Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson in Telford to praise sport accessibility
One of Britain's greatest Paralympic athletes told a Shropshire audience how sport has become more accessible for disabled children thanks to the London 2012 games.
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson was speaking at the annual conference of the Youth Sport Trust, held yesterday in Telford.
Baroness Grey-Thompson said she was "proud" of the work that had already been done for grass-roots sport and hoped that this would continue to be built on in schools.
She said: "Since London, lots of disabled children have had the opportunity to say they want to be a Paralympian, which they have never had before.
"Physical education is hard to teach, either you love it or you hate it and there's not much in the middle.
"The people who are teaching the subject do amazing work."
The Youth Sport Trust is an independent charity devoted to changing young lives through sport.
Established in 1994, it holds an annual conference ever year, aimed at people who work with youngsters in sport to develop new ways to encourage youngsters to engage with sport.
In a speech at the conference, Baroness Grey-Thompson said: "We know it is not easy, we know the goalposts have been moved, we know there are lots of challenges but you are doing amazing work.
"I know it is hard to decide what to do next week, or next year, but keep on doing the work that you are doing, because the work you are doing can change lives."
Baroness Grey-Thompson, 44, who was born in Cardiff, is highly regarded as one of Great Britain's greatest paralympic athlete.
She won a total of 16 Paralympic medals, including 11 golds, held over 30 world records and won the London Marathon six times between 1992 and 2002.
She told the conference, held in Telford's International Centre, how she was inspired to take up sport by her high school PE teacher, who saw potential in her.
She said: "Without my teacher, my life would have been very difference. Believe in what you are doing, because it is absolutely amazing
"The work you are doing will help build a generation of young people who are fit and healthy.
Baroness Grey-Thompson is married to former wheelchair athlete Dr Ian Thompson and has a 12-year-old daughter called Carys.
She said her daugher has now been selected to represent England in white-water kayaking.
She said: "It's absolutely amazing, being selected to represent England is tough, being Welsh but my sister text me to say England is one step towards Great Britain, because we're very passionate about being Welsh.
"It's hard being a sporting parent because if she has a great day it's great and if she has a bad day, it is all my fault, but it is my job to help encourage her.
"I do wish she had chosen a sport which was slightly more wheelchair accessible and a little bit less cold."
She also spoke about the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics which also got started today, saying it too offers an inspiration to budding disabled sportsmen and woman
She said: "Things like sit skiing are really easy to do and easy to inegrate, you would think it would be harder but they are actually easier.
"We've got some strong medal chances, which is really exciting."
Baroness Grey-Thompson was joined at the conference by Dr Cath Bishop, 42, a former doctor and rower, who won medals at the World Championships twice, a silver in 1998 in the women's pair with Dot Blackie.
After winning silver in the 2004 Olympic Games in the women's pair with Grainger, she retired from rowing and took up a career with the Foreign Office.
She spoke about the importance groups working together to get people to reach their best and the way it has helped her in her new role as a diplomat, as well as encouraging her to always strive for excellence.
She told the conference: "Life isn't always perfect, perfect isn't always possible but excellence is.
"I don't think there is any other way to achieve excellence than through collaboration."
This year's conference had an air of celebration, as it was also announced today by Prime Minister David Cameron that primary schools in England are going to share an extra £150m per year sports funding until 2020.
John Steele, chief executive officer of the Youth Sports Trust, said: "This is amazing and a significant step. It is not good enough to say to a generation of young people we had the opportunity to do something but we couldn't make it work.
"It is down to everyone in this room to make this happen."
