Great Britain Organizes Paralympic Talent Day

The National Paralympic Committee of Great Britain, ParalympicsGB, has announced an official talent search aimed at identifying athletes to represent the country at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. 18 Aug 2009 By IPC

The pathways in Paralympic Sport can be shorter than in Olympic Sport, therefore it is really not too late to find athletes for the London 2012 Paralympic Games

Called the ‘Paralympic Potential Day’, the event will take place next month on 29 September at Brunel University in London. All participants will demonstrate their skills and abilities to top coaches from many Paralympic sports, seeing if they in fact have what it takes to be on the sporting path to the upcoming Summer Games.

This will be the seventh event that ParalympicsGB have run and the committee is pleased that one of the London 2012 partners, Cadbury, is supporting the event. In addition, and for the first time, a talent team from UK Sport will be present on the day to provide targeted talent identification for some sports.

The Chief Executive Officer of ParalympicsGB, Phil Lane, said that the pathways in Paralympic Sport can be shorter than in Olympic Sport, therefore it is really not too late to find athletes for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. He added that there are a lot of medals up for grabs in 2012 and the committee wants to make sure the search covers as many potential Paralympians as possible who could represent Great Britain in 2012 and beyond

On previous days between 40-50% of attendees have been identified as having what it takes to compete in the Games, and some of the success stories from those days are now starting to emerge. Judith Hamer for example attended a talent day in Mile End in October 2008, going on to represent Great Britain at the 2009 BT Paralympic World Cup this past May in Manchester.

For more information about ParalympicsGB, please visit www.paralympics.org.uk.