If you’re reading this, you’ve probably at least considered a career in sport. But what about disability sports? 

Recently, we spoke to Jason Brisbane, CEO of Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby, and Lorn Mayers, a current GIS student and also an advocate for disability sports, about opportunities in the industry. 

With 53 Paralympic sports funded by the National Lottery, Jason firstly highlighted the number of different roles you could work in. “All 53 have high performance programs, marketing teams, operations teams, events teams, so it's important to understand the ecosystem because, as an up and coming student at a great institute like GIS, start thinking about the other sports out there where you can build your craft in smaller environments and be exposed to more elements of the business that perhaps you wouldn't if you went into football. That can help prepare you for a big role.” 

Following on from what Jason said, Lorn added that, “It's almost silly not to look into those types of opportunities.  

“With what everyone studies at the university, it's easy to say ‘I just want to work in football, or for a Premier League team’, but there's so many sports and disability sports that are growing, so to get a chance to be employed by an organisation in para sports is a no-brainer to learn your craft- it's a great entry into the sporting industry.” 

A common way of getting into those roles is through volunteering, something Lorn does currently at various schools and charities, where he highlights that due to the comparatively small size of most disability sport organisations, is always welcomed. 

Jason also told us about employees with disabilities at GB Wheelchair Rugby. “It's very important to us to have representatives from the communities we serve so we can continue to represent ourselves authentically, and ensure we’re up to date with some of the changing perceptions that come with being disabled.” 

As for participation, Jason has seen plenty of young people have some worries around starting a new disability sport.  

“I think people have a mindset of assuming something isn't for them, but 9 times out of 10 when we put people in a wheelchair rugby chair they love it.” 

One example is Luke, a nine-year-old quadruple amputee who attended a GB Wheelchair Rugby youth session. 

“He'd never pushed his wheelchair on his own and was always pushed by his parents, so we said ‘let's just get him in the chair’, and when we got him in the chair we couldn't get him out, he was tearing around the sports hall!  

“It was a really incredible moment because it was his first bit of freedom that he's had where he's been completely independent. It's really hard for people to take that step and I think there's so much to learn from those stories whether you're disabled or non-disabled. Sometimes we're scared to do things, but sometimes we just need to do things scared.” 

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Article by Zak Anani