With the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games in full swing, we look back to the positive legacy of the last Games and how we’re backing this year’s event.
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Four years ago I wrote an opinion piece as the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games reached its climax.
Some things have changed and Glasgow 2026 will be very different, but the allure of the Commonwealth Games and its unique place in the sporting ecosystem endures.
I’ll explain why.
It has been a bumpy four years for the Commonwealth Games with the withdrawal of the state of Victoria (Australia) and a period of uncertainty before Glasgow stepped in to deliver a re-imagined Commonwealth Games.
The Games, starting today, will feature 74 nations and territories competing in 10 sports and six parasports across a range of iconic Glasgow venues.
Notwithstanding the well-documented challenges, the future looks positive: the 2027 Commonwealth Youth Games is looming large (Malta and Gozo), and the venue for the Centenary Commonwealth Games in 2030 was announced late last year. They will take place in Amdavad, India, in what promises to be a ‘full-scale’ Games with some innovative twists.
So, as we look ahead to some brilliant performances and some great memories being made in Glasgow, let’s take a moment to reflect on why the Commonwealth Games is often cited as a formative and special experience.
At the outset I should stress that Team England is an inherently collaborative endeavour that’s prepared and presented by Commonwealth Games England.
They work in concert with the relevant national governing bodies (NGBs) and world class programmes to identify and select athletes (and the team behind the team) across the sports, and to prepare them for success.
But this goes beyond the athletes. The games present an important development opportunity for coaches, team leaders and practitioners, and they motivate and inspire people playing key roles in clubs and facilities across the nation.
Many athletes benefit from World Class Programme funding from UK Sport, and many of the coaches and practitioners will be employed elsewhere across the system in UK Sport-funded NGB programmes.
The Commonwealth Games is a special opportunity for British athletes to represent their home countries.
For our sporting system it's also an important chance to showcase its success and our rich and diverse sporting offer.
Glasgow will feature a portfolio of sports that are played and built in community sports and leisure facilities across the nation, including some that don’t get much airtime but that also deserve to be celebrated.
Our delegation in these games will include Team England Futures – a ‘non-competing’ Team England who will visit Glasgow as part of a carefully coordinated programme delivered by SportsAid, commissioned by Commonwealth Games England and funded by Sport England.
The initiative consists or circa 100 athletes and 30 coaches that’ll receive an immersive games experience designed to support their development.
It'll also help them prepare to thrive in the major games environment when they make their competitive ‘debut’. For many this will come when representing Team GB or ParalympicsGB at LA2028.
They will be England’s living legacy from the Games – and from what we have seen already through the programme, they have a bright future ahead of them.
Firstly, Glasgow is an ‘integrated’ games.
What that means is that para-athletes and athletes live, train and compete alongside one another, in our context, as part of One Team England.
Glasgow will feature a portfolio of sports that are played and built in community sports and leisure facilities across the nation, including some that don’t get much airtime but that also deserve to be celebrated.
Glasgow is also reported to be the largest ever Para-sport programme with a total of 47 medal events being contested.
Team England will field 60 para-athletes (or 24% of the Team England athlete delegation) in bowls, para-powerlifting, track cycling, athletics, swimming and wheelchair basketball 3x3.
All sports are presented as part of an integrated programme of competition and given equal billing, sharing the programme means that spectators get to enjoy the best sport and para-sport as a matter of course.
Team England is relentlessly focused on ensuring parity of support for all athletes, and on giving them the best possible experience and opportunity to fulfill their potential.
This has created an environment that’s genuinely special, as it demonstrates and reminds us of our common values and aspirations, not our differences – physical or otherwise.
In terms of women’s sport, the number of medals available is strikingly similar and Team England will have more women competing than men.
Amongst them is netball, which is a particularly high-profile event and the Commonwealth Games rivals the Netball World Cup for perceived importance and profile.
At the preparation camp and ‘kitting out’ – where everyone goes to collect their kit, complete their preparations and receive their final training on aspects such as anti-doping and media – there is a map of England and athletes are invited to take a photo and place themselves on the map.
This is a visual representation of where athletes originate from and how they represent the full spread geographically of the nation.
Watching the map get populated as athletes come through the prep camp is fascinating.
