ParalympicsGB canoeists join Premier League stars as part of Super Movers For Every Body campaign

ParalympicsGB medallists Laura Sugar and Jack Eyers joined stars from the Premier League to support the Super Movers for Every Body campaign with a free giveaway of over 6,500 sport equipment packs to UK primary schools and a comprehensive collection of Paralympic sport teaching and learning resources on BBC Teach available free to all.

To kick-off the delivery of the free equipment packs and fresh off the back of ParalympicsGB’s incredible medal haul in Paris, representatives of the three campaign partners - BBC Education, the Premier League and ParalympicsGB - teamed up for a celebratory event with 60 West Midlands primary school pupils, many with special educational needs, at Wolverhampton Wanderers FC’s training ground.

Children were joined by Paris 2024 Para canoe gold medallist Laura Sugar and silver medallist Jack Eyers along with Wolves first team players Nelson Semedo, Rodrigo Gomes, Anna Morphet, Tammy George and Beth Roberts to unbox the new equipment.

At the launch of the campaign the Super Movers for Every Body partnership made available 3,300 inclusive sport equipment packs, funded by the Premier League. But due to overwhelming demand, and the response from teachers and children trying the blind football activities, the partnership provided an additional 3,220 blind football packs to be allocated to schools.

This has enabled the campaign to enrich the sport offering of almost a third of UK primary schools, ensuring a lack of equipment wouldn’t be a barrier to disabled primary children actively participating in PE and sport. Schools that registered, but missed out on packs will instead receive posters, supporting them to bring disability sport representation to sports hall walls.

In 2023 the Department of Education recorded 1.5 million special educational needs and disabled children in England. Yet the most recent findings by Activity Alliance’s ‘My Active Future’ report found that only one in four (25%) disabled children take part in sport and physical activity all of the time at school compared to 41% of non-disabled children

‘Not one in four, not 50%, not 75%, but every single child should be able to take part in sport.’ said Laura Sugar, the two-time Paralympic champion who retained her title in the Para canoe sprint KL3 classification in Paris and is also a qualified teacher.

Two-time Para canoe World champion and Paris 2024 Paralympic silver medallist Jack Eyers, reflected on being left out at school due to his disability, in contrast to his experience at the Super Movers for Every Body taster session – where every child was included at the same time, regardless of their differences.

To the delight of the children Laura and Jack brought along their gold and silver medals, allowing all the pupils a possible once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to feel the weight of a Paralympic medal round their necks, and inspire them to reach for the stars with their sporting dreams.

Wolves Women’s defender Anna Morphet spoke of the crucial role non-disabled people can play in the progression of disability sport, by taking part in inclusive PE activities like blind football, guided running or boccia: ‘People can put themselves in other people’s shoes and understand the challenges and barriers that they’ve got to overcome.’

And Wolves FC full-back Nelson Semedo highlighted the need for disabled children to play sport, praising the achievements of both Laura Sugar and Jack Eyers and the primary school pupils on the day as further proof that ‘sport is for everybody’ and we must keep the momentum from the Paralympics, the Premier League and a brilliant summer of sport going.

The Super Movers for Every Body resources include teacher support articles that include top tips for inclusive lessons, information on how to get into accessible local clubs and links to training, guides and further research compiled by Activity Alliance.