AS ENGLAND stormed to victory in their game against Denmark, almost 800 Kent youngsters were also playing to win at the county's biggest sporting event for young people this year.

From the youngsters starting off their sporting careers at grassroots level, through to Olympic gold medal status in the form of champion rower Fred Scarlett MBE, the Kent Youth Games showed sport working at its very best with volunteers, coaches, managers and officials all joining forces to give Kent youth sport a day to be proud of.

The event , part of the £1.4 million Kent Active Sports programme, was held at the University of Kent in Canterbury and featured 80 teams from all Kent's 13 districts participating in archery, athletics, basketball, hockey, netball, girls' football and rugby.

"The day was a great day for Kent sport and the young people had the time of their lives", says Shelley Eaton, Kent Active Sports Manager. "There was great competitive spirit and a huge amount of fun involved - and we managed to cheer England on too."

A Fair Play trophy went to Swale, who demonstrated the best overall sporting behaviour on the day. The Spirit of the Games Award was presented to Tracy Stockden from Medway for her outstanding voluntary contribution to netball.