Grant Awarded to Fund Wheelchair Rugby Growth Across Wales
Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby (GBWR) has received a Development Grant from Sport Wales to help it fund taster sessions of the sport across Wales and to purchase new rugby chairs.
The charity was awarded £29,400, which will enable GBWR to deliver Wheelchair Rugby to Wales on a number of levels. Taster sessions will take place throughout Wales enabling anyone with a disability to try out the sport for the first time.
Support will also be given to the BT GBWR Youth programme which is now in its second year.
Kirsty Clarke, National Development Director, GBWR comments, “This is a great opportunity for Wales to get into wheelchair rugby, giving people the chance to try it out in person and showing them exactly what the sport is all about.”
“We want to get more people in Wales hooked on sport and this is another boost to the opportunities available in our communities,” adds Tom Overton, Head of Community Sport, Sport Wales.
“With more people accessing sport in Wales we need to ensure that people with a disability are able to try out new activities and have a structure to continue taking part in the future.
“Our grants are designed to get right to the heart of sport in Wales and bring all the benefits of sport to people at the grassroots. By teaming up with GBWR we are confident that a new generation of people in Wales will have sport as a regular part of their lives ”.
An exciting fusion of ice hockey, handball and rugby, the game was originally founded in Canada in 1977. It’s not only based on speed and chair contact, but is also a tactically intelligent game to be involved in. Eight rolling substitutes make up squads of 12, with four players on court per team at any time, with the aim of driving the ball across the opponents' goal line. Contact between wheelchairs is permitted, as players use their chairs to block and hold opponents. The emphasis of the sport is on fun, excitement and inclusion, particularly for players with higher levels of impairment.
The grant compliments continued investment from the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust which funds the role of a GBWR Development Officer in Wales.
