Sportsability Festival Gears Up For The Paralympics
Mandeville the official London 2012 Paralympic Mascot
With just under a year to go until the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games, Mandeville the official 2012 Paralympic mascot will be making a special appearance at the Northumberland Sportsability Festival to be held at the state of the art facility Sport Central in Newcastle over the weekend Saturday 1st & Sunday 2nd October 2011.
This Paralympic Festival of sport is FREE for any young person with a learning disability, physical or sensory impairment, aged 9 - 18 years who is resident in Northumberland. So no matter what your sporting background is, if you fit this criteria and have an interest in trying out new sporting activities, online bookings are now being taken so secure your place now!
The event is organised by Northumberland Sport and supported by the English Federation for Disability Sport, Northumberland Aiming High and National Governing Bodies for Sport. It is also associated to Northumberland Sport's 'Bringing the Games Closer' project, which aims to bring the spirit and excitement of the 2012 Games to Northumberland by highlighting the huge amount of local talent and potential that exists in the county.
Over the weekend, a range of sporting opportunities will be provided for participants including Archery; Athletics; Boccia; Fencing; Football; Climbing Wall; Swimming; Table Tennis and Wheelchair Basketball. Sports professionals and volunteers will be on hand throughout the weekend to supervise activities and provide advice on how to continue playing sport in your local area.
Parents, guardians and family members are also invited to join in the fun and take advantage of the wonderful sporting facilities on offer throughout the weekend, so please see the booking information for further details.
Northumberland's most successful Paralympian and winner of 3 Gold medals, Stephen Miller, says:
"London 2012 is fast approaching so it would be great to see local young people taking advantage of this wonderful opportunity to get involved in sport as the momentum builds to next year. Sport Central is a fantastic addition to the regions' sporting facilities and hopefully some participants from the Northumberland Sportsability event will go on to realise their dreams and ambitions and one day compete at a future Paralympic Games."
Doug Lowery, Executive Director for Northumberland Sport said:
" We are really pleased to be hosting this event. It will offer young disabled people a chance to try a number of sports, some of which they may not have tried previously. Whilst we hope to identify new talent and with the support of sports governing bodies, help any potential stars of the future onto a development pathway, we also simply want to encourage more young people to enjoy sport and to participate more regularly."
Booking Information
For further information including how to book, please visit our Sportsability Festival 2011 event page.
