Former Olympic hockey player Mel Clewlow has backed Kent County Council’s plans to get more kids involved in this Olympic year.

The double Olympian who played in both the Sydney and Beijing games won 179 caps for England and over 60 for Great Britain since making her international debut in 1996 and aged just 35 now, she is still involved within sport and is the Sports Development Manager at the University of Kent in Canterbury.

With the Olympics featuring heavily on the public conciousness, Clewlow believes that it is important for people within sport to encouarge participation:

“I think having the Kent School Games has been great for sport as every year there have been more kids involved and when I was a kid we didn’t have this opportunity.”

“It gives kids a basic idea of what an Olympic games would be like and it is important that we stop kids from spending time on computer games and get them outside and play some sport.”

Having played in two Olympics, three World Cups, two Champions Trophies, four European Cups, three Champions Challenges and three Commonwealth Games, Clewlow is clearly experienced enough to inspire the next generation of hockey players and sport stars.

With this in mind, the Canterbury Hockey star told KSN how it was important that there are good role models within sport:

“When I was growing up, Sean Kerly was the male icon and Jane Sixsmith was the female one. With Ashley Jackson having won the Player of the Year, it is important that we use these role models to inspire others.”

“Everyone should know now that they have a responsibility to be a role model as there are not too many people in the world that can say they are Olympians.”

Recent successes for the Great Britian hockey team has served to drive up attention on hockey ahead of the Olympics with the Ladies side losing out in the Argentina in the Champions Trophy on Sunday night. With that success and TV coverage of hockey set to be a big part of the Olympics, Clewlow explained how the sport had to make the most of being in the limelight:

“Any TV coverage we can get is vital and speaking from a hockey perspective, the girls have been on a centralised programme for three years and having watched them in Argentina they are in great shape.”

“Recent changes in the game have made it more enjoyable to watch and the governing body have managed to get the likes of the BBC on board to show the Champions Trophy.”

“The Olympics is a big chance for us to showcase our sport and sport in general and we have to make the most of this fantastic opportunity.”

One man endorsing Mel in the quest to get as many people involved in sport is her boss, Graham Holmes, who is the Director of Sport, Physical Activity & Recreation at the University of Kent.

Holmes is also an advocate of the Kent School Games programme and is keen to see more youngsters take up a sport as part of the Olympics legacy:

“It’s great for the University that the Kent School Games is being launched here as it is probably the biggest of its’ kind in Europe.”

“For 20,000 students, playing a sport can be a first port of call for making new friends and then you have the competitive element as we have over 3,000 students being part of our clubs competing in 53 different sports.”

“The Olympics has been a catalyst for lots of students to become involved in sport and we are trying to encapsulate that.”

“It’s equally important that we cover the Paralympics and I wish they would just encompass it all as the Olympic Games, because for my mind they have equal importance and as a Sport For All university, I believe there should be more integrated competition wherever possible in the future.”