KEEN (Kids Enjoy Exercise Now) Olympics with the Vice-Chancellor

Last month, New College Sports Ground once again hosted the KEEN Olympics. KEEN (Kids Enjoy Exercise Now) seeks to provide the happiness of sport and social opportunities for children and young people with disabilities in Oxford. This year marked the 35th KEEN Olympics! 

The organisation relies on student volunteers. Among the first was New College's Eliot Portney, thus beginning KEEN's now decades-long association with the College. 

A new chapter was opened this June as Prof Endicott and the KEEN Student Society welcomed the Oxford University Vice-Chancellor Professor Irene Tracey for rounders, strawberries, medals and a brisk hokey-cokey at the annual Olympics. New College Old Member - and former Lord Mayor - James Fry greeted Professor Tracey, who explained that as a neuroscientist she knows the benefits of exercise and fellowship. As Vice-Chancellor, she sees activities like KEEN as good not only for the participating children and young adults, but also for the student volunteers and for the life of the University as a whole. In that spirit, she was herself involved with KEEN as an undergraduate rower, taking participants out onto the river. 

Find out more about the organisation on the KEEN website.