Panathlon Challenge

Posted: Thursday 2nd May 2013
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Sophie Kettyles, Courteny Gyer, Grace Bones – Ursuline College Boccia Officials

”We found that the children enjoyed playing Boccia and as the games continued they became more competitive and excited. It was a great experience for us to be leading.”

Sam Kingston, Ursuline College NAK Official

Malling Leaders - Lizzie Bineham & Jordon Capon

“Absolutely Brilliant! It was such an inspirational day. So much fun for us to be involved in and all the children who took part were excellent!”

Jim Oliver and John Barbridge

Posted: Wednesday 1st May 2013
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Sophie and Monja, Young Leaders trained by us as Young Panathlon Officials in April, today officiated at their first Panathlon....

Posted: Friday 26th April 2013
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Posted: Thursday 25th April 2013
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Rhys Crooks from Lexden Springs School in Colchester says, “ We were lucky enough to have Howard the Panathlon Coach come in to school and lead a session on all the Panathlon sports. He showed the children how to play the sports so on the competition day today, they used their experience to the full. All the Children had a great day and thoroughly enjoyed it. We will practice even more for next year – so everybody watch out !!”

Cai Beckett a competitor from Harlow Fields School said, “ I played table cricket today and it was good fun. The Panathlon is great and I also did long jump. That was my favourite bit.”

Posted: Friday 19th April 2013
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This week Panathlon have delivered the Panathlon Officials Training across the 3 regions of Kent. We trained 12 leaders at Sittingbourne Community College in the central region, 10 leaders at The Malling School, the west region and 13 leaders at Ursuline College for the east region. All of these leaders will officiate in the Kent First Round Regionals at the beginning of May.

James Whitehead, Leader at Sittingbourne Community College said, "I am taking the Sports Studies Level 3 course, which I need to complete hours of practical experience with children with disabilities. Being involved in Panathlon will give me my hours of experience and also help my long-term goal to become a personal trainer when I leave college."

Lewis Wells, Leader at Ursuline College said, "It was interesting to see how the sports were modified for children with disabilities. I am looking forward to see how well they compete in a fortnights time." (Leaders picture below)



I have been impressed by the leaders, how they have stepped up and taken charge of the games when officiated their peers in the second section of the training. In 2 weeks time there will be 250 children from all over Kent competing against each other and these leaders will gain an insight and an experience of disability sport first hand.

Posted: Tuesday 26th March 2013
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Panathlon today was a fantastic atmosphere where students are able to achieve their best in a perfectly integrated day. This is a day where students needs and their ambition come first. The students and staff feel that the scoring system and structure of the day means students are able to be competitive and strive for Gold, something that is missing in other disability events. It was a nice inspirational touch having a real life Paralympian present. The students also feel that they are part of a wider community, representing Newham and as 9 schools are involved, it really creates a great team spirit.

One of the competitors from Cleeve Park School in Bexley also said, "I enjoyed the wheelchair and slalom the best as I can show off my wheelchair skills to other wheelchair users and all my friends."

Posted: Tuesday 26th March 2013
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Today I officiated in Panathlon. I've officiated many times before however this time was different. Today I met a few students who actually took part in the sports. The smiles on their faces were priceless ; when they won their game or even received their medals. It gave me a sense of satisfaction as if I've done my job properly.

After today I am actually considering having a career in helping students that are less able, this is purely because of the fact that I love the satisfaction that it gives me.

As always Panathlon is a great opportunity and a massive privilege. On behalf of all the Leaders, I would like to say thank you.

Posted: Friday 15th March 2013
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Helen Turner, veteran of 3 Paralympics, and atleast 10 visits to Panathlon over the last 3 years, interviews Malik, a competitor in yesterdays West London Final. Malik received his new leg 3 days ago and took part in Boccia and the relay races, running on his new leg for the first time.

Posted: Thursday 14th March 2013
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" Today was my second day of helping the Panathlon Challenge team to be part of the leaders to make the day an amazing one to remember for all the children from H&F, Ealing, Harrow and Hillingdon.

I personally enjoyed every second of the day and seeing someone smiling just because of something small i have done for them is a feeling which i can not describe in works. I will love to be part of a such team like the Panathlon Challenge hostess and the leaders in the future because I believe they are incredible.

The memories i have got from today's Panathlon event will forever stay with me. Thank you very much to the Panathlon challenge charity for given me this amazing opportunity."

Name Hoodo Mohamed

Posted: Wednesday 13th March 2013
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From Laura, one of our Young Panathlon officials from Chessington...." I was lucky enough to be selected as a Panathlon leader and I found the whole experience really enjoyable. We were trained for the event a few weeks ago by Panathlon and then we employed our new skills for real. Seeing so many disabled children having such a great time has made the day so special. It is rewarding to know that I have helped to make this day so fun for them all. I and my fellow leaders have have benefitted from this whole experience. It was an amazing day and I will never forget the way the competitors took part with a huge smile on their faces and so much passion for their Panathlon sport !"

Posted: Tuesday 5th March 2013
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"A Brilliant Day, because lots going on all over the place all the time, so never a dull moment." Simon Metcalf, Northway School

"A fantastic day had by all. The Children have never gone back to school with so much bling." Stacey Ward Northway School

"A super day was had by all, the smiles on everyone's faces was priceless. Can't wait for next years event." Caroline Connell SGO

"A great day had by all, chaotic, busy, interesting, but very enjoyable. Bring on next year and more medals " Margaret Boucher Mapledown School

"The best organised chaos I've ever seen - amazing in every way."  Mapledown School

"A day of whirlwind activity full of events, happy faces and fun. Oak Lodge students declared this day Awesome and stupendous," Dan Licundi Oak Lodge Schoool

Posted: Monday 4th March 2013
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"Our school (Hall Mead School) run a learning support physical activity club every lunchtime and approx 30 students attend. After some free Boccia coaching, we jumped at the opportunity to take part in the Havering Boccia competition, which to our delight we won ! This led to us competing in the Panathlon Challenge today. It has been extremely well organised and the student leaders have been polite, efficient and knowledgeable. Full credit to those invovled. The free T-shirt initiative for the teams has given the students a high profile and they are wearing their medals with pride. For Havering, we finished in silver medals in Boccia and Gold medalists in Kurling and Football. Many thanks to Panathlon Challenge, you have provided a memory and experience the children will never forget. Keep up the great work !"

Marion Tucker, Head of Girls PE, School Games Co-ordinator. Hall Mead School

Posted: Monday 4th March 2013
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25 Young Leaders from Robert Clack and All Saints Schools who attended and qualified as a Panathlon Young Official Course recently, today assisted the running of the East London Panathlon.

Grant Rose, one of the 2012 Panathlon Outstanding Achievers today was involved in a Young official capacity. He said, "Since taking part in Panathlon many years ago, I have succeeded in many different sports events, including being a national level swimmer at a junior and now a senior level, winning many medals in the process. I also run the "Top Level" Swimming Group. I owe this all to my attendance at the Panathlon Challenge for starting this."



The 25 Young Leaders today from All Saints and Robert Clack Schools

Posted: Wednesday 13th February 2013
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This tweet from one of the 62 Young Leaders we have trained in East London Panathlon this year, sums up their "wise beyond their years" attitude...

@AK_AdamKhaliq The smiles on less able students faces when they receive their medals. #Priceless. Thank you @Panathlon for the opportunity. #Privileged

It is Panathlon that needs to thank you, not the other way around...

Posted: Thursday 7th February 2013
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Panathlon today involved 7 schools from 3 SW London Boroughs and 99 disabled young people in 7 different sports. This was some of the feedback...

"Panathlon was brilliant, a fantastic and an exciting experience!" coach

"Lots of encouragement and praise from Chessington College Sports Leaders. As a follow on from the Olympic Legacy, this day has been brilliant at inspiring disabled athletes to 'have a go'". Strathmore School, Richmond

Quotes from competitors from  Drysart School, Kingston
Andrew - "Good, I enjoyed the polybat!"
Thomas - "Fantastic, I really enjoyed throwing the balls and beanbags."
Matthew - "I enjoyed jumping and the table cricket"
Frank - "Very good. I like all the sports"

Barbara, Teacher, Drysart School, Kingston
"Fantastic Event, very well organised. Thank you for inviting us this year and hope to be back next year!"

Posted: Tuesday 5th February 2013
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Desmond Lee, Landsdowne School, Lambeth
"Awesome! This is a great opportunity for our Severe Learning Disabled students to experience team sports on a competitive level. It's always great fun and the students love showing off their medals regardless of the result."

The Worshipful The Mayor of Wandsworth Councillor Adrian Knowles
"It is wonderful that through sport, these children from different schools can come together, meet each other and play together. This competition is a social event, which is what life is all about."

Posted: Thursday 31st January 2013
Category: 31/01/2013

Kathryn Freame, Assistant Headteacher, Marlborough School, Bexley

" Panathlon was fun, colourful, moving, awe-inspiring, affirming; my immediate reactions to my fist Panathlon competition today. It was just brilliant to watch the expressions of joy and satisfaction on the students' faces and to witness them achieve so much in their individual efforts and in their teams. It was a privilege to be involved. I am looking forward to the next round."

Kirsty Wiseman, Teacher, Parwood School, Kensington & Chelsea

" Fabulous Day! Something for everyone to participate in."

Posted: Wednesday 30th January 2013
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Today the Panathlon Road show moved to West London, with 10 schools being represented from Hillingdon, Brent and Harrow. Some quotes from participants to show what they thought of their first Panathlon experience !

Kelly O'Brien, Woodfield School, Brent
" Panathlon is well run and well organised competition. Our pupils had a great day & loved receiving their medals! The Panathlon staff were very friendly, helpful & approachable!"

