- “Keeping fit” at the Sports Centre
The introduction of wheelchair rounders at the University of Lincoln Sports Centre could see better coaching oppurtunities.
Unlike many clubs for the disabled, the Sports Centre only teaches wheelchair rounders, as opposed to a variety of sports. They say this can allow more people to focus on a specific sport and improve on it.
Paralympian Jamie Carter, who was born in Lincolnshire, got to the final of the T34 wheelchair race at the 2012 Olympics. He says Lincolnshire is good at offering sports to the disabled but only up to a certain level.
“Although it’s good, there aren’t enough resources here to help develop into an elite performer,” Carter said. Referring to Lincoln he said there’s a lack of coaches. He himself had to go to London to receive the coaching needed to meet his standard. “More could be done to improve sports coaching for disabled people because at the moment there are no elite coaches in Lincoln.”
The success of wheelchair rounders in Lincoln will inevitably determine whether more coaches are required.
“We haven’t seen a massive influx of people trying to do sport,” equality and diversity officer Ian Brown explains. “But it does show that sport is available to more people.”