Besides, the team has an age spread between 14 and 73 years of age and yet we come together as one Team England of 251 athletes and para-athletes, all with their unique stories and backgrounds – a truly inspiring and exciting prospect.
All the athletes started their journeys in grassroots sport, where volunteer coaches and officials provided fun and impactful opportunities for them to explore and develop their potential.
I can’t stress enough just how much that matters and how amazing a journey can be started with that important first step, plus all those accessible and inclusive first experiences.
Now the baton of supporting the athletes passes to the team behind them.
The commitment and passion from the team at Commonwealth Games England, plus the professionalism and dedication of the sport team leaders is genuinely inspiring – these roles are hard work and I hope very rewarding too.
However, these people won’t stand at the summit of the mountain.
Instead, they are the sherpas staying quietly in the background enabling athletes to focus on their experience, process and performance. I applaud every one of them.
If you want to watch the games and share some of the magic there are different TV options, including daily highlights on Channel 5 and live coverage throughout on TNT, and also on BBC Radio 5 Live and talkSPORT.
If you love sports, you can’t miss it. For me, it’s the sports event of the summer!
At The Shaw Centre we believe that being active is about far more than physical health.
The way we see it, movement its about building confidence, creating friendships, breaking down barriers and helping people with learning disabilities become visible and valued members of their community.
For over 40 years we've supported adults with learning disabilities across Manchester to live fuller, happier and more independent lives.
Every person who comes through our doors has their own abilities, ambitions and potential, and our role is to create opportunities that allow those strengths to shine.
Thanks to funding from Sport England, we launched our Move&Thrive project – a programme designed to make physical activity enjoyable, inclusive and accessible for everyone.
But what we couldn't have predicted is just how much it would transform our community.
Move&Thrive encouraged people to get active through fitness sessions, walking groups and outdoor games, but the biggest changes were measured in smiles, confidence and connection.
People who previously lacked confidence began volunteering to lead warm-ups and suggest new activities, and those who were once reluctant to leave the building started exploring parks and leisure facilities across Greater Manchester.
They weren't just becoming more active – they were becoming more involved in the world around them.
Thanks to funding from Sport England, we launched our Move & Thrive project – a programme designed to make physical activity enjoyable, inclusive and accessible for everyone.
The project also opened our doors to the wider community. Local fitness instructors, musicians and volunteers gave their time, bringing fresh energy and building meaningful relationships.
These connections continue today and local organisations now recognise the value that people with learning disabilities bring to society.
Move & Thrive didn't just build healthier individuals – it helped build a more inclusive community and perhaps the greatest change has been in confidence.
When someone discovers they can complete an exercise class or walk further than they thought possible, they stop thinking they can't do it and start wondering what's next.
But the best part is that this confidence starts spreading in to every aspect of life.
Earlier this year our members took on one of their biggest challenges yet, recording an original song called '60 Years of Dreaming'.
Written to celebrate 60 years since England's 1966 World Cup victory, the song celebrates hope, teamwork, resilience and the belief that everyone deserves the chance to dream big.
For some members, recording a song was previously unimaginable.
While the theme was a separate project, we firmly believe it was made possible by the confidence our members developed through the Move&Thrive programme.
This is because Sport England's funding helped people believe in themselves and once they achieved one challenge, they became willing to embrace many more.
Today the impact continues. Our members are more active, healthier and more connected than ever before.
We're incredibly grateful to Sport England for investing in our community.
Move&Thrive has created a lasting legacy that has helped people find their voices and realise that their dreams matter.
Growing up as the only deaf person in my family, sport became my escape from the loneliness and isolation I often felt at home and at school, because constantly second-guessing conversations and struggling to keep up takes a toll.
But sport gave me freedom and a way to let go of all that frustration.
It all started with swimming. In the water I found my own bubble of silence. No worrying about misheard words or asking people to repeat themselves – just me, the lane and a sense of independence.
That feeling is something every child should have, but for many deaf children the chance to experience it simply isn’t there.
Deafness is often called 'the forgotten disability' and it’s easy to see why.
According to data by the National Deaf Children’s Society there are more than 18 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK, including 54,000 children, yet the challenges they face go far beyond communication.
Social isolation is common and that often leads to mental health struggles and inactivity.
