Athletes taking first step with P2P - News - LIVING SPORT

Athletes taking first step with P2P

The search is on for the next generation of Paralympic athletes with Playground to Podium (P2P), led by Sport England in partnership with English Federation of Disability Sport, Youth Sport Trust and Paralympics GB.

P2P will help create a clear and professional disability sport pathway from school sport, through club participation and on to elite performance.

As part of the Playground to Podium Pathway, LIVING SPORT are organising the County Athlete Assessment Days (CAAD) for the first time ever. The first of the CAAD’s will involve swimming and Boccia at Impington Village College on Tuesday 6th July.

The day will involve talent spotters from the ASA and England Boccia assessing the young people on their sports skills. All the young people from across the county have been identified as talented by their schools and invited to take part in multi skills clubs to hone their talents before the CAAD.

If the young people are deemed to have prospects in the sport the National Governing Body will then signpost them to local training opportunities a lucky few might get the chance to be fast tracked on to specific talent programmes and may get selected as soon as the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

The day will be made extra special by the presence of Fran Williamson, Paralympic swimming medalist from Beijing 2008, who is based in Cambridge will be talking to the young people.

Along with Swimming and Boccia, other sports involved in the Playground to Podium programme are Athletics, Football, Table Tennis and Wheelchair Basketball.

The CAAD for Athletics and Football will take place on Thursday 15th July at One Leisure St Ives Outdoor Centre, and Wheelchair Basketball and Table Tennis the following day at Chesterton Sports Centre in Cambridge.

Rebecca Gilbertson, CAAD Manager for LIVING SPORT, said, ‘This is a very exciting programme to be involved with and I am hopeful that we will discover some highly talented young people, who can go on to be the sporting stars of the future.’

For more information and interviews, please contact Rebecca Gilbertson, Events Coordinator, on 01487 849929 and Rebecca.Gilbertson@livingsport.co.uk or Amanda Callard, Development Manager, on 01487 849925 or amanda.callard@livingsport.co.uk.

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