KES Academy hosts Euros 2024 tournament

King Edward VII Academy played host to a special Euro 2024 tournament last week as West Norfolk youngsters got into the spirit of the big event.The event for primary schools featured the Euro 2024 countries and each team was given a country and games were played in a league format.The tournament was organised by KES sixth-form students as part of their Level 3 Sport and Exercise qualification.Many of these students are in the King’s Lynn FC Academy partnership scheme.The tournament was the first of many upcoming sports events that KES will be hosting for its feeder primaries.Principal Darren Hollingsworth wants to get KES back into the community and feels events like these give future KES youngsters a great to come and see what the Academy has to offer.Mr Hollingsworth said: “Sportsmanship is a key factor of what we offer here. The scoreline is one thing but how we act on the field means everything. “Our Year 5 primary pupils showed just that and it was a testament to their primary schools. At KES, we are very proud to host our future athletes and show them what it means to be magnanimous.” Head of PE, Jody Walters, added: “We loved welcoming our local primaries into KES to work alongside our sixth-form sports leaders, who enjoyed coaching, refereeing and witnessing some potential future football stars from West Norfolk.”We plan to continue to build a strong relationship with these primary schools and look forward to welcoming them to our next tournament at KES.”The tournament was won by Spain (Fairstead) who were undefeated during the day, with Eastgate (France) runners up. All matches were played with genuine mutual respect with every school shaking hands before and after every game.A special mention should go to (Italy) St Martha’s all-girls team who showed great courage just like the lionesses do regularly.Other schools to take part were: St Martha’s girls (Italy), St Martha’s boys (Netherlands), Reffley (Portugal) and Greyfriars (Germany).