Summer sports are a great opportunity to ignite reading

Finding out more about favourite sports can really engage students and improve their reading abilities.

Sport has a unique power in the UK. It stops us in our tracks, brings strangers together and gives us stories that are told for decades. And summer 2026 is packed with sport, with the World Cup, Wimbledon and the Commonwealth Games all coming up. It’s the perfect time to seize the moment and use sporting passion for something equally transformative – reading!

It’s the idea behind the Summer of Sport campaign, the latest initiative from the National Year of Reading. Launching in early June and running throughout the summer, the campaign invites the whole nation read about stories behind sport’s biggest stars, fiercest rivalries and greatest tournaments.

For anyone who has ever dismissed reading as “not for them”, sport offers a great way in. There’s a story of grit, sacrifice, setbacks and self-belief behind every athlete – not to mention the drama of the tournaments themselves. Stories like these are found in books, magazines, newspapers, biographies and beyond, just waiting to be discovered by readers of all ages and abilities.

What’s happening this summer

For schools and education settings, there’s a particularly exciting opportunity. The Go All In Together! events on 9 and 11 June offer a chance to get pupils involved right from the campaign’s opening weeks, building momentum heading into the summer holidays, which is traditionally a period when children’s reading can stall.

Partners can also access a Summer of Sport toolkit of digital resources, messaging guidance and practical ideas for engaging different audiences and communities. So, if you’re a librarian, teacher, sports club or local authority, there are tools here to help you get involved in a way that works for your context.

The National Year of Reading has always known that the route to get everyone reading runs through real life, and this sporting summer provides a great opportunity to get students reading about the sports they love.

Find out more at the National Year of Reading website.

Access the partner toolkit here.