Children and sports people learn about the science of sport at expo

Millennium Point in Birmingham was the setting for the SciSport Showcase, an event promoting science and sport and some of the technology behind it.

The event on Thursday was attended by school children from across the West Midlands and acted as a way of inspiring more young people to enter the Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) industry.

The children were able to take on an interactive rowing race, measure their football kick speed, test their reaction speed on the Batak machines and have a go at HADO, a VR interactive physical ‘dodgeball’ game.

They also had an opportunity to meet a host of sports stars, including Olympic bronze medal-winning swimmer Jo Jackson, Commonwealth gold medal-winning swimmer Adam Whitehead, Commonwealth multi-medal-winning badminton player Jenny Wallwork and former rugby league international Paul Broadbent.

Organisations such as Tech She Can, BOM - Science and Creative Arts, Thinktank, Birmingham City University and Amey Consulting were also in attendance to answer questions and demonstrate their wares.

Millennium Point CEO Abbie Vlahakis said the centre was a hub for STEM in the region and wanted to inspire the next generation to take up STEM careers.

She said: "When you look at sport, technology is playing a huge part in it, and children may be thinking 'I'd love to be an athlete', but you can also be in sport and have a career in STEM, which is really exciting.

"The professional athletes have been great as the children have been able to speak to them and see the amazing things they've done and it could inspire them to think I could work in an industry where I'm around these people all day.

"One of the things I hope today shows is how many of the organisations and companies in the city are really linked up to sport and showcase everything that we do in sport as well."

For Adam Whitehead and Jenny Wallwork, the event had been a real pleasure through meeting the children and seeing the different stalls and both spoke about how technology had helped their sports to advance.

Adam, who competed at the 2000 Olympics, said: "We've seen many changes from when I first started as we were all competing in tiny Speedos back then, then progressed to shorts and full body suits before going back to shorts.

"That may have been because the technology got a bit too far and you have to be careful with it to ensure it's the best athlete and not just the best suit.

"Today, though, is brilliant and can only inspire the children and I think Millennium Point has done a fantastic job with bringing all these organisations together today and it's a brilliant opportunity."

Jenny, who won a silver and bronze at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, said: "I think technology did help back in the day as we did a lot of heart tracking during sessions to see if we were working at maximum capacity and sleep tracking.

"It all helped us to know where we were losing out as we wanted to get those marginal gains and be the best we could be.

"Seeing it on a screen helped us to know where to bridge the gap and pick up performance and it definitely changed the way we looked at things."