For the first British gold of the Paralympics to be won by a teenager in a world record time was an incredible start to the Games. I think Poppy Maskill was even a bit shocked herself. I’m not sure how much it was expected but it was a fantastic performance.
The 19-year-old is hardly the only youngster on the block in Paris. She beat her friend Olivia Newman-Baronius in the final and she’s 17. And then there is Bly Twomey in table tennis. She won bronze in the doubles at the age of 14 which is nuts. There’s also a 13-year-old swimmer, Iona Winnifrith. In total the ParalympicsGB team includes 14 teenagers so I could go on.
I asked Ellie Simmonds what it was like for her in Beijing 2008 and what advice she would give to kids coming through today. She said her youth had been her superpower because she didn’t know any better. It was like that when I was one of the younger players in the basketball team.
It’s almost intimidating for the older athletes because they’re suddenly thinking; the last thing I want is to be beaten by some kid who has not even done GCSEs. Imagine you’re a world-class athlete who has been training all your life and suddenly someone who has just finished playing Lego is kicking your arse.
You need a really good balance in the team. You need the experience, you need the old heads, you need the people who are at the peak of their powers. But if you’ve got that superpower of youth and the intimidation it gives to the older ones, it can bring a benefit in performance. I call them rainbow kids. They come in with a flash of colour and energy, and invigorate a team. They can be that boost a group needs to get to the next level. It’s a presence that’s needed.
For us as fans, it’s also great to see and feel that turnover of new athletes. It means the programme is working, we’re attracting young people and every generation that comes through is better than the last. They’re standing on the shoulders of the previous generation and showing that talent.
It is not that long ago that a lot of us were amateur. We coached ourselves, looked for coaches, spent a lot of time fundraising. I’m not saying there won’t be athletes in the current wave who have to do that. Eden Rainbow-Cooper, who won the Boston Marathon this year, had to fundraise for her wheelchair, which is obviously a shame.
But it is quite important to note that we have a generation with access to more resources and that has a higher profile. The Paralympics is in a great place and people are thinking more about disability.
We have an elite pathway and it’s working. The next step is grassroots engagement, to give every kid with a disability the opportunity to play sport because the benefits are massive.
It’s really important that you have what we’re now calling “equal play” and it is happening already. I visit schools doing talks and meet fantastic teachers, sometimes a bit maverick, who have found ways to incorporate kids with disabilities into their PE and sports days. One school fundraised to buy basketball chairs so they could bring wheelchair basketball into lessons, with non-disabled kids playing in the chairs too. That showed teachers are willing to think out of the box and schools can be open-minded.
Should wheelchair sport at school be restricted to disabled kids? Schools may have children with disabilities who need access to the equipment but why not expand it to non-disabled too? It would give an idea of what it is like to be in a wheelchair and to be a Paralympian. Imagine being a child who has a disability seeing others able to play alongside them in PE lessons.
The idea works well in wheelchair basketball and you could extend it to goalball or sitting volleyball, although wheelchair rugby is probably a bit too violent. It would be inclusion taken to another level and that’s the way we should be thinking. Some people are worried that having non-disabled people playing their sports might be insulting for people with disabilities, but I don’t think it’s that important. What’s more important is inclusion and understanding so that when people get older, it’s not such a big deal.
I would encourage anyone with a disability looking to play more sport to check out the campaign Every Body Moves. It’s run by ParalympicsGB and Channel 4 is on board. Type your postcode into the website and it will match you up with a local disability sports club. It’s another way to carry on that Paralympic journey and you never know, future Paralympians might come out of it too.