Gurmeet Singh Rajput, father to Haraharam Singh Rajput said, " It was very encouraging for all of us to be here. To see the exercise, the team work, the players achieving goals alongside the enjoyment. As parent, we enjoyed this competition a lot and we would like to come again. Thank you for arranging this competition. "
Haraham is part of the Hillingdon Team and goes to Guru Nanak Sikh Academy in Hayes

" Today was brilliant. All involved seemed to really enjoy themselves and it was a pleasure to have Barnhill Students represent us in such a fantastic way. They are a credit to the school and helped hugely with the smooth running of the event" Miss Tanyah Richard, PE Teacher at Barnill.

"The Fastest Slalom Racer in The Panathlon Challenge. This video show's Dillon from Harrow breaking his own record with a 28.9 second time. He later broke this again with 27.8 seconds. (This video is NOT speeded up !)

Posted: Monday 28th January 2013
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Today we delivered our first ever Primary Panathlon competition with 4 Schools, 2 each from Haringey & Enfield, thanks to support received from Hilton in the Community Foundation.

Primary Panathlon is based on with 6 development activities from our Panathlon Sports. There were skills based games of Table Cricket, Boccia, New Age Kurling, Football, Athletics - Field & Track, and a number of games that tested the players core abilities of speed & agility along with the all important team work.

Tony Millard, the Project-Ability Leader for North London, said, " The Primary Aged Sports Calendar has been crying out for an event like this. The Primary Panathlon had it all. This multi sport, skill based competition was as fun as it was challenging. Everyone had a great time while learning some of the skills that introduced them to the Panathlon Sports they will enjoy when they are older."

Congratulations to Blanche Neville, who took the Gold Medals, overcoming the strong challenge from The Vale by the narrowest of margins.

1st - Blanche Neville - 66 points
2nd - The Vale - 64 points
3rd - West Lea - 52 points
4th - Russett House - 42 points

See the photo's in the Gallery Section..here .

Mehmet Ali Gur, a Sports Leader said, " We helped at Panathlon today and it's amazing. It took place at Northumberland Park School, where I am studying a BTEC in sports. This was the first time I've been at a Panathlon Challenge Competition and to see the children so enjoying themselves was the highlight on my day. "

See what Tim Prendegast, New Zealand Paralympian said -

Posted: Wednesday 23rd January 2013
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Marianne Sharp, Samuel Rhodes School, Islington

”My young students are only able to have a couple of moments of concentration so to do a big 'sports day' with people they have never met before and join a team was a big big challenge for them all. Today every one of them achieved so many things, for example,

1) One student who played Boccia, he made friends with the two other boys from Islington and they made a great team supported each other throughout the competition.

2) I had two girls who played in the mixed U13 Football. They thought the competition was fantastic and scored a few times too. They were so chuffed that won the Gold Medal for playing a sport they love.

What made an impression on them was meeting other pupils from the other schools and being a part of the bigger Islington Team. This was a first. They really enjoyed all the sports.

Posted: Wednesday 16th January 2013
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Panathlon were involved today in Swindon organising the Wiltshire Lord's Taverners Boccia Competition, which was the largest competition so far this year, with 29 teams taking part from 17 schools across Wiltshire.

The leaders came from St Joseph's and were thrown in at the deep-end, a number running the courts on their own as we had 10 courts going at the same time. There were 2 competitions, a Pan-Disability Competition which ended with an impressive final between Corsham & St Josephs, with Corsham taking the Gold Medal & Trophy.

The Lord's Taverners Competition was yet again dominated by the impressive Commonwheel School, with both their teams going head to head in the final. Both the Commonwheel teams will represent Wiltshire on 31st January at the regional final.


Some of today's competitors

Posted: Monday 3rd December 2012
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" We have two schools working towards their young Panathlon Officials award today from Barking & Dagenham in East London. They all worked together in a fun and educational environment set by the Panathlon Team, James & Leigh. They enjoyed the opportunity be involved, to learn about disability sports and they can't wait to officiate at the up and coming Panathlon Challenge."
Lee Wilkins, School Sports Co-Ordinator


These 2 schools are just part of the 250 Young Panathlon Leaders that Panathlon will train as Young Officials this year. After successful completion of our course, practical real life experience soon follows as they officiate at one of many Panathlon Challenge competitions. Thanks to Jack Petchey Foundation for funding this area of training and development.

Posted: Wednesday 21st November 2012
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Thomas Austin, Castlebar School, Ealing - "I get to do 2 sports, it's great. I play with my new friends and helps me feel great."

Stephanie Collins, Teacher at Castlebar School, "This is a great event. To meet with other schools in Ealing and become one team. It motivates our pupils as participate in sport outside their school environment and they're representing their Borough."

Jo Calmonson, Teacher at Hounslow Heath, "More competitive than I thought it would be, it's great to play new sports, great for the children to be in this environment. To my kids, this is their Paralympics, which inspired them so much over the summer.

Posted: Thursday 15th November 2012
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The Panathlon squad from Edith Borthwick School from Braintree, came to visit Stansted Airport today and switched on the Christmas lights at the Airport terminal. Our friend Dan Bentley Paralympic Champion and bronze medallist from London 2012 helped as did Olympian Dominic King.

The students then had a trip behind the scenes to see the Fire Engines at the airport


And then they were treated to a slap up lunch at Hilton London Stansted


Huge thanks to our friends at BAA Stansted Go Discover and Hilton London Stansted.

Posted: Wednesday 14th November 2012
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Panathlon started their Young Leaders Officials Program today at Featherstone High School in West London for the 2012-2013 Panathlon Challenge season. Today was the first of a dozen training days we have lined up over the next 2 months. Over 250 Young Leaders will be involved as Panathlon Young Officials in the 2012/13 Season. Today 16 GSCE students from Featherstone High School and Villers School were involved throughout the training, in preparation for next weeks first Panathlon Challenge Multi-Sports event of the year.

James Tinney said, " The students grew in confidence throughout the day. I was impressed by their quick grasp of all the sports and their ability to integrate common sense with the rules in to their decisions. It looks like we have another great intake of Leaders from Featherstone and Villers Schools following on from last year. A couple of last year's students came by and spoke to the delegates about the event next week and how much they will enjoy it ."


Some of the Young Panathlon Leaders, now qualified as officials !

Posted: Wednesday 24th October 2012
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Panathlon has been working with staff of BAA at London Stansted Airport for a year and the partnership has meant that Panathlon upskills staff members in a range of disability sports and the staff then volunteer their time back at Panathlon competions.

This saw Panathlon delivering their Officials Training today with seven new BAA staff at their offices in Stansted. The training included the sports of polybat, boccia & new age kurling. Throughout the training Dave Smith, a veteran BAA staff member who officiated at 3 separate competitions in 2012, supported the training and also lead on coaching Boccia. We look forward to meeting them all again soon and for them to use their new skills with disabled young people at a competition. Some of the staff trained below.

Posted: Friday 6th July 2012
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• It has been a fantastic day. We have had lots of fun. Lots of smiles and we have made lots of friends
• We enjoyed winning Gold Medals
• I think the day has been a great success
• Super time has been had by all
• It has been really rewarding to see the children celebrating winning their medals
• Good to see everyone taking part regardless of ability - very proud of them all
• We can't wait for the next Panathlon !

Today we helped at the Panathlon at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. We thoroughly enjoyed doing the athletics events and thought that the day was very well organised. It was great to see all the smiles and to have all the competitors in such high spirits. Thanks to all the Panathlon staff for getting us involved in the day. We hope to be part of a Panathlon day again very soon.

Lucy Elmes & Jo Hazelton

Posted: Thursday 28th June 2012
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Teachers Comments -

• "What a fantastic experience for all our students, it is such a valuable and worthwhile competition"
• "This is a brilliant opportunity for young people with a range of disabilities to achieve and succeed in sport."
• "Its a fantastic experience for all abilities can join in."
• "Panathlon is our schools biggest sport event all year and you can tell how important it is to the pupils, from the smile on their faces."

• "I like meeting other children like me"
• "I like Boccia - its exciting"
• "Its good for people in wheelchairs and not in wheelchairs to show their abilities"
• "I like the whole day and meeting new people"

Posted: Friday 15th June 2012
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"My name is Connor, I'm 16 and from John Fisher School in Sutton, and I am one of the Young Leaders who have been trained by Panathlon and selected to be an official at the London Final. I am officiating at the Boccia Competition, one of the sports here today. I think it is Brilliant, everyone has really enjoyed themselves and played incredibly well. Thank you to all those who have taken part and funded this brilliant competition. "

Posted: Wednesday 13th June 2012
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Our first impressions were fantastic when we came through the door, the venue looked awesome. All the Panathlon staff were great and Leaders were very supportive to our students. It was great meeting other schools and seeing other competitors having a great time." Ana Maria - Milestone Academy TA


"I thought today was great, I was very nervous but when I won I was happy. Our team done good. Very good day and loved my medals !" Ellie - Competitor

Posted: Tuesday 12th June 2012
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Bringing 4 overly excited pupils to the Panathlon Challenge from a mainstream school gave me a few worries. Would they fit in, would they enjoy it, would the experience be  beneficial? Within seconds of walking through the door the answer was yes! Pupils who are usually 'lost' in mainstream PE were able to compete, celebrate and enjoy. A fantastic day which I hope will just grow! Olympic legacy?? This is the type of event that its all about! I'll bring a bus full next year! Brilliant!"

Caroline Mackey - SSCO/PE Teacher Rodborough School

Posted: Monday 11th June 2012
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The Surrey School Games team were at Horley Leisure Centre today for the Panathlon Sports Training ahead of tomorrow's Panathlon Challenge. It is the first time we've worked in Surrey, so it was great to meet the team whilst covering all the sports; many of the which were new to the 7 delegates. Tomorrow we have 8 new schools making up the 4 teams - so it's going to be a great competition! Really looking forward to it now!
Pictured below some of the SGO's trained by Panathlon, ahead of the Surrey Panathlon.

