Paralympics

Celebrating Silver, Going for Gold

Celebrating Silver, Going for Gold marks WSFF's 25th birthday with a look back at a quarter century of records from women's sport.

From Tessa Sanderson winning Olympic gold in 1984, to the IOC's decision in 2009 to add women's boxing to the London 2012 programme, the report charts both administrative and athletic milestones. Its pages are brought to life through a striking spread of photography and montage of memories from leading figures in sport.

In the report you will find both stories of WSFF and the past 25 years of women’s sport – presented in a way which we hope fulfils two objectives; firstly, to explain who we are, where we came from and where we are heading and secondly, to give you goose bumps.

We want you to feel the same shiver which travelled down our spines when we relived moments like Tessa Sanderson standing proudly atop the medal podium at the 1984 Olympic Games, Dame Kelly Holmes’ wide eyed shock at winning the second of her two gold medals in Athens, and the moment when England midfielder Jill Scott rose above a crowd of defenders to send England into the final of a major championship for the first time in 25 years.

While looking back fills us with joy, it is looking forward which really excites us. We are now operating in a time when more doors are being opened for women in sport and the amount of people working towards that same goal is growing. So while we’re proud to be celebrating our 25th birthday this year, we are already planning for the years ahead which we hope will bring even more reasons to be proud and of course, more goose bumps.

Great Britain sitting volleyball female development programme

Our project is designed to identify talent for Great Britain's female sitting volleyball squad in preparation for the London 2012 Paralympics. We are focusing on those with lower limb physical disabilities, although the project also aims to grow participation of the game.

 

Project detailsProject duration: 01 November 2009 - ongoing
Organisation: 
Volleyball England
Project name: 
Great Britain Sitting Volleyball female development programme
AudienceDisabed
Age group: 
16 - 24
Age group: 
25 - 40
Innovation
The Sitting Volleyball project is unique as it focuses on identifying potential squad members for the London 2012 sitting volleyball squad - and also developing them along the journey to the Paralympics.
Recruitment and promotion
We reruited potential sitting volleyball participants through exhibitions, editorial on various websites and word of mouth.
Location
National
How was your project delivered?Volleyball
Funding
Our project is funded through the UKSport grant for Volleyball as well as some Sport England development work funding in conjunction with the Volleyball England Strategic Plan.
Partnership
We partner with the English Federation of Disability Sport and Disabled Sports Events. We are also working with the British Paralympic Association and UKSport as well as each centre having a number of partnerships both locally and regionally.
Results
Lessons: 
Between now and the 2012 Paralympics, we need to find more partnerships to help get our message to more physically disabled females. We also need to establish a national publicity network and find ways of utilising social networking sites to a greater extent.
Evaluation: 
So far we have recruited around 20 females in 3 months, of which 15 are in regular training with the Great Britain’s Women programme.
Themes

Growing participation - disabled groups

The project has grown access to sitting volleyball centres. There are now 10 regional centres available - soon to be grown to 14.  We also provide free weekly sessions which are open to all to attend. 

Promotion and marketing

Our sitting volleyball programme is supported by the regional centres using our PR agent PromotePR.  We have also started growing interest using Facebook and have used Jimmy Carr as a high profile ambassador.

Talent identification and player pathways

The programme looks at both player pathways and talent identification. We want as many players to come and play sitting volleyball in the regional centres but at the same time we’re looking to develop those with particular talents and get them into the Great Britain sitting volleyball squad. 

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