£8 million for Disability Sports Projects

44 projects across England can now offer more opportunities for disabled people to play sport thanks to £8 million worth of funding announced today by Sport England.
 
Sport England’s Inclusive Sport fund aims to give disabled people more opportunities to play sport by investing in organisations with the right expertise, partnerships and links to the disability sector to make this happen. This includes funding for development and start-up costs of new initiatives, and for education and training, so that groups can become more self-sufficient in providing sporting opportunities.
 
Sport England Director of Insight, Lisa O’Keefe, said: "Record numbers of disabled people now play sport and this is thanks to the tireless energy of organisations, coaches and volunteers across the country. We are delighted to be able to support them by awarding this funding, so that we can continue to improve opportunities and make a real difference in communities.”
 
One organisation to receive funding is Sense, the National Deafblind and Rubella Association. £250,000 of funding will allow Sense to pilot opportunities for 360 deafblind people to try out eight different sports in two regions across the country. It will also fund the training of 16 sports coaches, eight deafblind people and 120 local support workers to deliver sports activities to deafblind people.
 
The Rotherham United Community Sports Trust will also receive £168,141 to train support staff and carers to provide sporting opportunities for adults with mental health issues who have limited access to sport.
 
The number of disabled people playing sport regularly is on the rise. In December 2013, Sport England’s Active People Survey - an annual, in-depth measure of the nation’s sporting habits – revealed that a record number of disabled people in England now play sport each week. However, non-disabled people are still twice as likely to play sport as disabled people (39.2 per cent compared to 18.5 per cent), which is why Sport England continues to focus attention and investment to address this imbalance.
 
Since the Inclusive Sport fund launched, £17.1 million has been invested in 88 projects that make sport a viable lifestyle choice for disabled people. Sport England also funds disability sport equipment and recently awarded £1 million to 141 clubs to help them buy equipment that will allow disabled people to give sport a go.
 
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Notes to Editors
For more details about the project, please contact the Press Office:
Chris Dowsett on 0207 273 1889 / chris.dowsett@sportengland.org
Amy Wright on 0207 273 1593 / amy.wright@sportengland.org
Jan Singleton on 020 7273 1800 / jan.singleton@sportengland.org
 
Sport England is focused on helping people and communities across the country create a sporting habit for life. We will invest over £1 billion of National Lottery and Exchequer funding between 2012 and 2017 in organisations and projects that will:
 
• Help more people have a sporting habit for life
• Create more opportunities for young people to play sport
• Nurture and develop talent
• Provide the right facilities in the right places
• Support local authorities and unlock local funding
• Ensure real opportunities for communities.
 
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