Ellie Simmonds wins in Beijing. Potential Paralympic athletes are being invited to find out if they have the talent to be the stars of the future.Those aged 13-38 within the relevant disability groups - including visual impairment and cerebral palsy - are being invited to Brunel University to see if they could be the Paralympians of the future.
The day will see attendees put through their paces by top coaches from many of the Paralympic sports to see if they are good enough to be fast tracked onto a sporting pathway. The basic requirements are that they are physically active and have a determination to win.
This will be the seventh such day that ParalympicsGB have run. This time Cadbury, one of the London 2012 partners, are 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.
On previous days between 40 and 50 per cent of attendees have been identified as having talent and some of the success stories from those days are now starting to emerge. For example, Judith Hamer attended a talent day Mile End in October 2008 and then went on to represent GB at the 2009 BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester in May.
Phil Lane, Chief Executive Officer of ParalympicsGB said: ‘We know that the pathways in Paralympic sport can be shorter than in Olympic sport therefore it’s really not too late for us to be unearthing athletes that may have what it takes to compete in London.
'There are a lot of medals up for grabs in 2012 and we want to make sure we’ve left no stone unturned in the search for potential Paralympians who can represent Great Britain in 2012 and beyond.’
Find out more about the day at www.paralympics.co.uk/talent
Find out more about Paralympic sports
