Going For Goals

This is Mariette Rix, Goalkeeper for the South African Women’s Hockey Team [though how you can tell it’s her under all that clobber, I don’t know] This is what she looks like out of her helmet

She came to our school this week to talk about being an Olympian – the children loved it [sadly it was not one of my teaching days, so I missed it]

Afterwards my colleague and I prepared a display – about Mariette and the mascots.

It is a whole year since I blogged about Wenlock and Mandeville – and I listened with interest this week to Michael Morpurgo talking on Radio 2 about the animated film of these two characters.

What s confusing is that they chaps appear to have two websites –  one here which is full of games and fun stuff for kids – and one here which initially looks pukka- but then you realise it is a] unofficial and b] horribly out of date.  It is unlikely that the school children in your area will have had a visit from the ‘official Olympic mascots’ as it costs upwards of £850.

I am getting awfully cynical about the money involved in all this, and the absurd sponsorship regulations. What happened to ‘celebrating British sporting traditions’ ??

But I am really glad that Mariette was willing to come and talk to our children about her achievements and encourage them to pursue their goals. [even if she isn’t part of Team GB!!]