Coronavirus hasn’t stopped the competitive attitude of youngsters from Barking and Dagenham as they took part in the London Youth Games (LYG) Virtual Games and finished 9th out of 33 boroughs.

The newly formed London Youth Games took place over four weeks and gave young people the chance to represent the borough in a series of sport-related challenges that can be done at home, school or while out for their daily exercise. 

During the first week, the challenges included a netball five shot challenge, 60 second burpee challenge and the bottle cap challenge - which sees if you can hit a bottle cap in three different ways with a badminton racket.

Week two consisted of a basketball crossover dribble, judo sit out challenge and kick ups, whilst week three saw the young people take part in dance, cycling and hockey challenges. Finally, for week four, they took part in a one mile run, cricket challenge and boccia.

Participants had until lunchtime on the Friday to complete the week’s challenges and submit their scores online via the a website. They were also encouraged to share videos of their challenge attempts on social media using the hashtag #ThisIsLYG. Each week a Most Valuable Player award was handed out and the winner received a pair of Nike trainers. 

Councillor Evelyn Carpenter, Cabinet Member for Education and School Improvement said: “I’m really pleased to see that lockdown hasn’t stopped our young people using their time well and taking part in the Virtual Games. This has been a great way for them to keep fit and be competitive. 

“Ninth place is fantastic, and they should all be really proud of themselves but even more so for taking part, well done everyone.”

You can find out more about the LYG Virtual Games here.