WheelPower is the national charity for wheelchair sport. Every year the charity hosts the WheelPower National Junior Games residential sports event, giving physically disabled young people aged 11-18 the opportunity to try out a variety of wheelchair sports. A team of 12 from Stewarts attended the games to support this fantastic cause.

Based at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, the birthplace of the Paralympic movement, WheelPower have been providing opportunities for people with physical impairments to take part in sport for over 75 years. Several members of the Paralympics GB team including Alfie Hewett (tennis), Jess Stretton (archery) and David Weir (athletics) have taken part in the National Junior Games in previous years.

This year’s games took place in the glorious sunshine between 25 and 28 June. Over 100 young people took part, with Ella from WheelPower taking charge of a team of volunteers keen to ensure the participants all had a fantastic time. The sports include archery, athletics, handcycling, tennis, shooting, table tennis, badminton and many more.

Team Stewarts included Victoria Williams, Clare Salmon, Amy Heath, Alison Goldney, Alexandra Bennett, Francesca Smart, Sania Mallal, Annabelle Davies, Harry Holmes, Janita Jefferson, Sophia Martines and Zekal Shorish.

Zekal summarised the experience brilliantly: “I had a fantastic time at the WheelPower Junior Games! It was really inspiring to see everyone get stuck into a range of different sports and enjoy themselves fully, especially in those cases where the children were making progress and beating their own personal bests.”

The participants’ successes were all the more impressive given the hot weather during the four days of games, requiring the arrival of an emergency ice cream van…

More about WheelPower

Each year, WheelPower supports over 38,378 disabled people to access and participate in sport and activity across the UK. As well as hosting sports in person, the charity offers live online classes and exercise videos. WheelPower recently launched its 2022-2027 Moving Forward Together strategy, designed to “provide more opportunities for more disabled people to move more, play sport and lead active lives.”

WheelPower also organises and host the Inter Spinal Unit Games each year, inviting patients and support staff from the 14 spinal injury centres in specialist units from all over the country to come together to take part in a variety of sports. The 2023 Inter Spinal Unit Games, sponsored by and in partnership with Stewarts, took place 11-15 September.

The Junior Games is a great opportunity for young people with disabilities to experience new sports, make new friends (and catch up with those they made last year) and really see what they can achieve. We can’t wait to be back supporting WheelPower in the next Junior Games.