players across the Trust schools participating."

“Everyone who attended played. There were eight teams of six – two teams from each Trust school – all playing to score points. It was a race to see which team could score ten points first.”

“The objective of the game is, when attacking, a team must serve, or hit, the ball so that it lands and touches the ground before a nominated team can catch or control it,” he continued.

“When defending, the nominated team must stop the ball touching the floor. If the ball touches the ground, then all the other teams, including the attacking team, gains a point.

“We  wanted to make sure that everyone went away from the event knowing that they had achieved something. Whether they worked in a team, showed leadership qualities, scored points, or even stopped the other teams from scoring, that was the biggest win of the competition.”

Although it was the first time the tournament had taken place, its success has meant that there are now plans to make it a regular fixture in the WNAT calendar.

“Having Trust schools coming together for fixtures of inclusive sports, as well as the traditional sports, supports the students to thrive and develop in sports,” added Mr Tilley.

“Trust schools have different facilities, sporting experience, and all-round positive knowledge within their PE Departments, which helps to improve PE and Sport across the schools.

“As Heads of Departments across the Trust, this is something that we are discussing and organising to do on a regular basis, to organise friendly development fixtures of inclusive and traditional sports to give sporting pupils the opportunity to shine.”