Suffolk Disability Sport Academy

Launch of the Academy

Optua launched the Suffolk Disability Sport Academy to encourage more disabled people to take up sport and maximise the number of gold medals brought back to Suffolk at the 2012 Paralympics. The project was launched at Ipswich Town Football Club in November 2005. The launch event was attended by Philip Lane, Chief Executive of the British Paralympic Association; and David Sheepshanks, Chairman of Ipswich Town Football Club who both spoke in support of our plans. Also taking a key role in the initiative and speaking at the launch was Paralympic gold medalist Kevin Curtis, a patron of Optua and a member of the gold medal-winning sailing team from the Paralympics in Atlanta in 1996, who lives in Suffolk.

Also present at the launch were representatives from local sports clubs and other key organisations from Suffolk and beyond, who discussed what support local clubs need to be able to introduce or widen their provision for disabled people to take part in their sport.

Kevin Curtis said: "Training and support at grass roots level is vital for anyone wanting to seriously take up a Paralympic sport and I'm fully behind Optua's plans. I think the Paralympics presents a superb opportunity for disabled people in Suffolk and across the country to really get involved with a major sporting event and show what they can do. I hope that we can get more disabled people involved in sport and to improve the facilities that exist for them."

Optua Leisure, which provides a wide range of sporting activities for disabled people, already has many contacts across Suffolk with clubs that provide opportunities for disabled people. Since the announcement that the 2012 Olympic Games is coming to London, Optua has been trying to pull together any interested parties who can help to provide the facilities and grass-roots training so that disabled people in Suffolk have more opportunities to take part in sport and maybe even take part in the Paralympics in 2012.

Colin Poole, Chief Executive of Optua, said: "We hope that the excitement and support that the Olympics will generate will help to encourage sports clubs and leisure centres to improve facilities and opportunities for disabled people. We have already had a great deal of positive feedback and our plans seem to have generated a lot of excitement. Our vision is for a Disability Sport Academy in Suffolk which supports clubs with improvements to facilities and coaching, brings new Paralympic sports to Suffolk and acts as a signposting service to link disabled people to clubs who can give them that chance to go for gold."

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Click here to see Philip Lane's presentation from the lauch. Please note - this is a large file and may take a few moments to download.

Click here to see Optua's presentation from the launch.

The launch was featured on Anglia TV and on the BBC websites' Suffolk Sport pages.

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