Penny Briscoe - Performance Director, British Paralympic Association
It was with a mixture of pride and excitement that I watched the first athletes arrive at the ParalympicsGB training camp at the University of Bath. Seeing them so focussed as we round the final bend and head into the finishing straight and the London Games, I could scarcely believe that we are now just 370 days away from the biggest opportunity that we have ever had to put Paralympic sport on the map.
London will be my 7th Games (Olympic and Paralympic) and the progress that has been made over the 10 years I have been at the BPA has been remarkable. Thanks to Lottery funding, Paralympic sport is now better resourced than ever before. The ambition of the athletes has never been in question but that is now matched in many sports by world class systems. These see disabled athletes training alongside their non-disabled counterparts and receiving world class coaching, sports science and medicine and a range of other support services. This level of professionalism has to be the Gold standard for all sports.
My personal ambition is that when we gather all the athletes together in July 2012 for the final time before the Opening Ceremony, that every single one of them feels deserving of their team mates’ respect – they are all there because they are exceptional athletes; they all share a vision to deliver personal best performances at our Home Games and ultimately they all KNOW they have all done everything they can in their preparation to make our nation applaud and appreciate British Paralympic athletes.
That’s why the series of London 2012 pre Games Preparation Camps, funded by the Lottery and by BPA (with significant support from partners) is an important part of athlete and sport preparation and in building the ParalympicsGB team.
The Paralympic Games are a unique environment and for the vast majority of our athletes, and in terms of scale the contrast to a European or World Championships couldn’t be greater. Therefore the Camp environment that we create aims to replicate what they will experience in London - it is multi-sport so that they get used to rubbing shoulders with their potential team mates, has an accreditation system, we’ve even created a Village like atmosphere complete with dining hall and athlete lounge and branding.
In addition, by having athletes from a number of sports all together, we are able to run workshops which look at topics such as maximising home advantage, what to expect in the Paralympic Games environment and how to make the most of the media opportunities. This year, we are also casting the net wider and running a workshop for athletes’ friends and families to help them prepare to offer the best support to the athletes.
UK Sport has recognised the importance of this and has supported us in making the potentially unfamiliar, familiar and therefore removing a potential performance distraction. By the time this camp is over 334 athletes from 20 sports will have been through the Camp in 2010 and 2011 and we hope therefore will have added another element to the comprehensive preparation programme that the sports are undertaking.
My final wish for 370 days time, is that when the ParalympicsGB team step out into the Olympic Stadium for the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games the roar that greets the home nation team will be like no other; once started, this roar will continue to reverberate around every venue and in every living room throughout the period of the Games and long after the flame has been extinguished. The British nation will be truly behind ParalympicsGB and be inspired by the performances of the athletes on and off the field of play. This recognition will be befitting of the exceptional talent that exists within British Paralympic sport and with which I have had the privilege to work and support over the last decade.