20 October 2011 Last updated at 09:51

Jumping Higher

• Primary
• Secondary

Assembly kit about Ivan Ukhov, the Russian high jumper, who has set his sights on London 2012 for key stage 2

Ivan Ukhov is a Russian high jumper training to compete at London 2012

Teacher script to introduce film

Ask the assembly how high they can jump. Ask if they have taken part in jumping competitions at school or jumped on trampolines.

Use a metre ruler to measure the height of one of the children. Then explain that Russian high jumper Ivan Ukhov can jump almost two and a half metres and compare it to their height - it may be at least twice the height of most pupils and is a long way to jump.

Ivan is from a city in the centre of Russia called Yekaterinburg. He has always liked sport and before he was a high jumper he played basketball and was also a discus thrower. If the assembly don't know what discus is explain that it's a rubber disc about the size of a dinner plate.

As a teenager he went to a special sports boarding school where pupils go to lessons and also do lots of sports training.

He is the European high jump champion and is training hard to compete at the Olympics in London next year.

In this video Ivan explains why he likes competing and winning.

Show the film and use the discussion prompts afterwards. Email [e-mail] if you would like a copy of this film to download.

Ask the Assembly Question

• Ivan switched from basketball to high jump. Would you rather go to the Olympics as a basketball player or a high jumper?
• Email your school's answer to [e-mail]

Who is Ivan Ukhov and how high can he jump? How does this compare to how high you can jump?

What is different about the trainers that Ivan likes to wear compared to other high jumpers?

Before he was a high jumper what sports did Ivan take part in?

Ivan says that he feels really happy when he wins a competition. Have you ever taken part in a sports competition? What happened? If you won, how did it feel? If you didn't win were you disappointed?

Ivan's goal is to win a gold medal at London in 2012. To get there he has to train hard and keep focused. What is your goal and what steps do you need to take to get there?

Ask the Assembly Question

Ivan switched from basketball to high jump. Would you rather go to the Olympics as a basketball player or a high jumper?

Email your school's answer to [e-mail]