It's a really great time through the summer for world-class Paralympic sport. We've got the Blind World Championship in football at Hereford – I'm going along to that. And shortly after, the World Swimming Championships in Eindhoven in Holland.

I think what's going to be great for me is going to the World Football Championships in Hereford. I'm going to have a go at blind football for the first time, which should be a lot of fun and probably I'll understand just how difficult it is, but hopefully we'll get some video footage to put up on the website and tie it into really encouraging people – what we want to do is we want to encourage people to have a go at Paralympic sport. I think blind Football's a good one to get people to have a go at. Just stick the ball on the penalty spot, get a blindfold on, then see how difficult or potentially easy if you fancy it is to try and get that ball in the back of the net. So we should come back with some decent footage from Hereford on that which you should be able to pick up on the website.

Then the World Swimming Championships in Eindhoven should be fantastic. The British team are taking a really strong group of guys out there. There's a lot of young people on the team so really good prospects for 2012. For a lot of people going there it'll be their first World Championships so it's fantastic to see that level of development in a sport that they've got people who have done a number of Paralympic Games. But also a real good crop of youngsters who are keeping that sort of development and entry level stuff, to keep the sport rolling forward. And at all previous Paralympic Games the swimmers have always put in a large number of medals so we obviously want that to be the case in 2012.

And are we going to be able to watch either of those events or find out more about them anywhere?

Absolutely, I think there's going to be a fair amount of coverage of the Football in regional news and a bit of BBC coverage. Particularly the World Swimming Championships is going to be streamed by the International Paralympic Committee on their web channel. They've got a web TV station – www.paralympicsporttv.org, and they’re streaming live footage from Eindhoven and also it's going to be a key part of Channel 4's programming when we come to two years to go. They're putting together a really tight package of events and interviews and profiles from the swimmers so that'll be a really good thing as part of the programming over the bank holiday weekend at the end of the month.

So it's a great time for people to find out about the sports that they've never necessarily seen before, or they know about in the able-bodied athletes but haven't necessarily seen in the disabled athlete categories.

Really great opportunity, I think this is a massive part of the education piece to enable people to experience Paralympic sport for the first time so as I've said there's the Football and the Swimming but also one of Channel 4's programmes which they are going to be showing on the Sunday of the bank holiday weekend, it’s really going to be focusing on eight different Paralympic sports. So across Football, Wheelchair Rugby, Equestrian, Swimming and a number of others, so really giving that sense of this is the sport, these are some of the key British players who you are going to see hopefully on those medal rostrums in 2012. This is how the sport works, really showcasing the cream of British Paralympics sport.

I think that will be a really great programme. It'll be fantastic to watch, it's going to be a great piece of television. It's shot by a guy called Mike Christie who did Jump London which some people may be aware of. So a really talented GB producer, so I think that will be a really great program, well worth sitting down to and having that real exposure to Paralympic sports – perhaps for the first time.

Can you believe that two years to go has come around already?

It's extraordinary that we are on the threshold of two years to go till the Paralympic Games. It doesn't seem any time since we were 1,000 days away and already we're at the two year mark. It's incredibly significant, I think now it's really time for people to think ‘What do I want my Paralympic Games experience to be? How do I want to play it? Do I want to get a ticket and come to some of the sports in London? Do I want to go to the Sailing in Weymouth? Do I want to check out the Channel 4 coverage from now through the build up to the Games? Do I want to perhaps become a volunteer at the Paralympic Games?’ So so many opportunities but really I think the two year mark is a great time for people to think about ‘What do I want to do, what part can I play in the Paralympic Games in our home nation come 2012?’

Obviously, in the same way that we saw when we were marking two years to go till the Olympics, all the same things are true in the way people can get involved now – so they can sign up, they can register their interest in seeing some of the sports especially if they get a taste for it now to see if they're suitable for volunteering.

I think two years is a really excellent opportunity to focus on what is out there at the moment. So the potential to sign up for tickets, register their interest, obviously Olympic tickets going on sale in March 2011, Paralympic tickets in September 2011, but you can sign up now and receive regular updates and information on particular sports you are interested in. Volunteering applications are coming up on September 15, so you can think ‘do I want to be a volunteer at the Paralympic Games? How fantastic will that be to be right up close and personal? Maybe inside the Athlete's Village? Maybe at the track? Maybe working in the accreditation centre which may seem not that glamorous.

But seriously, having been to four Paralympic Games, I absolutely know it doesn't matter what the particular volunteering role somebody has. The fact that you're volunteering and part of that experience, part of that buzz, it's absolutely priceless. So all of these ways of getting involved – some are Paralympic merchandise coming on sale, obviously the mascot Mandeville is going to be incredibly popular. So every single person up and down this country and internationally as well has got the chance to think ‘this isn't a Games for somebody else. This is a Games for me. This is everyone's Paralympics!’.