The results of Sport England’s Active Lives Surveys painted a stark picture:
These numbers support why tackling inequalities isn’t just a nice idea – it’s essential – and it’s exactly what Sport England’s strategy is all about.
There are more than 18 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK, including 54,000 children, yet the challenges they face go far beyond communication.
In 2025, we launched Destination Deaflympics, a programme for 8-16-year-olds inspired by the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics.
For us it’s all about giving young people the chance to try fun, inclusive activities and closing the gap between deaf children and their hearing peers.
So far we’ve reached 3,500 deaf and hard of hearing children across 175 settings and, along the way, we’ve learned a lot about the barriers they face, like the lack of accessible community provision or coaches who don't know how to deliver inclusive sessions.
That’s why we’re working with partners like the British Association of Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People to make sure deaf children get their recommended 60 minutes of activity every day.
This work has seen great success in the education sector with teachers sharing that by taking part in Destination Deaflympics, they are also seeing benefits in the classroom with students being more focused and ready to learn.
The Deaflympics celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2024 and the Tokyo Games was an event like no other.
The GB team brought home 12 medals, finishing 12th out of 80 nations, but its impact went way beyond the results.
These athletes are key role models who showed what’s possible and inspired the next generation of Deaf sport men and women.
Before the Games, one of our swimmers spent a day with deaf schoolchildren in Greater Manchester sparking excitement and ambition that will last a lifetime.
Everything we’re doing supports Sport England's long-term strategy, Uniting the Movement. We're talking about things like:
Sport should be for everyone and that’s why, by breaking down barriers and creating opportunities, we’re not just changing lives – we’re helping deliver Sport England’s vision of a fair, inclusive and active nation.
Learn about the role we play in backing aspiring winter sports athletes through our investment of National Lottery and Government funding into talent and support programmes.
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As the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games start we would like to extend our very best wishes to the athletes and the support team behind Team GB (and in the coming weeks ParalympicsGB) as the spotlight of Olympic and Paralympic sport shines upon them.
It is worth remembering that during the 2018-22 cycle the winter sports and athletes were particularly impacted by the resultant post-Brexit travel restrictions and also (how soon we forget!) by the Covid pandemic.
UK Sport and the British Olympic Association have an ambitious target this year and I think, and hope, that at this iteration of the ‘winters’ we will see our athletes and sports realise their aspirations as they showcase the rich and diverse sporting offer we have in England and across the UK.
At Sport England we are extremely proud of the role that we play in supporting partners and thereby enabling aspiring athletes in winter sports to explore and fulfil their potential, but what does that support look like and why does it matter?
Starting with the second question first, let’s address the elephant in the room – why winter sports?
There is a rather lazy misconception that we don’t have winter sports facilities and that those sports are exclusively the pursuit of people from affluent backgrounds – the truth, like many things in life, is much more nuanced that that.
Starting with the sliding sports (bobsleigh, skeleton or luge to name a few) there is an established track record of athletes coming from the British Army - shout out at this point to our colleagues at British Army Sport which continues to be a key partner of and contributor to the UK High Performance System - or from track and field athletics.
These athletes often transition in to sliding sports (or should it be pushing sports!) through established UK Sport-led talent ID programmes such as Find Your Greatness, and those sports have brilliant pathways to take them all the way to the podium.
At Sport England we are extremely proud of the role that we play in supporting partners and thereby enabling aspiring athletes in winter sports to explore and fulfil their potential.
The skating sports are typically populated with athletes who started their careers at ice rinks and ice centres scattered across the major ‘second cities’ of England.
The National Ice Centre in Nottingham has long since been the base for aspiring short track speed skaters and a great partnership between Sport England, Nottingham City Council and recently British Ice Skating, who received Sport England talent funding into their pathways.
Other English rinks feature prominently in the athletes’ biographies and it was great to see Sheffield hosting the recent Figure Skating European Championships as part of the build up to the Games.
English Snowsport athletes often start their careers at outdoor ‘dry’ (not so much in the rain!) ski slopes, which continue to be popular and affordable community sport facilities, enabling athletes such as the Summerhayes sisters or, for Milan-Cortina, veteran James ‘Woodsy’ Woods (who will compete at his fourth Olympic Winter Games) to progress from Sheffield Ski Village to the X-Games podium.
