Measuring how the National Primary Games were received over the weekend was easy for Sam Rains.
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Rains, who is the Northern Inland Academy of Sport’s marketing and communications manager, was in the thick of it all weekend.
He bounced from field to field at the games – which was presented by NIAS with the support of Macquarie Bank – alongside Olympians Shelley Watts, Jared and Claire Tallent.
“Walking around the grounds, the response from the coaches and parents was fantastic. They couldn’t speak highly enough of the weekend,” he said.
“They were extremely happy and all the kids were having a great time.”
Rains said the three Olympians had just as good a time as the athletes at the games.
“They really enjoyed giving back to the kids,” Rains said.
“A lot of these children didn’t know who they were first up but they did know what they represent. There wasn’t a moment they weren’t swamped. They got a lot out of it and the kids did too.”
The 2018 edition of the NPG saw a change to the format with less sports but more age groups.
Rains said this proved to be a success.
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“Ideally we’d have as many sports on offer as possible but this reduction has allowed us to really focus on what we have delivered. With more ages, it’s allowed more teams to enter and that’s proven to be a great success with the results around the grounds,” Rains said.
“We had three times the amount of rugby league players and two times the footballers and netballers. The numbers are really growing and it’s a great response.”
Rains said none of it would have been possible without all the support.
“We can’t thank the volunteers and supporters enough,” he said.