Future Paralympians take up the challenge!

With the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games little over a year away a County Athlete Assessment Day (CAAD) was held in Kettering on Monday 27th June to try and find some young people with disabilities from Northamptonshire that could potentially be Paralympians of the future.

The CAAD which is part of a national Youth Sport Trust programme called Playground to Podium (P2P) was attended by 28 young people from all over the County who had been identified within their schools as showing high ability in the 5 P2P sports of Swimming, Athletics, Football, Table-Tennis and Wheelchair Basketball.

At the CAAD the participants took part in a Football training session in the morning led by coaches from Northampton Town's Football in the Community Scheme. This session involved them having their ability tested in all the main Football skills and techniques such as dribbling, passing, turning and shooting.

During a well earned lunch break the participants had an inspirational speech from special guest Leon Taylor who is the Goalkeeper for the England Cerebral Palsy (CP) Football team and also represented Great Britain at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. This involved Leon telling the young people about the time and effort it took on his behalf to nurture the natural talent he had when he was their age to reach the level he's at today.

During the afternoon the participants took part in their second sports session which was Athletics led by coaches from England Athletics and local clubs. This involved them again being coached and tested in the sports disciplines of running, long jump, Javelin, Shot and Discus throwing.

Everyone involved thoroughly enjoyed the day and many of them are also attending the second part of the CAAD to be held on Thursday 30th June at Weavers Leisure Centre in Wellingborough in which they'll be tested again in the sports of Table-tennis and Wheelchair Basketball.

If you have a child aged 10-16 with a disability and would like to find out more about the P2P programme please contact the Northamptonshire Sport Disability Development Officer Graeme Wilson either by phoning 01604 237953 or email gwilson@northamptonshire.gov.uk.

The photo above shows all the participants and coaches involved in the CAAD along with special guest Leon Taylor (back centre) sporting his England Goalkeeper shirt.