Sport.Cardiff and Disability Sport Wales and will be supporting this year’s Wheelchair Sports Spectacular once again. Local elite athletes, including some of Wales’ very own Paralympians, will be attending to encourage the participants to try the sports on offer. This amazing event takes place on Friday June 17th and Saturday June 18th from 10am to 4pm.
Children, young people and adults are invited to take part in over fifteen sports - all under one roof at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff’s National Indoor Athletics Centre.
Designed to spot those who might have a burgeoning talent or those who simply want to take part in sport and have fun - there are sports to suit everyone of all ages and ability levels.
For the third year the event is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Cardiff Bay who are delighted to be supporting this venture. Additional support has also been given by Cardiff University, UWIC, Invacare, Design Circle, and Deloitte.
Run by Disability Sport Wales and Sport.Cardiff, the event aims to get disabled people more active in sport and will see over 500 participants from across the South Wales region and beyond taking part. Members of the community, school and day centre groups are expected to take part.
Joanna Coates-McGrath, Disability Sport Wales Development Officer for Sport.Cardiff, said:
"This is the seventh year that the Spectacular has taken place in Cardiff and the event has proven itself to be a great way to encourage people to get active, and many local clubs have gained new members as a result.
"Each day will showcase over 15 sports, all run by local sports clubs coaches, including handcycling, table tennis, bowls, wheelchair basketball, powerchair football, karate, golf, and wheelchair rugby plus lots more.
With both the Australian and South African Paralympic teams basing themselves in Cardiff for their pre-games training interest in disability sport is
Cardiff will be hosting Paralympic training camps for teams from South Africa, and Australia and events such as this help to further raise the profile of disability sport in Wales.
The Spectacular promises to create a hive of activity and we are keen to get across the message that wheelchair sport is not just for wheelchair users and is open to anyone who would use a wheelchair for sport. Some disability sports clubs in the area even have non-disabled members who are fully included in the club activities."
All are welcome and anyone who wants to turn up and have a go at wheelchair sport is encouraged to do so! Spectators are also welcome to attend - entry is free.
For more information about the event or Disability Sport Wales contact Joanna Coates-McGrath at Sport.Cardiff on 029 2087 3935 / 0797 6056153,
email jcoatesmcgrath@cardiff.gov.uk
Notes to editors:
1. Members of the Press are welcome to attend on either day but advised to check in advance when Paralympians will be attending for photo opportunities etc.
2. An approximate number of participants attending over the two days is 520.
3. Friday will be the busiest day as this is when the school groups attend
3. Disability Sport Wales is a joint initiative between the Sports Council for Wales, the Federation of Disability Sport Wales (FDSW) and local authorities, aimed at developing quality community based sporting and recreational opportunities for people with disabilities throughout Wales.
4. The event organisers include Disability Sport Wales Development Officers, Joanna Coates-McGrath of Cardiff Council, Simon Jones of the Vale of Glamorgan Council, Stephen McGrath of Newport Council and Mark Foster of Monmouthshire County Council
5. Promoted and delivered through a network of development officers located across every local authority in Wales, Disability Sport Wales was initially launched in June 2000 as Disability Sport Cymru, and has since evolved to encompass every local authority in Wales, with 22 officers now in place.
