Parasport for All

A new online initiative aims to bring disabled people and sport together, as Paralympics GB’s Nicholas Heyworth explains.

Britain is traditionally one of the top Paralympic nations and, since the first Games in 1960, has been among the top performing nations at the Paralympic Games. As well as continuing to nurture and develop elite athletes with a disability to ensure the UK remains among the top nations in disability sport, ParalympicsGB is also committed to developing sporting opportunities at all levels for disabled people.

As a result, in May 2007, ParalympicsGB – thanks to a £1.7 million donation from financial services firm Deloitte – launched Parasport, an online virtual disability sport institute aimed at increasing participation levels in disability sport by signposting people to suitable sports, opportunities, clubs and facilities in their region.

The aim of the project, which is run by ParalympicsGB on behalf of Deloitte, is to inspire, inform and educate disabled people to high quality sporting opportunities and improve how talented sports people are identified and nurtured at community level.

The Parasport website, which is the first of its kind in the UK, aims to inspire disabled people to lead an active lifestyle and enjoy all the benefits that are associated with participating in sport, such as health, inclusion and social development – as well as the value of sport in rehabilitation. The site has a number of key features including a “self-assessment” wizard, which allows the user to input their impairment and find suitable sports for them to participate. There’s a page dedicated to each of the sports so users can find out additional information and there are also regular news updates, videos and photographs, to help bring the sports to life.

With the 23 Paralympic sports at the forefront of disability opportunities this does not mean that other sports are not available. On the contrary, the disability world has a wide variety of sports including zone hockey, transplant sports, waterskiing, angling, wheelchair dance, hand cycling, motor sports, inclusive gyms, flying and many others! With an ever growing clubs and events database Parasport is working towards supporting and developing as many of these sporting opportunities as possible.

Along with a host of other features and continued development Parasport aims to create an online community to help every disabled person find inspiration, information and guidance to take part in sport and who knows we could end up identifying Britain’s next top Paralympian!

For more information visit www.parasport.org.uk

Box out:

Christina

Ten year old Christina, who has cerebral palsy with associated visual perceptual difficulties, has had a love for animals all of her life and would like to be a vet when she is older. She attends a mainstream school, Trinity Middle School, on the Isle of Wight and – though she also enjoys swimming, girl guides and quad biking – her main hobby is pony riding!

According to her mother, Christina used to be a very shy and timid girl but riding has given her a huge confidence boost and helps Christina to really believe in herself. She works hard on her physiotherapy and is able to walk short distances using two sticks. Christina first started riding a little Shetland when she was two years old, mostly using riding as a form of physiotherapy. She was taught by Jenny who runs the local Riding for the Disabled Association centre.

Christina rides a welsh section a chestnut pony called Chester, with whom she spends a lot of time grooming and caring. “Chester and Christina love to hack out together and have a really strong bond,” says her mother. “Christina went through a really difficult period with her riding as it is difficult to find specialist saddlery, especially for small ponies, but with a lot of help from the Parasport website, our local RDA centre and her riding teacher she now rides with blocks from a remedial saddle attached in front and behind her legs – the blocks allow her to maintain her posture in the saddle without her legs creeping back and coming out of the stirrups.”

Since using the blocks, Christina’s riding has come on leaps and bounds; she now walks, trots and canters virtually independently and has just started to jump small jumps. She also rides with the local pony club and has done local spider rides and jumping competitions – all of which are with her able-bodied friends. Her ambition is to now to compete with the Paralympic team at dressage.

“She’s doing great,” says Christina’s mother. “She’s started to jump small jumps on her pony now, although the pony is jumping high whatever the size of the jump!  She has also been riding a 14 hand cob unaided and loving every moment of it. Her confidence is growing by the day.”