Posted: Tuesday 29th May 2012
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"Panathlon hosted the Polybat course with Linden Lodge School today. Doug Williamson, the inventor of Polybat, tutored and took the 10 delegates through the history of the game, adaptions to the rules for equality of play, various different types of equipment and an improvisation session to develop 16 different versions of the game for coaching.. Most importantly, we all played the game and enjoyed ourselves! I am interested to speak to teachers in the coming months to gauge interest in Polybat Doubles for future Panathlon Challenges." James@panathlon.com

Posted: Wednesday 16th May 2012
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I loved it ! It was fun ! It was fabulous ! it as amazing ! Panathlon is an exciting activity, hugely appropriate sports, extremely well organised, superb young leaders, and we can't wait for the next one...!

Posted: Wednesday 16th May 2012
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Hi my name is Isabella and on 16th May our school,Mill Hill, helped to run the Panathlon Challenge at Stoke Mandeville. We have been trained twice in the last few weeks as a group by the Panathlon team in all the sports and today we put those skills in to practice. The best part of the day was seeing the children compete despite their disabilities and having such a great day.

Posted: Thursday 3rd May 2012
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Today's Panathlon involved the Sittingbourne Community College final year sixth form students as our Panathlon Officials. The group of 12 leaders were involved in leading all the sports throughout the competition.

This was the first time (to my knowledge!) our Panathlon Leaders involvement also doubled-up as 'course work' for the students BTEC in Sports - contributing towards their required 10 hours of volunteering with children with disabilities in sport. This is one area we hope to develop in the future, really adding value to the leaders we are working with.



Some of the Young Leaders awarding medals

Posted: Wednesday 2nd May 2012
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Chatting to all her class mates, this is what Tammy wrote:

"Lots of fun.
Cool Day.
Good time.
Alex really enjoyed Kurling.
Winning the medals.
Fastastic Day!
Harry & Jamie liked the polybat.
Matthew thought batting was best!
Conor says, Fantastic.
Ryan says everything is fun!"

Posted: Tuesday 1st May 2012
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" It was just as fun learning about the different sports involved in the Panathlon as it was to officiate and watch the children taking part. The children taking part loved playing all the different sports, and it was good to see them all working as a team. The Panathlon gives children with different abilities the chance to join in with sport, and enjoy it. It was was really rewarding to watch the children as they received their medals as everyone who attended got at least one medal, making everyone feel like winners. I have enjoyed all of the day, and would love to help out again as it was fun, and all of the children were very kind and respectful! "

Posted: Thursday 26th April 2012
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Anne Wafula Strike, GB Paralympian and 2012 hopeful visited Panathlon today at Braintree College in Essex to witness the North Semi Final. 100 disabled young people competed in 6 sports and this is what she had to say -

" It is a privilege to be here today and see all these fantastic sports and all the children having a great day. Its great to see young people of different abilities competing and enjoying themselves so much. Panathlon provides an opportunity to enjoy sport and to meet new friends and have new experiences. Sport is for everybody - and its great to see young disabled people so fired up and raring to compete.I strongly believe sport is a universal language- that we can all speak, given the opportunity. Thank you Panathlon for providing us all with this opportunity."
 

Anne awarding Panathlon Medals.

Posted: Tuesday 24th April 2012
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Panathlon trained 7 staff from London Stansted airport last week as Panathlon Officials who today are officiating today at Chelmsford for the South Semi Final involving 75 disabled young people in 6 sports. This is what they had to say -

" We are members of staff from London Stansted Airport who were trained last week but nothing prepared us for everything we have learned from the competitors today. It has been great working with the young competitors ! Today has been fast moving, but fun filled and much laughter and cheering. They have all competed with much enthusiasm and we have all had great fun. The real stars of the show are the children who are amazing and competing in sport despite the difficulties they face... well done to them all."

Posted: Thursday 19th April 2012
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Panathlon were in Thanet Kent today for the first time in 2012 to start the events leading up to the School Games final in June.

We trained 23 of the Ursuline College Sports Leaders, who will become our Panathlon Officials for the first round competition in East Kent. This is the one of the first major sports events these leaders will be involved in, through their leadership program. I am looking forward to seeing them in action in 2 weeks time, for the competition also being held at their school.

Posted: Tuesday 3rd April 2012
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The Panathlon Book of Records 2012

Listed are the OUTSTANDING field athletic achievements from the London first round and regional final Panathlon competitions.

Powerchair Slalom Champion - Dylon (Harrow) with 29 seconds
Powerchair Slalom Runner-Up - Isaac (Redbridge) with 30 seconds

Precision Bean Bag Champion - Temi Johnson (Croydon) with 56 points at both competitions
Precision Bean Bag Runner-Up - Hussain (Brent) and Abdulie (Greenwich) with 56 points at one competition

Standing Long Jump Champion - Jordan (Newham) with 2.62 metres   
Standing Long Jump Runner-Up - Kotetsu (Harrow) with 2.30 metres

Seated Shot Putt Champion - Serne (Barking & Dagenham) with 12.50 metres
Seated Shot Putt Runner-Up - Kotetsu (Harrow) with 11.10 metres

Javelin Champion - Ibrahim (Hackney) with 26.10 metres
Javelin Runner-Up - Jordan (Newham) with 25.90 metres

Posted: Monday 26th March 2012
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"After several years attempting to get our team (Hammersmith & Fulham) through to the West London Final, my time in London had come to an end. Back to Australia I headed. We had tried several years but were always knocked out in the first round. I received the email in early January that we had finally won in the first round and were through to the West London Final - which was fantastic news !! - I couldn't miss it !!

So here I am, back in London to witness some of the most amazing students showing the world just what they CAN do. Well done to all those involved today, over 100 competing in total across the 4 teams. And our Team Hammersmith & Fulham came 2nd overall !!!
I couldn't miss it for the World !!!"

David McMahon.

Posted: Wednesday 21st March 2012
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Posted: Thursday 15th March 2012
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My name is Heidi Stiller, I am in year 11 at Chessington Community College. Today (15/03/2012) I attended my second Panathlon as an official. This is an amazing experience for me and I feel privileged to be part of such a brilliant event.

I spent a day in training on the 13th of December 2011. this allowed me to learn about new sports that I had never heard of, learn the rules, and gain experience working with such amazing children.

I would like to say a massive thank you to the Panathlon team for giving me this opportunity and I hope to be apart of the Panathlon in the future.

Posted: Tuesday 13th March 2012
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What a fantastic day for our students ! Each person has thoroughly enjoyed themselves and made to feel very welcome in a very competitive environment.

A special thanks to each and every one of the Sports Leaders who have conducted themselves in a very mature and adult fashion, and have been a fantastic credit to themselves and their school.

The Panathlon seems to get better and better each year and we are already looking forward to next years event !

Many thanks from the Bexley Team. Bosh !

Panathlon Young Leaders in Action at Table Cricket.

Posted: Thursday 8th March 2012
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Panathlon were at The Petchey Academy today training a group of A-Level and BTEC P.E. students in disability sports. We spent four hours with the group learning the sports, then ending with some practice games played and officiated by the students. It was particularly fulfilling leading a training session at the Petchey Academy as the Jack Petchey Foundation has been such a great supporter of Panathlon.

We hope that these students will be able to get involved at the London Final and we'll be able to continue to work with the Academy in the years to come. Here's what the students said,

"The Panathlon Challenge training was an amazing experience. I have enjoyed learning how to play polybat, new age kurling, table cricket and boccia." Syllestina Meade

" We enjoyed being able to learn all sorts of sports and activities that we haven't come across before." Kim Nguyen

Posted: Tuesday 6th March 2012
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Twelve year 10 Sports Leaders from Northumberland Park Community School, Haringey acted as Panathlon leaders for the first time at the North Final today (March 6) at Southbury Leisure centre.

This was the Sports Leaders first experience at officiating at a disability sports event. Helped by the days training Panathlon delivered, the Leaders took charge of Boccia, Table Cricket, New Age Kurling, Polybat and athletics. The twelve Leaders did really well, the experience was made more interesting due to the fact the leaders go to the same school as half the Panathlon team. The Vale special school is located on the same site as Northumberland Park, so it gave the leaders a new insight in to what their counterparts could achieve. Students who normally join each other for maths and English, joined each other for the Panathlon Challenge.

Tony Millard, Panathlon Manager, Haringey.

Posted: Thursday 1st March 2012
Category: Feedback from East London !

" The 2012 Panathlon is much improved with evenly matched teams ! The competitors really enjoy Panathlon and they get really excited as they get so much out of it. Its a very good social event where different boroughs get to meet lots of different people. We select children that are not eligible for London Youth Games as Panathlon is more appropriate for their disability and their needs. Every year they go back from Panathlon with smiles and medals and they talk to their parents about it. Some of our children this is the only competition they take part in each year. The Volunteers and Young Leaders have been excellent as well." Team Leader Tower Hamlets.

Posted: Monday 27th February 2012
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Panathlon were in North London today at Northumberland Park Community School to train their year 10's to be officials for next weeks North London Final. The morning session also involved some of the students from the Vale school. Thanks to Tony Milliard for organising!! Looking forward to seeing these leaders in action next week, organising and officiating the competition, and also see the students from the Vale School competing for Team Haringey vs Waltham Forest, Enfield and Barnet.

Posted: Thursday 23rd February 2012
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Jack, one of the 17 Sports Leaders from Chessington who were trained by us in December, and then officiated at the regional competition yesterday, tells us his thoughts - 

Posted: Wednesday 22nd February 2012
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Merton & Richmond through to South Final

Panathlon visited Chessington Community College today for the South London first round competition involving Richmond, Merton & Kingston .

