Playground to Podium
Over thirty young people with disabilities got the chance to
take part in sports sessions delivered by top national coaches at
the 3rd annual Bedfordshire County Athlete Assessment Day (CAAD)
held at Bedford International Athletic Stadium on Friday
10th June.
The event is run by Bedford Borough Council’s Sports Development
team as part of a national “Playground to Podium” initiative that
offers a series of targeted interventions aimed at helping young
people with disabilities, with varying impairments and support
needs, to progress from P.E and community sport to high-level
performance and competition.
Each young person got the opportunity to take
part in the sport specific sessions delivered by the top National
coaches, and over 30 young people from across Bedfordshire got the
chance to be assessed in four sports (including: Wheelchair
basketball, football, table tennis and athletics).
The event enables top coaches to assess whether young
individuals, who have been put forward by their schools, have the
potential to progress further within that sport and along the
appropriate Paralympics or impairment pathway.
Cllr Doug McMurdo, portfolio holder for leisure & culture,
at Bedford Borough Council, said: “All the young people receive
lots of information on how to carry on with sport and some of them
are identified as having real potential to become top performers in
the future. Some of those who took part in 2010 are now playing
sport at a very high level!”
Cllr McMurdo continued: “This event helps raise the profile of
Paralympic sports and highlights some of the opportunities that
exist within the community for participation in physical activity.
We want everyone to be able to take part in sport and to
develop their potential as far as they want and this is one of the
many initiatives we are involved with throughout the year that
works towards that goal.”