SIR STEVE Redgrave was a good sport when Oxfordshire secondary school students tried to teach him some new tricks.
The five-times Olympic gold medal-winning rower visited King Alfred’s School in Wantage on Wednesday afternoon.
He watched the students show off free running parkour moves, tried his hand at dodgeball and presented children with certificates.
Zach Campbell, 14, said: “I showed him how to play dodgeball. I wasn’t expecting him to enjoy it because he’s an Olympic athlete, but it was really fun.
“It was very cool to have an Olympic athlete at our school and all my mates were really happy.”
Sir Steve was visiting the school’s West Site in Challow Road as an ambassador for Matalan Sporting Promise as part of the Youth Sports Trust charity, which encourages young people in secondary schools to take part in alternative sports, including parkour and dodgeball.
Jake Hoskins, 14, from Grove, said: “I showed Steve how to do vaults for parkour and he had a go.
“It’s my hobby and I love it – I’ve been doing it for about three or four years.”
Matalan Sporting Promise is divided into two parts.
Matalan TOP Sport provides training and resources for primary school teachers, with more than 8,000 teachers already trained.
The second part of the programme, Your Activity, is focused on secondary school students who may not want to take up traditional mainstream sports.
Teenagers are instead encouraged to try out activities like parkour (free running), street cheer and jump rope.
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