Sport stars of the future?
Phil Pratt (age 24), who was introduced to Wheelchair Basketball at the ‘Wheelchair Sports Spectacular’, recently captained the GB Men’s team to Gold at the World Championships in Hamburg, by beating the USA in the final. It made the national news that evening and Phil appeared on BBC Breakfast on Monday morning. It was in 2008 that Disability Sport Wales reached out to Rotary for help to cover a shortfall in the funding of the Wheelchair Sports Spectacular, which had been caused by the late withdrawal of their main sponsor. They needed to find £4,000 quickly to put on the event in its 6th year or it would simply not happen. The District 1150 Disabled Team Sports committee referred the request to Cardiff Bay Rotary and it didn’t take much to convince them to support an event, which was already introducing hundreds of young people with disability to the enjoyment of sport for the first time.
“This is all we want to do, just to continue to give these young people the opportunity to try out lots of different sports and find out what they can do and to get enjoyment out of that. The extra bonus for us has been watching them develop as athletes and in the case of a growing number to see them fulfil their ambition at the top of their sport. They have been the inspiration for others and have inspired us to support the event every year for the past 10 years” said PDG Steve Jenkins.
No longer restricted to wheelchair sports this two day phenomenon is a flagship event in the Disability Sport Wales ‘Insport’ series, and the Wales National Indoor Athletics Centre was buzzing again this year with a record 800 youngsters attending on schools day and a further 200 on families day. Everyone is encouraged to try all sports on offer. “To watch a young 10 year old wheelchair tennis player, who first picked up a tennis racket here at this event when he was two years old, and to learn that he is now in a Great Britain elite programme is for many of us the reason we joined Rotary” added Steve.
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