Journey to the Paralympics

London 2012 was a launchpad moment for Para sport, bringing it into the public eye and certainly sparked my interest and passion for working in this space. Everyone’s journey into sport is different, but for me, it involved building a solid foundation through my NHS rotations. I spent many weekends working with a mixture of sports before transitioning nine years ago to work full-time in sport.   

Working in Para sport harnesses collaborative working to problem solve complex cases ensuring athletes receive the best quality of care. You are always learning and having to think broadly which is why it makes it such an enjoyable space to work in. At elite level, it has a wider purpose too  than just winning medals, ParalympicsGB’s vision is through sport to inspire a better world for disabled people. 

The journey to the Paralympics entails a significant amount of detailed planning by sports and ParalympicsGB to ensure every need is taken care of at the Games. We have collaborated closely with the UK Sports Institute to ensure practitioners and sports are best prepared for the Games. This partnership has involved a range of games specific information, team building, wellbeing readiness and gathering feedback from practitioners. Most importantly it’s created a platform for practitioners to connect. 

ParalympicsGB have qualified 19 sports, with over 200 athletes competing. Each sport is travelling with their own national governing body physiotherapist. Within the village environment, sports have access to the ParalympicsGB core performance services team which involves physiotherapists, nurses, doctors and psychologists. Our ethos is to work collaboratively in a ‘relaxed, purposeful, and professional’ manner to create optimal environments and care for athletes. We’ve seen and heard the inspirational stories from Team GB at the Olympics. As a physiotherapy team we are excited to be a small part of what is no doubt going to be an incredible Paralympic Games.