London Sport work with London Youth Games to deliver Virtual Inclusive Games through Tackling Inequalities Fund

London Youth Games are putting deaf and disabled young Londoners at the heart of the competition with the LYG Virtual Inclusive Games.

London Youth Games are working with London Sport to deliver the LYG Virtual Inclusive Games through Sport England’s Tackling Inequalities Fund – a fund created to help reduce the negative impact of covid-19 and the widening inequalities in sport and physical activity.

The virtual challenge series launched on Tuesday (9 February) aims to empower deaf and disabled young Londoners to participate in inclusive physical activities and remain active.

Activity Alliance’s recent Annual Disability and Activity Survey revealed twice as many deaf and disabled people feel that pandemic has greatly reduced their ability to take part in sport or physical activity.

The survey also shows that almost a quarter of deaf and disabled people believe that they had not received enough information about how to be active during the pandemic, leading to a deterioration in mental and physical health.

The LYG Virtual Inclusive Games will run for eight weeks, with three different challenges released each week via the London Youth Games website and social media channels.

Whilst the competition is open to all young Londoners to participate, the challenges are set by young deaf and disabled people to raise awareness of the importance of them remaining active and to celebrate their achievements.

Young Londoners will be representing their boroughs, who will receive points based on participation numbers.

As an added incentive, a group of athlete ambassadors will be helping to inspire and support the young people through the challenges, and individual prizes will also be up for grabs.

Young people are encouraged to share videos of their challenge attempts on social media using #ThisIsLYG to be in with a chance of winning the weekly MVP (Most Valuable Player) award.

Andy Dalby-Welsh, CEO of London Youth Games, said:

“The LYG Virtual Inclusive Games come at a critical time for young disabled Londoners. This has been highlighted by the Activity Alliance’s latest Annual Disability and Activity Survey, which shows a worrying decline in activity levels among disabled people during the pandemic.” -

Alex Gibbons, Deputy Director of Operations at London Sport, said:

“Sport England’s Tackling Inequalities Fund has been so important to help us support organisations in London working with those hit hardest by the pandemic over the past 12 months.

“The numbers of deaf and disabled people being active hit record levels prior to the covid-19 outbreak but, even then, they were significantly below people without a disability.

“The data shows that inequality has only widened during the past year so programmes like the LYG Virtual Inclusive Games are vital in tackling and reducing that gap in activity levels.”

For more information about the LYG Virtual Inclusive Games visit: www.londonyouthgames.org/virtual-games.

Find out more about our Tackling Inequalities Fund work here