The teams quickly entered into the spirit of competition and what ensued was a wonderful celebration of sport! Merton lead the way. They took gold in the Boccia, Polybat and Table Cricket. They dominated the Boccia, winning 3 of their 4 matches, and I predict on current form will take gold in next months final. Their consistency of results was impressive across all the sports.

New Age Kurling went down to a tie-break when the last and deciding game ended on 2-2, Kingston took the tie-break in a one stone takes all push from each captain. Kingston also picked up a number of silver medals in the field and track athletics events and looked at home in this competition; we look forward to seeing more from them in future years.

I am really grateful for the support we received from the Chessington Community College and in particular, was impressed by their Sports Leaders, who were our Panathlon Officials for the day.

Congratulations to Merton who achieved their first ever Panathlon victory and also to Richmond who are through to their first regional final!

“Having attended the Panathlon for the first time, we were highly impressed with how everything was organised. From the T-Shirts to the medals and everyone helping, it has made us feel very welcome and the children are very proud at receiving their medals. You have done a fantastic job of making all abilities feel included. Cant wait to see you all at the next event. Thanks for a great day!” (Keely & Morgan, Dysart School – Kingston Team)

“Fantastic facilities, very well organised, great fun and a good sense of team spirit from students to staff! Panathlon leaders were great! We love the day!” (Perseid School, Merton)

Posted: Tuesday 21st February 2012
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"Our team of 44 competed really well today and showed great team spirit. It was a great day and was fantastic to meet students and staff from other schools in competing boroughs. Thanks Panathlon !" (Teacher at Swiss Cottage School)

"Another fantastic day at Panathlon today and we are delighted to have made the Final on March 21st against Wandsworth and Southwark." (Disability Sports Officer.)

"All of our youngsters, regardless of ability were able to actively take part in the many sporting events during the day. Fantastic day thank you !" (Teacher QE2 School Westminster)

"Everyone felt like a winner, Smiles and medals all around, thank you Panathlon !"
Teacher Westminster.

Posted: Wednesday 8th February 2012
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Panathlon trained 15 BTEC Student Leaders at John Fisher school and qualified them as "Panathlon Young Officials" in December and then depolyed them today as officials to organise and deliver the 6 Panathlon sports.

" We are proud to host the Panathlon Challenge. It is a celebration of sport and reflects the philosophy that everyone has ability! Our leaders thoroughly enjoyed their opportunity to share this special event!” (Fi Bell, John Fisher School)

One of the Young Leaders tweeted - "Helping @ panathlon at John Fisher School today really looking forward to it # inspirational # panathlon "

Posted: Thursday 2nd February 2012
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Panathlon were in sunny but freezing South East London today for the Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham Competition. The Multi-Sports were played amongst a great atmosphere inside the Sports Hall and as the day went on, it became evident that Bexley and Greenwich are two closely matched teams.

Greenwich impressively won the Boccia, winning all 4 of their matches, and the New Age Kurling. They dominated the Field Athletics, winning 4 out of the 5 disciplines. In Precision Beanbag Abdulie from Greenwich threw a maximum, only the second result of this kind so far this season.

Bexley on the other hand, braving near freezing conditions, took Gold in the Football, and then won by a considerable margin in the Table Cricket. They squeezed past Lewisham in the Polybat, winning the final deciding set, to take the Gold.

Lewisham equipped themselves very well, they narrowly missed out in the Polybat and registered a number of silver medals including Table Cricket, Javelin and the Relay Races. They provided tough opposition to both Greenwich and Bexley, which is no mean feat.

It is not usual for a Panathlon team to wins 4 events to end up in second place, and that is what remarkably happened to Greenwich today. For the second year running only 2 points separated Greenwich and Bexley, the same margin and result. However, there is a difference - this year my hunch is that Greenwich will, with 60 points to their credit, go through to the East Final as the best runner up. We will wait until 29th February to confirm this. Well done to Bexley, it was their consistency of performances – never receiving a bronze medal throughout the tournament as a whole that enabled them to win through.

St Paul ’s Academy, who gracefully hosted today’s event, involved their BTEC Sports Leaders as our officials. A number of teachers approached me throughout the event to comment on their skill, the quality of the decisions and the enthusiasm and engagement they had involving all the players. Many thanks to them for hosting us so well.

Posted: Wednesday 1st February 2012
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Panathlon visited Southfields Community College today to see the Southwark team take on the Wandsworth team. Sometimes in sport the results don’t explain the nature of the games taking place, and today was one of those days. Southwark and Wandsworth were in tight competition throughout, despite what the leader table may suggest. The teams, comprising of 4 schools from each borough, took part in all the multi-sports in the sports hall - In the Boccia, it was one match a piece (6 ends matches) with Wandsworth pulling away only in the last 2 ends of the 3rd Match to take Gold. In New Age Kurling it was one match a piece, until Wandsworth took the final game. The same story with Polybat, this time it went to points scored to separate out the teams after the teams were tied after 10 sets! In Table Cricket Southwark had their first victory, having lost the first game, they came through in the second game knocking up 302 runs in the process. They took the tournament winning on run difference. In the athletics there were some impressive performances, and much fun being had particularly in during the races – the wheelchair race was particularly well competed and the mobility restriction races was so close, it even baffled the judges for a while. The event finished off with a large fun run, on least to warm everyone up!

The sports leaders did a great job in officiate the sports, Georgia Turner, Panathlon Official for the day wrote, “ I officiated the Polybat competition at the Panathlon today. It was a really great experience. I was confident to demonstrate my knowledge of the sports I had learnt from the Panathlon training day, and was eager to see the games played in a competitive environment. The children who played Polybat were delightful in every way: keen to learn and understand the rules and common faults of the game, as well as being extremely enthusiastic throughout. It was wonderful to watch them having such a great time, and to be a part of their day was intrinsically rewarding in a way you could only understand if you were to experience it yourself.”

Posted: Monday 30th January 2012
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Panathlon’s first visit to East London this year also saw the first Multi-Sport / Football combined event of the season. Barking and Dagenham (B&D), Havering and Hackney all competed on what has to be the coldest day of the year so far. The footballers competing outside in the U16 and U13 competitions had plenty to smile about though, scoring on average 4 goals a game across the competition. Inside, in the Multi-Sports two of the team sports were contested by the smallest of margins. In New Age Kurling Hackney and B&D both finished with 3 wins, Hackney took the Gold due to aggregate score over the games, 15 points to 12 points. The same happened in the Boccia, this time Havering taking the gold with 12 points to 11points, with B&D twice coming second by the narrowest margin. In the Table Cricket there were more convincing wins for Hackney, and in Polybat and both Athletics disciplines B&D took maximum points.  There were some notable individual performances in the field athletics: Tia and Tony (B&D) both jumping 2.20 metres, Ibrahim (Hackney) throwing 20 metres in the javelin and Serne (B&D) 12.50 metres in the shot put, all Gold performances.

On another day B&D may have scored more points overall, but a win in the first round, particularly in the East Pool, is what all teams are aiming for. Havering, who registered their first ever Gold medals, can also be mighty pleased with their days work. Particularly loud cheers greeted the Havering’s Powerchair Slarlom team, when they took gold! Only one question remains in my mind, will Hackney’s score of 54 be enough to see them through to the final as the best runner up? Only time will tell.

"Another Fantastic Day of Panathlon! This year our pupils joined with 3 other Havering schools - the most schools so far... and we won our first ever GOLDS!!" (Tim, Ravensbourne School, Havering Team)

Posted: Friday 27th January 2012
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Panathlon were in Greenwich today delivering a training day (Panathlon Young Officials Course) for 18 BTEC Sports students from St Pauls Academy. The students are now "qualified" to deliver next weeks Panathlon event, which will involve up to 100 disabled young competitors in 5 sports. 



" The training was fantastic. The pupils really enjoyed themselves and are looking forward to the BIG EVENT!!" Sam Stone (TA at St Pauls Academy)

Posted: Thursday 19th January 2012
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12 Young Leaders from Featherstone High School in Ealing showed off their talents today at the Panathlon Challenge.

After they all successfully qualified as Panathlon Young Leaders in December, they put their skills in to practice today by running their first Panathlon competition for Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow.

James Tinney, Panathlon Event Manager said, " the Leaders were superb, excellent organisational skills and great with the competitors. They are a credit to themselves and their school."

Through extra funding from the Jack Petchey Foundation, Panathlon is qualifying up to 200 young leaders as Panathlon Young Officials in 2012 and is giving them practical experience at the coal face !

Katy, one-to-one support worker for Jamie, Powerchair Athlete from H&F said, " This is a wonderful day - the level of organisation is superb, the Panathlon Leaders are brilliant, and an enormous amount of imagination has gone toward making this a fantastic and energetic day out!



Here the Young Leaders show off their new Officials T-shirts !

We look forward to the Final on March 26th and for you demonstrating your skills again.

Posted: Tuesday 17th January 2012
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A quick blast of action to start the New Year !

Congrats to Harrow and Hillingdon on making it through to the West Final in March. Hard luck Brent, see you again next year.

Watch the video clip, read the news story, see pics in the gallery

Posted: Thursday 12th January 2012
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James & Chris from Panathlon were involved in the Wiltshire Lords Taverner's Boccia competition today at Next Generation, Swindon. 12 schools from across the county came together with 120 players in 30 teams - 19 teams playing in a Pan-Disability Competition and 11 teams in the Lords Taverner's (physical impairment only) competition.

