Youngsters dreaming of competing for
Britain at a future Paralympic Games will today get the chance to
demonstrate their sporting abilities - in the hope of being
talent-spotted for a future in sport.
The assessment day, held at the Brickfields
Centre in Plymouth, is part of the national Playground to
Podium programme which will help address the fact that, at
present, only a quarter of 16-19 year olds with a disability play
sport regularly, compared to a third of non-disabled
youngsters.1
The programme has been set up by Sport
England, the Youth Sport Trust and ParalympicsGB to give disabled
athletes the same sporting opportunities as their non-disabled
counterparts and as a result, widen the talent pool for disability
sport. Active Devon, the county sports partnership for Devon, is
co-ordinating the event in Plymouth.
Playground to Podium isn't just helping the
most talented athletes. Every young person entering the programme
is being directed towards further sporting opportunities - be it
club participation or further coaching - part of a lasting
Paralympic participation legacy.
For the first time, school teachers are being
trained in recognising potential talent in young disabled people -
with those recognised going onto receive quality PE teaching in
schools and coaching in clubs. The activity is part of the
Government’s drive to give all young people the chance to take part
in five hours a week of high quality PE and sport.
The assessment day will see young people
participating in football, wheelchair basketball, table tennis and
athletics - with coaches and talent scouts from the relevant sports
governing bodies on hand to provide expert guidance.
British Paralympic gold medal swimmer, Sascha
Kindred OBE, attended the assessment day to see for himself how the
youngsters were working towards achieving their own Paralympic
dreams.
He said: ““It’s great to visit the Playground
to Podium event in Plymouth today to see the young people taking
part and enjoying a range of different sports. I hope by
sharing some of my experiences of sport at the very top level
during the day I can motivate and inspire them to perform to their
very best ability.”
Playground to Podium will help to create a
clear and professional disability sport pathway from school sport,
through to club participation and - for the talented few - onto
elite performance.
Phil Lane, ParalympicsGB’s Chief Executive,
said:
“Playground to Podium is an important addition
to the pathways being delivered to support not just disabled young
people’s participation in sport, but also their progression. By
increasing the number of young people involved in disability sport,
we can also increase the pool of potential talent, from which we
will select the future British Paralympic teams. Anyone selected
today faces a long journey from club to international level, but
this is an important first step for them.”
Sport England is investing £4.5 million in
Playground to Podium between 2008 and 2012. Lisa O'Keefe, Sport
England’s Director of Sport, said:
“Playground to Podium is about making sure
that disabled young people have the same opportunities to take part
in sport as everybody else. We can be immensely proud of our
Paralympic athletes but need to build on that success. By widening
our talent pool for Paralympic sports, we will help more talented
young people to fulfil their sporting potential.”
Alison Oliver, Youth Sport Trust's Director of
Sport, said:
“The Youth Sport Trust is proud to be involved
in Playground to Podium, which has the ultimate aim of engaging
more young disabled people in sport and producing our next
generation of Paralympians and elite disabled athletes. Our support
to teachers to help spot potential talent, our multi-sport clubs
that look to develop sporting skills, and our ability days that
assess the potential of young people are all important steps on the
Playground to Podium ladder. It will be hugely rewarding to see
young people who have been involved in this initiative reaching the
top of their sport and going on to claim their first gold
medals.”
Ends
1Source: Sport
England’s Active People Survey Oct 2008 – Oct 2009
Notes to editors:
Playground to Podium
Playground to Podium (P2P) is a national
programme to identify, develop and support talented young disabled
athletes to excel in Paralympic sports.
Sport England, the Youth Sport Trust,
ParalympicsGB, in partnership with national governing bodies of
sport, are working to create the same opportunities for young
disabled people to take part in sport as for non-disabled
youngsters – and to help them achieve even greater success.
Together we are trying to widen the talent pool at the base of
Paralympic sports – so that promising athletes have a professional
structure around them to develop and succeed. The programme is
focused on six sports: football, table tennis, wheelchair
basketball, athletics, boccia and swimming.
ParalympicsGB
ParalympicsGB are the organisation responsible
for selecting, entering, managing and funding the British team at
the summer and winter Paralympic Games. At the last Paralympic
Games in Beijing, ParalympicsGB finished second in the medal
table behind host nation China and won 102 medals, 42 of which were
Gold. My Log Book, a tool which young people use to
monitor their progress through Playground to Podium, sits
on Parasport, a website which is a partnership between
ParalympicsGB and Deloitte.
Sport England
Sport England invests National Lottery and
Exchequer funding in organisations and projects that will grow and
sustain participation in grassroots sport and create opportunities
for people to excel at their chosen sport.
Sport England is committed to creating a
world-leading community sport system, and has set specific and
measurable targets to achieve by 2012/13:
- One million people doing more sport
- A 25% reduction in the number of 16- to
18-year-olds who drop out of at least five key sports
- Improved talent development systems in at
least 25 sports
- A measurable increase in people’s
satisfaction with their experience of sport
- A major contribution to the delivery of the
five hour sports offer for children and young people.
Youth Sport Trust
The Youth Sport Trust is a registered
charity with a simple mission: to build a brighter future for all
young people through physical education (PE) and school
sport. Our main objective is to increase young people’s
participation and enjoyment of PE and school sport and, through
this, improve their life chances. We believe that all young
people are entitled to experience and benefit from a variety of
sports at a level that’s right for them. Through our work we ensure
youngsters can receive the best possible teaching, coaching
and resources and have the opportunity to develop their talent.
The elements of Playground to Podium led by
the Youth Sport Trust are funded through the Government’s PE and
School Sport Strategy for Young People which will see nearly
£3-million invested in the initiative by 2011. This funding
builds on the continued investment in the School Sport Partnership
network.