The three levels of competition range from class versus class, school versus school and then county or city-wide sports festivals.
These lead up to the finals at the Olympic Park from May 6th -9th and so far 24,000 out of 30,000 tickets to the finals have been sold since going on sale in January.
The winners will get a pair of tickets to either the 2012 Olympics or Paralympics from a government allocation.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “The more ways that a sport is played the more chance you have of motivating and encouraging people to play more of it.
“If you look at the US system, the inter-school and the inter-university competition is a major driver of the excitement and enthusiasm.”