Arguably Great Britain's most successful ever Alpine skier, Dave Ryding will contest his fifth Olympic Winter Games, having purportedly earned his stripes at a dry ski-facility up at Pendle Ski Club, a member-owned club located in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire.
Sport England investment supports the talent pathways in a range of winter sports to ensure that performance pathways in these sports are accessible and inclusive, well-led and managed, and that they offer the support needed to allow our aspiring young people to progress to the very highest level.
Through our funded partners, most prominently SportsAid, we also fund programmes such as Backing The Best and the TASS programme that collectively provide direct financial and athlete support services, such as strength and conditioning, physiotherapy and sports medicine services to enable our players to be fit, healthy and optimally prepared for graduation into high performance programmes and success at major events and games.
As an example, of the Team GB class of 2026 in Milan-Cortina, at least 10 athletes (including Dave ‘The Rocket’ Ryding) have received Sport England support through TASS - five of which are current TASS-supported athletes enabling them to be in the very best of health as they embark on one of the biggest events of their careers.
Finally, as we look ahead to the winter Paralympics, we could not be prouder of the English athletes who will represent PGB as the spotlight shines on them from 6 March, I am particularly looking forward to seeing trailblazing English wheelchair curlers: Yorkshire’s Jo Butterfield, Newcastle’s Jason Kean, Wigan’s Karen Aspey and Northumbria’s Stewart Pimblett.
Collectively, they will make history as the first English curlers ever to take to the ice at the ‘winters’.
Their inspirational journey (look them up, their stories are remarkable) was enabled through an innovative partnership with British Curling, which saw Sport England invest in performance pathways in the sport for the very first time.
Best of luck to all our athletes. No need to ask you to make us proud. We already are.
At Fulham Reach Boat Club (FRBC), we believe rivers should belong to everyone and this year we took an exciting step forward with the launch of our new accessible rowing programme on the Thames.
What began as a small pilot called Row the Rhythm for blind and visually impaired participants and supported by Love Rowing funding, has quickly grown into a powerful learning journey for our coaches, volunteers, partners and those travelling from across London to try rowing, many of them for the first time.
This is the story of how we’re opening up rowing, what we’ve learned along the way and where we hope to go next – a journey that starts before reaching the water, because one of the most meaningful parts of the programme wasn’t actually on the river, it was the journey from Hammersmith Station.
We chose to meet participants at the station to guide them safely to our Boathouse, but it became far more than a practical step.
That short journey created space for honest conversation about the barriers disabled people face, about how few accessible sporting opportunities exist and about the courage it takes to try something new when the world isn’t designed with you in mind.
These walks helped build trust before a single stroke was taken and set the tone for the kind of programme we wanted to deliver – human, patient and centred on the individual.
Rowing coaches are used to getting people onto the water quickly, but accessible rowing requires a different pace, which brought in our biggest challenge: slowing everyone down.
For safety and confidence, the first session had to take place entirely on land.
What began as a small pilot for blind and visually impaired participants has quickly grown into a powerful learning journey for our coaches, volunteers, partners and the people who travelled from across London to try rowing, many of them for the first time.
Participants learned about the layout of the site, boat handling, water safety and how rowing feels and works before ever stepping into a boat.
At first, some were disappointed not to get onto the Thames straight away, but by session two or three the benefits were clear as starting slowly meant that once on the water, participants felt calm, informed and ready.
Their progress was extraordinary!
What surprised us the most was how working in this space naturally attracted more people with complex and varied needs, far beyond our original plans.
People travelled long distances across London, and in some cases far beyond, simply because accessible rowing doesn’t exist elsewhere. That willingness to travel underlined the scale of unmet demand.
Our local partners at Action on Disability and sight loss charity, VICTA helped us understand the huge range of disabilities and access needs in our community.
That is why we chose to start by focusing on just one area of need – visual impairment and blindness – building specialist expertise before widening out.
And the appetite is growing.
Across the programme, one principle kept resurfacing: empathy and understanding go a long way. See beyond the disability. Coach for the individual, not for the sport.
We learned to ask different questions, to describe space differently, to adjust our language, to use one voice in busy environments and to understand what independence looks like for each person.
We also learned that accessible rowing isn’t just about equipment – it’s about culture, about slowing down, about listening and about co-creating the experience.
