Unless you’ve had your head buried in the ground for the past few years, you’ll have noticed that disability sports are finally becoming more and more popular! The good news is that it’s never too late to start getting involved.
From football, basketball and archery, to hang-gliding and swimming, the UK is peppered with clubs and sports facilities just calling out for new members. You never know, you could find yourself representing your country in the Paralympics someday!
What roles do disability sports require?
The UK government’s tireless dedication to facilitating participation in disability sports and other physical activities is creating tons of job opportunities. Various organisations are constantly striving to create new opportunities for getting involved and encouraging disabled people to get out there and get stuck into sports programmes at loads of new, user-friendly facilities across the country.
Careers that relate to these initiatives are usually in sports development roles. People that work in this area are heavily involved in the promotion of disabled sports projects, developing public awareness of their importance and liaising with governing bodies, schools and local clubs to promote best practice when it comes to coaching, training and youth development issues. For more information, check out the Sports Development subsector now!
How do I start out in disability sports?
Most people begin their career in disability sports by actually participating in the sport that interests them the most. If you want to join a team or just play for fun, there are plenty of ways you can get involved with your sport of choice.
Once you have developed your passion and have met people within the sport, you could move into a coaching role, a sports development position, or perhaps work within one of the marketing teams that are associated with disability sports. You can also get involved with fundraising positions and charity promotional schemes.
As you probably know, disability sports don’t get anywhere near the sort of funding and financial backing as more mainstream sporting activities. Consequently, they’re always looking for more people to help on the fundraising, marketing and charity side of things, so if you have a forward-thinking, innovative head on your shoulders, this career path could be just right for you.
You could be responsible for coming up with new ideas and events to help raise the profile of disability sports. Alternatively, you could be actively getting involved with fundraising activities by soliciting charitable contributions from organisations and individuals or processing donations as part of an administrative role.
If you want to get behind a fantastic new initiative, one which means no one is disqualified from enjoying sports, then don’t hesitate to get involved! Also, be sure to check out the British Paralympic Association’s website.
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