Panathlon Challenge

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