Head Coach Paula Dunn: the Championships are a fantastic opportunity
This weekend the Activity Alliance events team is managing the National Junior Athletics Championships in Coventry. It is an essential event on the para-athletics performance pathway for many young talented disabled athletes throughout the country. The list of athletes who once took part at the Championships as a junior includes Paralympic and world champions. The Paralympic Games in Tokyo take place later this summer. We caught up with Head Coach for the British Athletics Paralympic Programme, Paula Dunn, to talk more about the significance of this event in such an important year.
The National Junior Athletics Championships is set to return on Saturday 3 July – what does that mean to you and your athletes, especially in a Paralympic Games year?
It is great news the event is returning, not only for the sport but for the athletes competing. The last 18 months have been tough for all. So the return of the National Junior Championships despite all the restrictions is a fantastic opportunity for our young and developing athletes. For the first time, this competition is now a qualifier for the School Games, which is another step forward in aligning the para-competition pathway and creating equal opportunity in the sport. A big thank you to Activity Alliance for making this happen.
We have watched so many athletes be spotted at this event and go on to be Paralympic and world champions. How important are grassroot competitions like this in developing young talent for the Paralympic pathway?
The National Junior Championships are critical for recruiting and identifying talented young athletes into the sport. For many this will be the first competition where they will see athletes who look like them. So not only does it provide a safe environment for them to compete, it also gives some the opportunity to shine and begin their journey into the high performance pathways system.
What more needs to be done and what are your plans to ensure there are more opportunities for young disabled people to take part in your sport?
We have achieved so much since 2012. But to continue to evolve and develop, we still need to engage the education and club systems. We need to create a seamless pathway and clear communication for young disabled people who wish to participate in sport. This is so barriers are removed and that they have the same equal opportunities as their non-disabled counterparts.
This year disabled people have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. How has this affected your plans and athletes, especially with the Paralympics planning?
Initially everyone was impacted but our elite athletes were fortunate to be given elite status during the first lockdown. This meant they were able to train at designated facilities. It wasn’t perfect but the majority were able to access local facilities, and many were in a position to continue to train and prepare for Tokyo 2020.
Planning has been very challenging - all overseas competitions and classification opportunities were cancelled for the whole of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. But we were fortunate that the European Championships did take place in June this year in Poland.
We were very fortunate that some domestic competitions were able to take place in 2020 and some of our athletes took advantage of this opportunity and competed.
We are now all fully focused and very much looking forward to travelling to Tokyo and competing at the Games.
Our vision is fairness for disabled people in sport and activity. What does this look like to you and your work in athletics?
For me, it really is the same opportunities to coaching, the same opportunities to access clubs and the same opportunity to access competitions! It’s an ambitious target but we should dream big!
Sunday 4 July is the UK’s first ever National Thank You Day. Who do you want to say thank you to?
I want to say a big thank you to all our volunteers, coaches and parents that have continued to support athletes throughout the pathway. Providing training programmes, doing online sessions and keeping athletes motivated during some testing times.
I also want to thank every member of my team who despite the restrictions continued to stay focused and worked extremely hard. They have provided much needed support to many within our programmes which continued despite the lockdowns.