Congratulations for all players who took part, and with particular mention to the 2 teams that will now represent Wiltshire in the National Competition later in the month - Commonwheel School (Louise, Sam, Lewis, Lauren & Brandon) and Rowdeford School (Emily, Adam, Callum & Craig). Congratulations also to Kingsdown and Crowdys Hill for reaching the Pan-Disability final, which Kingsdown won.

"It was an amazing opportunity for our pupils to have a go at Boccia, experience something new and exciting. The day was well organised and provided each pupil the opportunity to do their very best. More of these competitions please!" Rowdeford School

" We have had a fabulous fun day. Out children have enjoyed being part of a team. They've had a chance to demonstrate their sportsmanship." Robert Le Kyng School

Special mention to Andy Steckbeck who organised the event & to Boccia England for their support.

All Hands on the Trophy! with the Captain of Commonwheel

I'll be surprised if I'm ever involved in such a large Boccia competition again!

Posted: Wednesday 11th January 2012
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Panathlon delivered their first ever Table Cricket course today! The new course and table cricket qualification has been developed by CP Sport and The Lord's Taverners Table Cricket development program.

Hosted at Linden Lodge, 17 delegates from across London were taken through the history of the game, basic rules, umpiring & scoring in the first session, then more advanced rules, pathways for players and the future of the game in the second session. Both sessions also included playing the game, everyone having a go at batting, active fielding, bowling, scoring and umpiring.

In the second session we played some competitive fixtures within the group (the spirit of the game being stretched at times!) and then inventing some practical variation games for coaching. All the delegates will receive the CP Sport Table Cricket qualification.

Tim Richmond, Head of PE at Linden Lodge, "The table cricket course delivered on all its outcomes. It was a well paced course for the content which kept interest throughout and provided a fun platform for absorbing the required knowledge needed to coach and officiate the game."

All 32 London Boroughs will provide Table Cricket teams in the Panathlon Challenge between January and June 2012.

Posted: Wednesday 21st December 2011
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Panathlon is working with QPR Trust to train some coaches in various Panathlon sports to complement the work QPR Trust are doing with disability sport in the community. Panathlon and QPR will work together in the next year in this exciting new partnership !

Conor from QPR commented, "This was a very productive Training Session. I felt that our coaches quickly picked up knowledge of the Panathlon sports. The set-up of the session and the delivery of the training was brilliant, big thanks to James! It was a fun three hours and a very hands-on experience; everyone got involved, even though with my skills I should have stayed out of it! I hope that with the knowledge that the coaches have picked up from this, it allow QPR to provide Panathlon Officials at next year's Westway Sports Centre events, the first being in February." Conor McBrearty, Inclusion & Diversity Officer at QPR

Posted: Monday 12th December 2011
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Nick Millar from Southfields School reports, " Eighteen students from three Wandsworth schools attended the Panathlon Young Officials Training Course at Southfields Community College today. The students were from Southfields Community College, Burntwood and Graveney. Thoughout the mornings, the students were introduced to and encouraged to set up activities in Boccia, New Age Kurling, Polybat, Table Cricket and a number of athletics events. In the afternoon the students were allocated a sport to learn, lead and officiate. They were able to lead the rest of the students though all the sports in mock games. These students will now officiate at the Central London Panathlon at Southfields in February. We all had a Great day!"

Posted: Monday 28th November 2011
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Two staff from Hilton London Stansted were qualified as  "Panathlon Officials" at a recent training course at Braintree College with another 12 Colchester Institute students. Liz and Sarah went on to officiate at the Essex Panathlon on 24th November, running the athletics element of the competition. (see video below and Liz's thoughts on the day)



“After attending the Panathlon training day at Braintree College where we learnt how to officiate the sports that Panathlon offers. We attended the competition to put our skills into action and officiated the Athletics which included Wheelchair Slalom, seated bean bag, javelin, shot put and Standing Long Jump. It was amazing seeing the children participating in the sports It makes all the fundraising that the team do at Hilton London Stansted worthwhile and we are proud to be supporting the Panathlon Challenge." Elizabeth Major

Posted: Thursday 24th November 2011
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Today we are at Braintree College at Panathon, where 4 schools are competing in preparation for the Regionals competition in April. It is absolutely amazing watching these wonderful athletes participate at such a high level. You can see the pure enjoyment of their face while they are competing.

The Woodland Group are proud to sponsor Panathlon and look forward to attending future events.

Sue Tasker from Woodland assisting Panathlon competitor

Posted: Wednesday 9th November 2011
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In June we ran a Boccia Young Officials Course at Oak Lodge School in Wandsworth, where we trained 10 Deaf and Hearing Impaired Young Leaders. We then utilised some of these young leaders yesterday at the Panathlon School Games Event, where they helped organise the Boccia Competition and assisted Boccia England staff in the classifying of talented young Boccia players. See video clip below.

Posted: Tuesday 8th November 2011
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" This was my first time watching Boccia being played. All the teams showed great skills and teamwork, some of the shots were amazing, great hand eye co-ordination put in to practice. There was very good sportsmanship at the end of each round, players shaking hands and congratulating each other.  Well done !" Hilda O'Brien, TA Swiss Cottage School.

" Today was a fantastic event where the children had a chance to shine and reach their own podiums. Panathlon has given the opportunity for young people with disabilities the chance to show their skills in several sports. Its a great opportunity for the competitors to meet new people and have an enjoyable but competitive day." Anthony Doherty, LB Camden.

Posted: Thursday 13th October 2011
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Yesterday the Panathlon Team visited the "Next Generation Sports Centre" in Swindon to host the Wiltshire Panathlon.

Athletes from St Nicholas, Brimble Hill, Uplands, Crowdy Hills and Rowdeford formed the teams and competed in what was an enjoyable and hard fought competition. At lunch the top two teams, Crowdys Hill & St Nicholas, the current Champions, were on equal points.

It was the races that separated these teams, with Crowdys Hill “running away with it” to become our new Panathlon Champions. It was their first ever victory at a Panathlon Competition, so many congratulations to them!

The event was ably supported by our newly trained officials from Greendown Community School and also Peter from Disability Sports Coach who head up all the Athletics event.

I was impressed by the spirit of the competition and the enjoyment of all the pupils. Particular mention to the students and teachers from Rowdeford School, who were involved in Panathlon for the first time. We hope to see them again!

James Tinney
Panathlon Co-ordinator

Posted: Tuesday 11th October 2011
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Posted: Friday 7th October 2011
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Panathlon is off again! With first event of the year, The Wiltshire Panathlon Challenge next week, James visited Greendown Community School in Swindon to train 17 sports leaders (14-15 year olds) to be our Wiltshire Panathlon Officials.

"Throughout the morning I introduced Panathlon and taught the rules through playing the sports. The Panathlon sports of Table Cricket, Polybat, Kurling & Boccia were new to the group and were quickly understood. In the afternoon, the leaders chose a sport to concentrate on, and practiced their officiating skills – taking charge of the group and leading them in a sport. This was a new experience for a number of the group, to lead their peers in a sport, decide of the scores in a formal setting and to communicate the scores clearly. With the event next Wednesday, I am confident that we have a good group of officials to oversee the sports."

Many thanks to Andy Steckbeck who organised the training, and will be with us next week supporting the officials.

Posted: Thursday 16th June 2011
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Helen and Louise share their thoughts on today's Panathlon Final. (And see them race in the video below !)

Posted: Thursday 16th June 2011
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Helen Turner GB Basketball Gold Medal Winner from Manchester in May at the Paralympic World Cup, and 3 time Panathlon attendee, brought her friend and team mate, Louise Sugden to the London Panathlon Final today. See Helen and Louse take part in an impromptu race.

Posted: Tuesday 14th June 2011
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The Panathlon Team and Disability Sports Coach were in action again, driving down to Canterbury for a morning then afternoon at Pilgrims Way Primary and Wincheap Primary School respectively.

Today was a coaching event, rather than a competition, and also an introduction to The Panathlon Challenge for 75 pupils and their teachers. None of these schools have been involved in The Panathlon Challenge before.

James & Laura split the pupils into groups and switched them between outdoor athletics and indoor Boccia and New Age Kurling. Each group had at least an hour and a quarter on both sports before a new class was involved. Only a few had played Boccia & New Age Kurling  before, so the excitement of playing a new sport successfully was notable by the concentration and engagement of the players. Some future Panathlon Medalists in awaits.

Many of these pupils will feed into St Nicholas School next year, so it’s likely we will see them playing for the Canterbury Panathlon Team in 2012 and beyond.

Well done to you all !

Posted: Monday 13th June 2011
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The Panathlon Team visited Greenvale School today to involve extra students that did not compete at the main competition in February. Lewisham are the new addition to the East London region and today’s event was to give them extra competitive experience, so they can compete fairly against the likes of the East London Champions, Newham in the future.

Panathlon delivered an inter school tournament involving 28 students split into 2 teams, competing in New Age Kurling, Boccia and Athletics (Precision Bean Bag, Standing Long Jump & Shot Put). By the end of the morning all the students has competed in all the sports. The “Green Team" won convincingly, taking all the events.

Lynne Haines, Head teacher, was involved with presenting the medals in the closing ceremony. This afternoon the 2 competing teams will present their medals to the rest of the school in assembly. Talk quickly turned to next academic year and how Lewisham can build on their involvement for future years participation in Panathlon.

Posted: Friday 10th June 2011
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Boccia England and Panathlon working together to deliver new qualified coaches, from Oak Lodge School in Wandsworth. 12 new officials, 10 of them Hearing Impaired ! Watch Richard Evans from Boccia England working with the students !

Posted: Wednesday 25th May 2011
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A couple of our Kent Panathletes views about their day...

Posted: Friday 20th May 2011
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Posted: Friday 20th May 2011
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One of our main funders and supporters, reports on her visit to Panathlon Essex style !

