Young People + Welsh Sport And Dance = 2012 + 5x60

I sometimes miss the old equations we had at school. I can still work out what 'X' equals and I know roughly what 'Pi' is, but I’m a bit rusty now.

In Wales on Thursday, we took Seb Coe to meet our political stakeholders and visit a couple of schools. First Minister Rhodri Morgan and his colleagues from all political parties were on great form. It's important to us that we meet them regularly, to talk about our current planning for the Games, but also what initiatives and projects are currently happening on the ground. The political stuff was great fun, possibly due to the hot sunshine that day and the fact we were given Welsh cakes at lunch (woof!).

In the middle of all the political hob-knobbing, we made time to travel to see two schools who wanted to showcase their '5x60' programme. 5x60 is the Sports Council for Wales' new plan for kids in schools to undertake 60 minutes of sport or activity, 5 times each week. It's a tall order – and something I know I find tough to stick to. For me, the genius in their 5x60 programme comes from three simple things:

1) At each school, the kids get to choose which activities they do, by voting.  This is quite powerful – and helps them own the activities they take part in.

2) There's a 5x60 co-ordinator within schools who then delivers the activity.  This way they're not struggling to juggle physics teaching or marking homework at the same time.

3) Potential activity is very broadly-defined – it's not limited just to team sport, by any means, it can just as easily be dance.

The schools, Ysgol Bro Morgannwg and Barry Comprehensive, were all ready and waiting as we arrived, and put on fantastic performances in their favourite 5x60 activities. We saw a group of kids doing Street Dance that made me feel about 104, and we decided not to throw some shapes back at them (as we were suited, we would have looked like your dad dancing at a wedding). Next door, other pupils were getting hit by balls in teams playing Dodgeball (I have to say, I loved this, and wanted to have a go). Down a corridor, a third group were playing Futsal (basically indoor football but faster and with a smaller ball with 30% less bounce – much trickier!) and finally some kids were waiting for us, and then comprehensively thrashed Seb at Table Tennis – all of whom were very clearly inspired by a local coach.

It was fab to see the kids moving around energetically, developing their skills, working in teams. Most of all, they were having great fun – and this must be because they got to choose their own 5x60 at the start and because they connected well with the 5x60 team. 5x60 is clearly a great programme which is now in almost all Welsh schools. We'll be working with our stakeholders in Wales to see how we at London 2012 can 'turbo-charge' the scheme – what better way to inspire the next generation of sportspeople and get all kids, everywhere taking part and having a laugh?

I'm working on getting the Organising Committee to have an evening of Dodgeball. I reckon it’ll be more fun than equations.