I saw Steve Gerrard in the World Museum Liverpool this morning!
Not in the flesh sadly but I was honoured to be one of the first people to view this 4 minute video of the Liverpool FC captain touring the Museum and the Walker Art Gallery talking about his love of the cultural side of the city.
Lorraine Rodgers, the Chair of Tranmere Rovers FC was there as she also appeared in the video. In fact, as a trustee of National Museums Liverpool she is particularly keen to encourage more involvement in the arts from sportspeople.
The large group of young schoolchildren enjoyed the film and being filmed by the likes of BBC and Sky Sports too.
The video is showing to coincide with the launch of a new exhibition opening on Saturday October 7th 2006 called LoveSport
LoveSport is a free exhibition that explores how playing sport equals a healthy body, a healthy mind and even contributes to a healthy economy through advances in technology. Gerrard gives an insight into how he sees his own sporting mind: ‘I give everything I’ve got, in every training session, every game. When I come off the pitch I try to have no regrets, you have to work as hard as possible to achieve your dreams.’
LoveSport is everything that sport should be – accessible, fun, challenging and, most of all, for everyone.
LoveSport strives to combine visually all the feelings associated with sporting endeavour – from grass roots to superstardom, from the World Cup to using jumpers for goal posts – feelings Steven Gerrard would identify with.
Sport is for all and by using subtle visual clues LoveSport creates a warm, human, informative environment that makes sport fun and accessible for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.
The five main themes of the exhibition are presented in three different zones:
Zone 1: The outer layer of the exhibition is full of sporting challenges and is highly physical with astro-turf and netting. This zone deals with the first three themes The Sporting Body, The Sporting Mind and Fit for Sport.
Zone 2: The middle layer contains six interactive towers and dramatic lighting, using games and graphics to interpret key messages and explain concepts. This zone deals with the theme Sports Technology.
Zone 3: The inner core has a far deeper level of learning, having a softer, quieter feel with a chill-out area for visitors to reflect and consider what they have learned. Visitors consider their experiences from the other two zones, compare them with others and are offered the opportunity to extend their experiences beyond the exhibition. This zone deals with the final theme Over to You.
Visitors are given score cards to record their results as they go around the exhibition.
You can watch the Steven Gerrard video via the NML Blog site:
http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/StevenGerrardVideo.aspx