Posted: Thursday 19th May 2011
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19th and 20th May sees 250 young disabled people in Essex competing for a place in the Final on July 1st. Without the organisations supporting our charity, we would not be here. A thank you here from one of our competitors.

Posted: Tuesday 10th May 2011
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Hi All, its Peter Ackred again from ‘Disability Sports Coach’.  Just blogging from Swindon where the latest 1^st Panathlon Challenge event of 2011 has taken place today. 

It has been an eventful day with five school teams (Bimble Hill, Paternoster, Crowdy, St. Nicolas and Uplands) from around Wiltshire completing for the ‘Wiltshire Panathlon title’.  The day started at 8am where we meet again the 20 sports leaders that we had trained in March to support and help set up and make sure the event ran as smoothly as possible.  Once this was done James and myself ran through the sports with the leaders to make sure they comfortable with the rules of the sports that they would be officiating.

At 10:30am the teams started arriving, with 85 athletes for all schools all excited and wanting to start to play sport as soon as possible.  Once James had given the instructions of the day it was a go.... All teams very eager and launched to their morning chosen sport, which they had the opportunity to play New Age Kurling, Boccia, Polybat, Table Cricket and Field Athletics.

The morning events went really smoothly with the leaders taking full control over their sports.   

After the morning sports where over the it was almost NECK and NECK between St. Nicolas and Paternoster who played some outstanding games to fight off the other three teams (Brimble Hill, Crowdy and Uplands).

The afternoon races where really competitive, all teams where really trying to gain the most about of points that they could in the last seconds.

Posted: Friday 6th May 2011
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Over 3 days of Panathlon events in Kent this week, we had 36 young leaders who organised and ran the events with us.  Here's some of the students from Canterbury thoughts on Panathlon  -

"I absolutely loved being part of the panathlon challenge. It was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. I was elated that the children seemed to love being there.The event was very well organised and the staff were very friendly and easy to talk to. I also loved the fact that everyone got a medal and nobody went home with nothing." Michelle Aloe

" I am writing to tell you that I was a young leader at the Panathlon Challenge on 4 May in Canterbury. I really enjoyed myself. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to work with children. I thought the best bit of the Panathlon was seeing the smiles on the children faces and the way they were determined to get points for their team.  I think the panathlon is a brilliant way for the children to interacted with each other. Also I liked the way every person who took part got a medal." Daniel Docwra

 Big thanks to all our Young Leaders who played a huge part in Panathlon over the last 3 days.

Posted: Thursday 5th May 2011
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Helen Turner returns to Panathlon with her video blog, (click here) and then see her race one of the Panathlon competitors !

Posted: Wednesday 4th May 2011
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Our Paralympic Gold Medal winning star, and friend of Panathlon, Liz Johnson joins us in Kent to inspire more young Panathletes ! (See her snazzy sun glasses !)

Posted: Friday 25th March 2011
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Benajmin a competitor at Oaklodge School in Wandsworth, explains about his Panathlon day.
(Teacher Holly narates)

Posted: Wednesday 23rd March 2011
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GB Wheelchair basketball star, Helen Turner visited her first Panathlon Challenge today at the West London Final. This is what she thought....

Posted: Tuesday 15th March 2011
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Hi ! My name is Liz Johnson GB Paralympic Swimmer and friend of Panathlon.

I've had another great day, seeing 150 young disabled people taking part in the East London Final.
Its great to see so many people having such an enjoyable time, and I'm hoping at least one of them will become a Paralympic Star of the future !

See my video blog here !
Liz.

Posted: Friday 11th March 2011
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Panathlon's expansion of its Powerchair Football project to Essex kicked off with a training day for coaches at Braintree College today. The WFA ran the course with 20 coaches in attendance from all over the Eastern region. Essex FA are working with Panathlon in 2011 to develop Powerchair Football and more details and plans will be announced as the project develops. Here are a few photo's and a video clip to show you some action.

Posted: Wednesday 9th March 2011
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HI there, its Pete from Disability Sports Coach (DSC), just making my way back from Dover where the latest Panathlon Training has been happening.

With 21 delegates (8 teachers and 13 Sports Leaders)  all ready and eager to learn about Panathlon and the sports which in Kent include; New Age Kurling, Boccia, Athletics, Polybat and Table Cricket.  Roger (another one of DSCL trainers) kicked off the day and introduced the sports and what Panathlon was about.  After that they all had a chance to play the sports and to ask any questions, which as this was their first Panathlon, they had plenty!  The morning session of "training" the coaches and the leaders, we also had 4 students from the school, who where perfect subjects for Roger and myself on how to coach people in the sports using different techniques.  The delegates, all really appreciate this, as it could put theory into practice!

In the afternoon Dover School Sports Partnership and DSC has arranged for a mini Panathlon "festival" with over 50 children from special schools around the partnership, to be involved in some of the sports that they would take part in on the main Panathlon competition on 4 May.  The sports included Polybat, Boccia, Precision Bean bag and Long jump.  The delegates from the morning training led the event and managed all the sports "stations", this again really inspired them and yet another opportunity to put theory into practice!

Both the children and leaders said that they can’t wait until their Panathlon event on the 4^th May!!

DSC and Panathlon, look forward to seeing you there!!!!

Peter Ackred
Managing Director
Disability Sports Coach Limited (DSCL)

Posted: Tuesday 22nd February 2011
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Hi my name is Holly and I am a Sports Leader at Southfield Community College.

This blog update is for the Panathlon Challenge that took place on Tuesday the 15 of February at Southfields Community College. Myself and the other sports leaders very much enjoyed guiding our visitors through their events, we had a great time and hoped you all did too!

Myself and the other sports leaders assisted in setting up the other games as well as meeting and greeting our guests when they arrived. But my official role for the day was as Score Keeper for the Kurling event. This consisted of me taking scores primarily but i also assisted the Kurling organiser with the equipment and overall smooth running of the event.

I was chosen to represent the other Sport Leaders in a small award ceremony where certificates were given and the winners announced. After that I was involved in the team pictures with all the schools!

This is one of the Gold Medalists !

Posted: Tuesday 1st February 2011
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Well you have a new guy giving a short blog on the East London Panathlon , yes its Roger.

The venue at Robert Clark Sport Centre is always a really nice place to visit with good facilities and great staff and student volunteers always very helpful.

Here we had three London Boroughs - Redbridge, Barking & Dagenham and Havering in the 2nd of 3 "East" Panathlons, and we had plenty of time to see the best quality from all the events played throughout the day. Although the competition was very close between B & D and Redbridge, the team from Havering did so well with a smaller team and some "new commers" to the event. In the end it was B & D who came out on top with such a strong team and the last athletics races were so close it was a nail biting finish. It was a very well run event with everyone trying their best in all events and to see the enjoyment on all there faces was great. We have one more round to go from the East and look forward to the reginal finals in March. Looking f oward to it.

Posted: Wednesday 26th January 2011
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Hello All.

The second Panathlon Challenge football tournament took place yesterday, Tuesday 25^th, at Langdon School in East Ham. Teams from Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets certainly did not disappoint!

Before we even started it became apparent that the 2 goalkeepers from Hackney were only wearing one glove each. The reason for this? Their coach had only brought with him 2 gloves.....which were for the same hand. For the sake of his dignity, he shall remain nameless!

The teams competed in a total of 12 matches, with 46 goals being scored, at just under an average of 4 per game, and the goals that were scored were of the highest quality.

Two of the most spectacular goals were scored during matches between Hackney and Newham. During the U16 match, Hackney’s Joel made a darting run down the right wing, skipping over challenges with the referee playing advantage. Without hesitation he then hit the ball like a rocket, in off the far post, with a shot that would have left Petr Cech grasping at thin air. It was a goal that would grace any World Cup match, never mind the Premiership, and would be a contender for Goal of the Month!

However, it was later matched in the U13s game. Newham earned a corner, late in the game, on their right hand side. Travis calmly clipped the ball to the edge of the area, and with pinpoint accuracy picked out teammate Kevin, who swung his left foot at the ball, making perfect contact. The ball flew into the goal, and nestled into the net, still having not touched the floor since the kick was taken.

Newham ended up winning the combined football tournament, with Hackney 2^nd and Tower Hamlets in 3^rd. Well done to you all !

Posted: Wednesday 26th January 2011
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From Chris the Panathlon volunteer extraordinaire.

I helped again at Panathlon yesterday at Langdon School in East Ham. It was a great competition and by far the closest Panathlon I have ever been to - with the top two teams tied on points going into the final races !
 
I had two jobs yesterday that I had never done for Panathlon before, the first was "photographer," taking pictures of the event which have been uploaded to the gallery and secondly demonstrating the race which meant I had to get running. The first was more enjoyable than the second!
 
This was the first Panathlon that i had been to that had involved five-a-side football, I've seen Powerchair Football at an event before but never five-a-side. The children looked like they really enjoyed it but not as much as the teacher who ran on to the pitch and celebrated when her team scored a goal!
 
I'm looking forward to my next Panathlon at John Fisher School, Sutton in a couple of weeks!
Chris

Here is a one of the players in action

Posted: Wednesday 19th January 2011
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Hello - Peter here from Disability Sports Coaches Ltd blogging for Panathlon which started today at West London Academy. DSC supplied 8 coaches to Panathlon to "officiate" the sports of Boccia, Polybat, Table Cricket, Kurling and Athletics. We will be doing this for all the events this year and it was a great start today at Ealing, which everybody enjoyed. Well done to Ealing for winning today and also to Hounslow who both qualify for the West London Final in March.

Watch here a minute or two of action which is one of the races at the end of the day. There are 5 races in total including separate races for manual and powerchair wheelchairs, but the video clip here is for those athletes with lower limb impairments. Enjoy !
 

