With less than a year until the opening ceremony of the Paralympic games over 100 athletes from 11 different sports, including archery, boccia and goal ball, took part in a pre-London simulation camp.
The fortnight (15 August – 28 August), which finished on the eve of the one year to go mark, aimed to offer athletes the opportunity to experience a multi-sport environment similar to the one they will be part of ahead of the 2012 London Paralympic games.
The University’s Sports Training Village (STV), accommodation and other facilities were converted to create a distraction-free environment, ideal for the preparation of the incredibly successful Great Britain team.
Jordan Raynes a seven-a-side cerebral palsy football player travelled from Wythenshawe near Manchester to be at the camp. He said: “The key word is motivation. You see and are training alongside people who’ve won gold medals and it makes you want to go further to win those medals.
“It is really good to draw on their experiences and what different training methods they have. As a Paralympic athlete or as any athlete in general you’ve got to take inspiration from people like that.”
Jordan Raynes seven-a-side Cerebral Palsy football goalkeeper is another visiting the camp
The University also had its own Paralympic hopefuls in attendance, including Great Britain Wheelchair Tennis player Louise Hunt. Louise is studying for a foundation degree in Sports Performance and hoping to convert to an honours degree.
Louise said: “I absolutely love studying here, the course is fantastic. I’ve found in the last couple of years my tennis has improved and I genuinely think that is because I have been learning more about myself and been able to put what I’ve learnt into practice so I think the two are combined fantastically.
“It’s really nice to have the increased interest and it’s just a great opportunity to show this is what we can do and to show how fantastic it [wheelchair tennis] is to watch and play.”
Next year the athletes will return once again to complete their final preparations before transferring to the Olympic village for the start of the competition.
The BPA’s performance director Penny Briscoe said: “This hub is ideal in terms of a lot of facilities all in the same place just a short walk or push across to the accommodation.
The management of the University is very supportive of us being here too and I think that everybody is working really hard to make sure the preparation of British Paralympic athletes for London 2012 is as good as it can possibly be.”
There was a real sense of fun around the campus during the fortnight with staff able to pop into the STV to experience the atmosphere or to join members of the local community on tours of the facilities.
Stephen Baddeley Director of Sport at the University of Bath said: “This BPA camp is really something quite special, the BPA have rebranded the whole place there’s just a fantastic buzz around the building at the moment.”
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