On this day last year, Loughborough launched its Para Sport Strategy. The University wanted to create life-shaping opportunities by developing an inspirational and inclusive Para sport offer.

Since its launch, significant progress has been made, including:

• Wheelchair Basketball became the 60th Athletic Union club
• Over 170 students engaged in Wheelchair Basketball activities across Social Sport and Recreational Sport programmes
• Boccia was introduced to the ‘My Lifestyle’ Recreational Sport programme (in addition to Wheelchair Basketball)
• Four Para sport Performance Programmes introduced (Para-Athletics, Para-Swimming, Para-Cycling and Para-Triathlon)
• Two fully funded PhD studentships in Para sport topics with the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences
• Two new coaches appointed to support Performance Programmes in Para-Athletics and Para-Swimming
• Inclusive Sport Festival set up, featuring a variety of inclusive sports including Boccia and Sitting Volleyball
• Nik Diaper (Head of Para Sport at Loughborough University) appointed as Deputy Chef de Mission for ParalympicsGB for the Tokyo Paralympic Games

Head of Para Sport, Nik Diaper commented: “Looking back over the last year, it is great to see some real and tangible examples of the progress that we have made within the Para sport sphere at Loughborough. It genuinely feels like we’ve created some strong momentum and I’m really looking forward to building on this over the next 12 months as we have some really exciting projects and activity planned for 2021.”

You can find out more on the Para Sport page as well as the dedicated webpage for Disability History Month.