Posted: Friday 14th January 2011
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Who needs the boring Premiership, with their overpaid players with bad haircuts, when the Panathlon Challenge 2010-11 football season is underway?

Thursday 13^th January 2011 saw the football competitions begin in the West, at Wembley. Unfortunately we were not allowed on the hallowed turf, and instead played at the Goals venue within eyesight of the famous Arch. If the remaining tournaments are as exciting and unpredictable as this one, we are in for an incredible season!

56 players from Harrow, Ealing, Brent, Hillingdon, and (for the first time) Hounslow came together to play a total of 24 matches. The standard of all teams were incredibly close, which resulted in highly competitive and open games. Such was the quality that 219 (yes, two hundred and nineteen) goals were scored, at an average of over 9 goals per game!!!!

The performance of the day, without a shadow of doubt, and agreed by all, was the U16 goalkeeper from Brent. Yasir Mohamed arrived in his manual wheelchair, but went into goal on his knees, and proceeded to hurl himself at every shot which was fired at him. Top or bottom corner, driven or placed, no shot daunted him. Only 11 goals went past him in 3 competitive games, and he helped his team to second place in the U16 group. Only goal difference deprived them of the top spot.

 I will leave it to one of the team teachers who was managing a team that said: ‘ I think it worked really well and efficiently and was nice to have friendlies too. The refereeing was sensitive and astute and allowed players to participate fairly and with dignity and to have a competitive but fun experience.’

Premier League? We’re havin’ a laugh!

Posted: Monday 13th December 2010
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Daniel from Riverside School in Bromley has already covered himself in glory this year with Panathlon as he was awarded a Jack Petchey Outstanding Achievement Award at City Hall, by Boris Johnson, Mayor of London.  Daniel is one of our most highly qualified young leaders with several NGB awards to his name. He attended a recent Panathlon training day for coaches and this are his thoughts -

" The day was well organised. Instructors were good and i enjoyed helping them with demonstrations. The most useful part of the day was learning the rules for polybat and table cricket."

Posted: Wednesday 8th December 2010
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Hi I'm James from Disability Sports Coach Ltd who is delivering some of the Panathlon Training this December.....Here's my mini report on our Training Day this week !

Bacon’s College in Southwark hosted us for the Central Boroughs Training Day this Tuesday. 14 delegates attended from across region, 3 from Southwark and Lambeth respectively and 4 from Wandsworth and Westminster respectively.

Only two of the delegates had been involved in a Panathlon Competition before, so it was exciting to introduce these new sports and the Panathlon concept to fresh faces.

The group was mainly made up of PE co-ordinators and teaching assistants so learning and adapting the games was taken on with ease and with considerable understanding of how to include young people with disabilities into sport. At times there was a raucous and highly competitive playing spirit, particularly in the Polybat where the airflow balls were filling off across the gym in all directions!

Posted: Monday 6th December 2010
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From matthew@panathlon.com

Hello Everybody!

I hope everyone is managing to keep warm in this freezing weather! The time for action packed Panathlon Challenge competition is fast approaching, which is sure to warm the atmosphere across London!

With coaching funds and equipment being distributed now, it is important that everyone involved in running the teams and coaching the competitors, knows each sport inside-out. We are in the process of running training days in each pro-active region, with the first taking place in the West, on Friday 3 December, at Southall Sport Centre.

13 people attended, (despite teh colds snowy weather!) ranging from teachers, coaches, to university students, all looking to learn about Panathlon Challenge sports. Everyone contributed towards the day, with some good coaching games and ideas being shared amongst the group. There was also a competitive element, with some keenly fought contests, particularly in Boccia and Kurling!

For more information on the other Training Courses across London - please contact ashley@panathlon.com - or any aspect of the Panathlon Challenge football programme, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Matthew Edwards -Panathlon Challenge Football Co-ordinator

matthew@panathlon.com

Posted: Friday 26th November 2010
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Hello!

We had our first Panathlon of this academic year today at Braintree College, Essex and it was a bit different to all the others! I was asked to do the announcing for the competition.This meant I had to stand in front of 50 competitors and 50 adults and tell everyone what to do !!  I'd never done the announcing before but thought I would give it a go. I was a bit nervous, but it was good training for me for the rest of the year.

The Panathlon was exciting and had a good level of competition throughout. The best part of the day was in one of the races where a wheelchair competitor was going backwards instead of forward-that's a first for me!
Everyone did really well !!
 
Chris
(Coach at Southview School)

Posted: Thursday 18th November 2010
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Panathlon Challenge has recently held two F.A. coaching courses, specifically designed to enable our coaches to become better coaches and deliver more inclusive and enjoyable football sessions, for our players with all abilities. First off was a "Coaching Disabled Footballers" Course in October that 20 Panathlon coaches attended.

The latest of these was the F.A. Coaching Visually Impaired Footballers course. Coaches learned how to create an effective learning environment, from safety issues to communication with players. The highlight of the course was when the coaches were given a chance to gain experience of playing football when blindfolded.

This was a new experience for many, has increased their understanding of just how hard the game is to play! In turn, this will help with planning of sessions involving fully blind (B1) players.

Coaches from Brentford FC, Arsenal and AFC Wimbledon attended amongst many others.

Here's a picture of how our coaches orientated themselves to their surroundings.

The next Panathlon Football course is in conjunction with the Wheelchair Football Association on December 20th for Powerchair Football.  Get in touch if you'd like to know more !

matthew@panathlon.com

Posted: Wednesday 27th October 2010
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Hello everybody!

It has been a busy time at Panathlon Challenge, with plans now in place for the 2010-11 season. This season, Visually Impaired football will be added to the Panathlon Challenge programme, alongside the multi sport events, SLD Football and Powerchair Football. The vision is to create a hub V.I club in each pro-active region, that will provide coaching and competition for all players in the region. To assist our coaches with all these sports, we have no fewer than three FREE coaching courses for you to access.

The first, Coaching Disabled Footballers, took place at the Westway Sport Centre on October 15^th.  The other courses will take place on November 12^th at Linden Lodge School (Coaching Visually Impaired Footballers) and December 20^th at Talacre Sport Centre (Coaching Powerchair Footballers). To register your interest for either of these courses, please e-mail me at the address below. As with all courses, places are limited, and once fully booked, candidates will be placed on a reserve list.

This season will also be the first that every borough within London will take part in Panathlon events, making it bigger and better than ever before! To accommodate all the boroughs, there will be more matches and more tournaments than in previous seasons. The first football tournament will take place in the West on January 13^th, with the Grand Final on June 16^th. For a full set of fixtures and training days, keep an eye on our website.

For more information on all things football, the Grading Model, or any other aspect of the Panathlon Challenge football programme, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Good luck for the year ahead!

Matthew Edwards

Panathlon Challenge Football Co-ordinator

matthew@panathlon.com

Posted: Tuesday 13th July 2010
Category: General Panathlon

The Powerchair football event at the London Finals of Panathlon Challenge was a fantastic opportunity for 28 young Powerchair users from the London Boroughs to take part in competition, work as a team, develop new skills and above all have fun and enjoy themselves. The event was superbly supported by Sam Bull from the Powerchair Football Association and Jonathan Bolding from the England Powerchair Football Team. Panathlon is in the process of setting up 5 Powerchair clubs in London, supplied with equipment (wheelchair attachments and footballs) and coaching monies. Each County Sports Partnership area in London will therefore have the ability next academic year to play and enjoy Powerchair Football. Throughout the event, the youngsters grew in both skill and confidence and there were great goals scored and celebrated. Everyone who participated was awarded a medal and the smiles on all their faces told the story. The “West” team won the competition – with Jagjit Chuk being the joint top goalscorer with 4, with Aminul Hoque from the South team, also scoring 4. More info on Powerchair Football from matthew@panathlon.com. Thank you to the Football Foundation who have helped fund Panathlon Football for the last two years.

Posted: Wednesday 2nd June 2010
Category: General Panathlon

Watch some YouTube highlights of the London and Essex Panathlon 2010, and some words of thanks to the Jack Petchey Foundation who have funded Panathlon kindly again this year. Various participants, coaches, teachers and Paralympic athletes say their thanks.

Posted: Friday 28th May 2010
Category: General Panathlon

Dervis Konuralp came along for the Kent Panathlon Final on 26th May, to award medals and inspire the Panthlon competitors. Dervis is a Paralympic swimmer with 35 major international titles, including 14 gold medals to his name, and represented Great Britain in the last three Paralympics. Here he talks about Panathlon and its benefits for the young people involved.

Posted: Friday 28th May 2010
Category: General Panathlon

Hello, my name is Chris a sports coach from Essex.

I went to the Kent Panathlon event on Wednesday, it was great and I got to meet Dervis Konuralp, a Paralympic swimmer. My job for the day was to look after Dervis and this was a perfect job as I was a swimmer when I was younger.

We talked about swimming loads! It was a really good event, different to the other Panathlon events I have helped at before, instead of having school teams it had three areas central, east and west. This meant that there were the top three teams for each event from across Kent, which made the standard of competition high.

The morning events finished with all three teams close on points and made for a interesting afternoon of races! The manual wheelchair race was my favourite, as this involved two boys in sports wheelchairs and they were really flying around the cones! Great day can't wait for the London final in a month! Take a look at two of the challenges below.

