Cheshire and Warrington County Athlete Assessment Day 2011
Added on: 15th June 2011
Sunshine and blue skies were the order of the day at this year's County Athlete Assessment Day (CAAD), held at the University Church of England Academy in Ellesmere Port. The event, which took place on Tuesday 14th June, was organised as part of the wider Playground to Podium initiative that aims to help young disabled people progress from PE and community sport to high-level performance and competition through talent identification and nurturing.
Throughout the Cheshire and Warrington area over the last year, School Sports Coordinators from all the local School Sport Partnerships have been working with young disabled people in order to provide opportunities for them to participate and engage with a number of sports and physical activities. As a result of this work, and through a number of 'Ability Days', over 50 young people were identified as having sporting potential and invited to take part in the CAAD on the 14th June.
The event was organised by Sport Cheshire, and all the young people present took part in four sports throughout the day. The four sports were Athletics, Table Tennis, Wheelchair Basketball, and Football. NGBs from each of these sports provided fun coaching sessions for the young athletes and used the opportunity to assess whether any had the potential to progress within the sport and along its Paralympic pathway.
Shelley Holroyd of England Athletics, and one of the coaches at the CAAD, said "There was a wide range of disabilities here today, which meant we were able to find a number of talented children from the area. This CAAD has shown that it is about quality and not quantity." And Shelley was right, 55% of the young athletes that attended the day were identified by the coaches as having potential to progress within their sport.
The day wasn't all about talent identification however. The young athletes were joined for the afternoon by Adrian Derbyshire, British Wheelchair Fencing Champion and Paralympian. Adrian gave the young athletes an inspirational talk about life and sport with a disability. Of the day, Adrian said, "It's an honour and a privilege to be here to see children with all disabilities participating in sport. It's a great opportunity for them to excel in their chosen sport." And it seemed that the young athletes agreed, with one saying, "I've done some of these sports before, but they've never been as good as today."
This year's CAAD has shown that there really are some talented young athletes in Cheshire and Warrington. And, with the added inspiration of the London Olympics and Paralympics next year, maybe we will have found a future Paralympian.
Many thanks must go to the coaches, teachers, volunteers, and carers that made the day such a success.
Click here to see all the pictures from the day.
