The Athletics squad for Disability Sport Wales Academy will see a busy month ahead as they target a number of competitions in many parts of the world.

It all kicks off at the DSE (Disability Sport Events) Junior Athletics Championships in Blackpool over the first weekend of July (4^th & 5^th). 20 young talented athletes will compete for Wales at this National event, where they will pit their talents against over 450 children across the UK.

The second weekend sees a smaller group of 9 athletes go to Sindelfingen in Germany for the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) German Open. They head off on Wednesday 8^th July until Sunday 12^th July. The squad will consistent of experienced competitors such as Discus thrower Aled-Sion Davies from Bridgend to athletes who will compete for the first time internationally.

The third weekend will see the busiest period for the squad, with 3 different teams scattered around the world. The first group will be part of the UK Athletics GB Team at the IWAS Junior World Athletics Championships in Nottwil in Switzerland. Alongside paralympian Nathan Stephens will be Aled-Sion Davies as well as wheelchair racing’s Daniel Lucker from Abergavenny. The second group sees 4 athletes fly out to Colorado Springs in the United States. They will compete at the IBSA (International Blind Sports Association) Youth & Student World Championships in Colorado. James Ledger and Louise Bashford from Swansea join Emma Sullivan (Cardiff) and James Ball from Newport competing against the best athletes in the Visually Impaired and Blind Classifcations. The rest of the squad will be heading off to Nottingham for the Home Nations Championships. 12 athletes will take on the rest of the Home Countries in this inaugural competition at the Harvey Haddon stadium.

The month will finish with the Welsh squad at the UK Athletics Disability Championships at Crystal Palace. The competition will see seasoned Paralympians pitting their skills against the upcoming talent, with many of them already keeping an eye out on the fast developing Academy athletes being produced in Wales.

Gerwyn Owen, Academy Manager for Disability Sport Wales said: ‘July is going to be pretty amazing in terms of logistics of getting everyone to all the events, as well as the results from all the events. The Academy, sponsored by Ace Feet in Motion, and supported by the Sports Council for Wales aims to develop young talented athletes into the World Class athlete they aspire to be. Already the Academy has seen success with 9 of the 15 new Welsh athletes in Team GB at the Beijing Paralympic Games in 2008 coming through this programme. The work for 2012 started when we fully established the Academy back in 2006, and with athletes such as Aled & Dan making the GB squad for Switzerland and the 4 going to the USA, eventually more Academy athletes will be knocking on the door of the UK Governing Bodies such as UK Athletics’

Funded by the Sports Council for Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government, the FDSW Talent Academy is a progressive stepping-stone towards developing the future of Paralympic sport in Wales. It is designed to nurture and develop the talent of young athletes aged between 12-18 years old and will offer an invaluable pathway towards World Class programmes delivered by National Governing Bodies of sport.