We’re proud of what Row the Rhythm achieved, but this is only the beginning.
Our long-term goal is to build a permanent, specialist accessible pathway at FRBC and to fully integrate disabled rowers into our wider club community.
To make this sustainable we're:
Our vision is a sport where disabled people can learn, progress and row independently and where adaptive rowing blends seamlessly into our mainstream offer.
This first year has shown us two powerful truths: there is a huge untapped demand for accessible rowing and that when you remove barriers, people thrive.
Participants told us the experience was “life-changing”, “freeing” and something they've never thought that they'd be able to do.
And for us, the learning has been just as transformative and rewarding.
We now know that accessible rowing is not a niche add-on – it is essential to creating a sport that truly belongs to everyone.
The river has room for all of us and at Fulham Reach Boat Club, we’re committed to making sure everyone who wants to row can find their place on the water.
At Sport England, we want to make physical activity and sport a normal part of life for everyone, as movement is not only great for everybody's mental and physical health, but because it also brings communities together, develops skills and confidence, and even contributes to boosting our economy.
However, we know that when it comes to being active, it’s not a level playing field across the country and some groups in our communities face additional barriers due to their background, gender, postcode, culture and/or disability (amongst others).
That’s why our focus on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) runs through everything we do and aims to tackle some of these systemic challenges, because for us it’s not about ticking boxes, but about making the world better for everyone.
As part of our long-term organisational strategy, Uniting the Movement, and our ED&I ambition to tackle inequalities, we have a specific focus on disability.
Our latest Active Lives data shows that one in five people in England have a long-standing limiting disability or illness, and that disabled people are almost twice as likely to be physically inactive.
We also know that an estimated 15% of the UK population are neurodivergent and that the more barriers people face, the less likely they are to be active.
On the other hand, we believe in the social model of disability – which means that people are disabled by society, not by their impairment – so we want to change the systemic and practical barriers they have to face as these, and not the person, are the real problem.
Historically, societal systems and sporting traditions have (often invisibly) excluded neurodivergent people and that's why at Sport England we're so excited to be working with Neurodiverse Sport and Autism Action. Together we want to begin to address these issues and drive more inclusive practice.
Everyone is neurodiverse because everyone’s brains are different, but 'neurodivergence' refers to the cases when cognitive profiles differ further from the statistical norm, as happens with autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), dyslexia or dyspraxia.
As with everything, neurodivergence is different for each individual and some experience greater challenges than others.
We believe in the social model of disability – which means that people are disabled by society, not by their impairment – so we want to change the systemic and practical barriers they have to face as these, and not the person, are the real problem.
A person’s experience depends on how their unique strengths and challenges interact with their environment – so designing better environments is key to better outcomes.
Not everyone sees neurodivergence as a disability and this often links to whether they align with the social or medical model of disability, which sees the disability as the problem.
But as a disabled person, this makes sense to me – I don’t see myself as disabled if I use the medical model, yet I do under the social model.
Being disabled doesn’t stop anyone from having significant strengths, experiences or ambitions.
In fact, it definitely doesn’t stop those wanting to be involved in sport and activity, from grassroots through to elite (Paralympics, anyone?).
So what we want to see, and what our partnership with Neurodiverse Sport and Autism Action will help us progress with, is a more inclusive and skilled sector for neurodivergent people.
The investment will focus on increasing awareness, upskilling the workforce, creating health and wellbeing partnerships, and building best practice and innovation for change.
Additionally, it will develop a 'Blueprint to Inclusion' to develop, pilot and replicate neuroinclusive practices across the sport and physical activity sector that will equip it with tools and resources to change understanding and practice.
The document will be co-produced with people with lived experience and it'll focused on people's strengths, promoting practical and reasonable adjustments as standard, and considering both performance and wellbeing.
More information about how this work is developing will be shared in the new year.
In spite of our best efforts and Uniting the Movement, it’s clear that there are deep-rooted inequalities in sport and physical activity that mean many people feel excluded.
We want to reduce this for neurodivergent people by working together to understand the barriers some are facing, finding solutions and supporting the sector to take this forward.
But we can’t do this alone – not even with the extensive networks of our partners. So if you want to be involved and are curious and ambitious in how we can collectively make the world better, please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.
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