No. 39 #ProudParalympian launches education pilot

Proud Paralympian brings together all aspects of an athlete’s life as an individual, athlete and active citizen including fair-play, health, careers, public life and advocacy for the Paralympic Movement.

In 2015 the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) launched a pilot of the education element of Proud Paralympian, a programme aimed to support para-athletes in various ways throughout their professional careers and beyond.

Proud Paralympian brings together all aspects of an athlete’s life as an individual, athlete and active citizen including fair-play, health, careers, public life and advocacy for the Paralympic Movement.

The education programme takes a 360-degree approach to athlete development through interactive modules including Paralympic history, fair-play, career planning, media skills, human rights and other programmes and support services.

The impact of the nine-pilot education workshops that took place in 2015 enters at No.39 in the IPC’s Top 50 Moments of 2015.

Xavier Gonzalez, the IPC’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “The workshops offered us the chance to test the materials that we had developed for the educational side of Proud Paralympian.

“We found that the materials were well received and athletes seemed to feel inspired to share their stories with the world, particularly via the ‘Tree of Dreams’ as part of the sections on self-promotion.

“We are now evaluating how the materials were used to see what can be improved in time for the official relaunch of Proud Paralympian at Rio 2016.”

The training sessions were run by a series of leaders from within para-sport who have been nominated by International Federations and who benefitted from a two-day interactive programme supported by the Dubai Club for the Disabled prior to the first workshops in March.

Athletes who led the training included Olesya Vladykina, double Paralympic swimming champion, and Tim Prendergast, an athletics gold-medal winner from Athens 2004.

Education sessions took place at powerlifting regional Championships in Mexico City in April; Almaty, Kazakhstan, in July, and Eger, Hungary in November. There were also workshops at a para-rowing development camp in Gavirate, Italy, in May; a training camp in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in June; a youth training camp in Denmark in September; and at August’s Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games.

The next stage in 2016 is to bring all of the work that the IPC currently does relating to athlete education, health, careers, awareness and governance firmly under the Proud Paralympian banner for the relaunch at Rio 2016.

The IPC is counting down the top 50 moments of 2015 every day until 31 December. More information can be found at the IPC’s website.