Posted: Wednesday 28th April 2010
Category: General Panathlon

Hello, my name is Simon Aaron Gray and I am a qualified Higher Sports Leader at Canterbury Christ Church University studying Sport & Exercise. I am a former student at Sittingbourne Community College which once again hosted the Panathlon Challenge yesterday, and I go back to my old school when they host big events to help out in any way.  I helped the Panathlon team last year and was keen to help again this year as it is a great event ! Our special school next door, Meadowfield competes for our school Sports Partnership area and yesterday 3 others SSP’s took part in the sports of Boccia, Polybat, Table Cricket, Kurling and Athletics. At the Start of the day myself and the other leaders from SCC, welcomed the teams and handed out the team t-shirts and after the opening speech we made sure all the teams got to their different areas where they were competing. It was a great atmosphere. The Competitors, Assistants & Helpers were all in high spirits about assisting and competing in the events set on by Ashley & his team. At Lunch time, the College laid out a spread of sandwiches, cakes & cookies for everyone taking part on the day. In the Afternoon the Indoor Flat athletic relay races for the wheel-chair users and the non wheel-chair  teams took place and they were in high spirits taking each race as they come. The races were a great sight seeing all the competitors taking place and doing their best. The Presentation Ceremony was well worth all the efforts of competing, as all the teams were rewarded with a Silver Plate with a inscribed place position where they finished overall. The Sittingbourne Community College, has hosted the Panathlon for 2years and it seems that the competing teams seem to be growing in size, skill levels and enthusiasm !! Everyone had a great day. Thank you. Simon Aaron Gray Sports & Exercise Student At Canterbury Christ Church University

Posted: Friday 26th March 2010
Category: General Panathlon

Since my last blog Panathlon have been very busy. 5 paralympic champions have visited, bringing their medals and their stories and meeting all the Panathlon crew. There have been 5 london finals and 3 football finals, in which everyone did really well and had lots of fun! Lambeth, Harrow, Croydon, Barking and Dagenham and Haringey have qualified for the finals on June 24th. 21 London boroughs and over 750 disabled people have taken part and 1,250 Panathlon medals have been awarded and met by 1,250 smiles. You can see some of these medals being awarded by paralympic bronze medalist James Morgan on youtube and Haringey celebrating their win in the clip below.

Posted: Friday 5th March 2010
Category: General Panathlon

The patron of the Panathlon charity and paralympic gold medalist, Danny Crates appeals for donations.

Posted: Friday 5th March 2010
Category: General Panathlon

Paralympian Liz Johnson tells us her views on Panathlon

Posted: Monday 8th February 2010
Category: General Panathlon

A competitor from the Wandsworth Panathlon team who was taking part for the first time, gave us her view's on her first Panathlon experience. "It was a bit of a scary day for me because I was nervous and wanted to win. I am new to table cricket which i find different and sometimes difficult but I'm improving because i have coaching. It was a very exciting day and i like getting medals and different t-shirts! I can't wait for the Final in a few weeks time" Thanks Rebecca - we look forward to seeing you competing in the Final !!

Posted: Saturday 6th February 2010
Category: General Panathlon

Hello everybody! The Panathlon Challenge 2010 season is well underway, with the regional finals coming soon after half term. The last week has seen another high quality football coaching course run by Panathlon for its coaches and borough co-ordinators. Jointly run between Panathlon Challenge, The Wheelchair Football Association, Aspire and Tottenham Hotspur FC, the Powerchair Football coaching course was a HUGE success. 25 candidates learned the history and theory behind the game, including the equivalent to the offside law, which provoked a lot of thought and initial confusion! The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the experience of controlling – or attempting to control - a powerchair. Whilst most of the 17 candidates were comfortable enough with moving the chair, at the lower speeds at least, it was a different matter when it came to controlling a ball! This greater understanding gained about how a chair behaves and just how difficult it is, should help our coaches with their work. Each region now has its own ‘hub’ centre where powerchair football will be delivered for players in the surrounding boroughs. Each region will enter a team to represent it in the main London finals on June 24^th. For more information on Powerchair Football, the Junior Kit Scheme, Grading Model, or any other aspect of the Panathlon Challenge football programme, please do not hesitate to contact me! Matthew Edwards, Panathlon Challenge Football Co-ordinator matthew@panathlon.com A quick snippit of action if you click below !

Posted: Wednesday 3rd February 2010
Category: General Panathlon

Hello everybody! Here's a football activity update Competitions Unfortunately, the snow and severe cold weather meant we had to cancel two of the regional football tournaments. The other regional football tournaments have now all been completed. Congratulations to those boroughs that have progressed to the regional finals will take place, which will take place after half term. We will look forward to round two which will involve 5 more competitions involving 20 boroughs. The Westway Sport Centre was the venue for our Coaching Disabled Footballers Course, which took place 2 weeks ago. A thoroughly enjoyable day was had by all, with many intriguing discussions about a wide range of topics. Everybody, including myself, came away from the day having learned a lot more about themselves and their coaching skills. May I take this opportunity to thank Steve Bartlett for his tremendous delivery of the course, especially when you consider the position of the pitches. They may be a superb use of space, but being under the A40, it is a little noisy! This coming Friday sees another course for our regional coaches to attend, and those who have a place on it should have received final details for this. It will see over 20 people London-wide become qualified to deliver Powerchair football sessions in each of the 5 Pro-active regions. This will enable each region to select a team to enter the Powerchair competition on the main finals day on June 24th. For more information on Powerchair Football, the Junior Kit Scheme, Grading Model, or any other aspect of the Panathlon Challenge football programme, please do not hesitate to contact me! Matthew Edwards Panathlon Challenge Football Co-ordinator matthew@panathlon.com

Posted: Tuesday 2nd February 2010
Category: General Panathlon

On February 1st I spent the day at a Panathlon event. I had a great time watching the kids get involved in the different sports and celebrating their different achievements and medals, some more enthusiastically than others. I was put in charge of capturing some of this on video, with varying success. Some of these extremely professional videos can be viewed on youtube using the following link. Please excuse any rather squeaky comments from myself! See Panathlon in action here.

Posted: Wednesday 16th December 2009
Category: General Panathlon

Its Daniel here from Riverside School in Bromley. I've taken part in Panathlon last year in Shot putt and athletics races. I recently took part in a Panathlon training day - here is my report. Panathlon Training Day [caption id="attachment_46" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Panathlon Young Leaders in Action"][/caption] Five sports leaders from Riverside School attended a Panathlon training day at John Fisher school. We learnt the rules and how to coach all of the sports in the Panathlon.  We met other coaches from other schools and we worked as a team. We all had a great day and learnt new skills we can put towards our sports leaders awards. Thank you to Ashley and the Panathlon team for involviong us, we look forward to taking part in Panathlon next year ! Daniel.

Posted: Thursday 10th December 2009
Category: General Panathlon

Hello everybody! We’re nearly into the Festive Period when everyone can relax and enjoy a well deserved break! In the meantime, everyone connected with Panathlon Challenge has been working extremely hard. We have held training days for all London boroughs, and covered all sports we provide, including the football. If anyone has any further questions following these days, please contact me! Panathlon Challenge is providing a FREE Coaching Disabled Footballers Course in the New Year (details of which have been sent to candidates), for which we are fully subscribed! Coupled with the coaching monies, which have already been distributed, children involved with the programme will have an even higher standard of coaching than last year! As you all are now aware, the Grading Model is new and improved for this season, making it a lot simpler to follow, and hopefully providing us with even closer and more exciting competition than last year. Hopefully many of you have now taken Nike and the Football Foundation up on their £400 worth of football equipment through the Junior Kit Scheme. If your school hasn’t yet applied, I urge you to do so as soon as possible! 2010 will see Panathlon Challenge organising a total of twelve football tournaments, compared with last year’s five. This is as a result of four addition boroughs participating this year, and we extend a warm welcome to them, and hope their Panathlon Challenge experiences are all positive! As well as our tournaments for children with severe learning disabilities, we are also providing children in powerchairs with the opportunity to take part in coaching, with a view to having Powerchair Football as a demonstration event at the main London Finals on June 24^th. For more information on Powerchair Football, or any other aspect of the Panathlon Challenge football programme, please do not hesitate to contact me! Have a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! Matthew Edwards Panathlon Challenge Football Co-ordinator matthew@panathlon.com

Posted: Tuesday 6th October 2009
Category: General Panathlon

The new Panathlon fixture list for the coming year is now nearly complete !! Just one or two more dates to confirm, but we are nearly there..... There is going to be over 20 events in London in the coming six months and it will be an exciting time. Keep a check on the panathlon.com news section and fixture lists for more news soon. Any feedback as ever to ashley@panathlon.com

Posted: Thursday 6th August 2009
Category: General Panathlon

2008-9 saw the introduction of football to the Panathlon experience. This was due to additional funding, gratefully received, from the Football Foundation, with my role commencing in December 2008. The first tournament was held in the East, on 11th February 2009, and due to the short timescale, this meant an extremely busy period for all involved! Despite the lack of time involved, all borough coordinators, teachers, referees and especially the players, pulled together to help make each individual tournament a success. Even the weather helped us in the majority of cases, with rain arriving as soon as the medals had been handed out! In all, 331 players competed in 5 regional finals, with the finals taking place at the Westway on 17th June. 90 players represented the boroughs of Newham, Barking and Dagenham, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth, Brent and Bromley. The results from the football finals then went forward to the main Panathlon final, with Barking and Dagenham the eventual winners. The football coaching programme continued after the final event, with a magnificent total of 474 children having received coaching before the end of the school term. The 2009-10 season will again see football in the Panathlon programme. With more time to prepare, we envisage more boroughs being involved, with even more players receiving coaching, and the opportunity to compete in a friendly environment. As well as football for those with learning difficulties, we are adding Powerchair Football to the programme. As yet, the final format has yet to be formally agreed, but we will be aiming to make coaching available to every child within our boroughs, who wish to be involved. Matches will be played between boroughs, but at this stage in more of a festival environment than a competitive tournament. The hope is then to feed those players who are of a high standard, and who wish to take their football onto the next level, into a London wide team, which will compete at a National League. Next season will certainly be an exciting one!! Matt Edwards Panathlon Football Co-ordinator matthew@panathlon.com