One of the biggest student games comes to Melbourne in late 2005

The games will be a celebration of youth and sporting endeavour and will be held in Melbourne from November 26 to December 4.

The Games will involve more than 3000 primary and secondary students from across Australia and up to 35 nations from the Pacific region.

The Games will draw on the city’s premier venues to offer competition across four sports: athletics, basketball, diving and swimming.

Basketball will make its debut at the Games, complementing the introduction of the sport at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Boys and girls of all ages will compete in the event, which is the largest international under-age basketball competition staged.

An initiative of School Sport Australia, the Pacific School Games began in 1982 as a forerunner to the Brisbane Commonwealth Games. They were last held in 2000 before the Sydney Olympics and will this year serve as an excellent forerunner to the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006.

Melbourne’s 2005 Pacific School Games will focus on maximum educational opportunities for all students through an innovative competition and excursion program.

A top-class field of more than 3000 students, aged 10 to 19, will compete in events for both able bodied athletes and those with disabilities.

In an off-field celebration of music and song, several thousand students will demonstrate their performing arts excellence at the opening and closing ceremonies, to be delivered by ‘Joining the Chorus’, a performing arts initiative of students from Victorian Government Schools.

Two world-class venues will be utilised - Olympic Park and Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre. Both will give students an introduction to key sites for the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

A new 50-metre competition pool is being built at the Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre for the 2006 Commonwealth Games. This will give the Pacific School Games competitors access to one of the best aquatic facilities in the world.