Muller Anniversary Games charity Partner Right To Play launches #PlayItOldSchool campaign
Press Release
22 July 2016 - Adventurer, record breaker and endurance athlete Sophie Radcliffe has teamed up with Right To Play, the official charity partner of the Muller Anniversary Games, to highlight the value of sport and play in creating life-changing opportunities for children across the globe.
To mark the Games on 22 July 2016, the organisation is launching a campaign featuring Athlete Ambassadors including professional cyclist Mark Cavendish, former British number one downhill skier Chemmy Alcott and retired England cricketer Darren Gough.
The campaign highlight sees the charity's newest Athlete Ambassador Radcliffe starring alongside a younger version of herself in a video illustrating the importance of childhood play in enabling children to learn valuable life skills and reach their potential.
In addition, British sportsmen and women and Right To Play Athlete Ambassadors celebrate their own upbringings by sharing childhood photos and memories using the official hashtag #PlayItOldSchool.
Play helps to shape our children's early interactions with their environment and other people, but in the world's most underprivileged areas, many miss out on this vital developmental stage.
After a trip to Tanzania for the charity, world champion cyclist Mark Cavendish MBE said:
"I got my first bike just before my 4th birthday, just a few weeks later, I was riding around without stabilisers, I may be world champion cyclist now but in my heart I’m still that young child riding a bike. I believe every child has the right to play"
No one understands the impact of play on young people's lives better than Right To Play's newest ambassador Sophie Radcliffe, an endurance athlete whose own life was transformed by sport. She said:
"I am delighted to be an ambassador for Right To Play. Every day I witness the positive impact sport has on people's lives - it's completely changed mine - and I am excited to contribute to the amazing impact Right To Play have on the lives of disadvantaged children."
The public are being encouraged to take part in the campaign by sharing photos of themselves playing as children or playing a children's game as an adult with #PlayItOldSchool.
Taking part in #PlayItOldSchool is easy. All you need to do is:
1. Share an image on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter of you playing as a child or playing a children’s game as an adult.
2. Include a message along with the image with the hashtag #PlayItOldschool, letting the world know that you think play is an important part of childhood and that every child has the right to play.
About Right To Play
Right To Play is a global charity which uses sport and play to transform the lives of disadvantaged children in some of the world’s poorest communities.
Our approach is simple: we believe that if learning is fun then children are better able to absorb lessons. Through our specially-designed games vulnerable children are learning critical life skills, such as leadership, self-confidence, how to avoid disease and how to resolve conflicts without violence.
We currently reach over one million children per week in regular sport and play activity across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
About Sophie Radcliffe
Sophie Radcliffe is an endurance athlete, adventure blogger and motivational speaker. Three years ago, she quit a 9-5 job in London to follow her dreams, and she has not looked back since. She is the only person ever to have climbed the highest mountains in the eight Alpine countries and cycled between them, climbing five times the height of Mount Everest in a mere 32 days. She's cycled 300km from London to Paris in 24 hours nine times, run 100km ultra-marathons, finished Ironman events and many adventure races.
