An assessment day, held at the Brickfields Centre in Plymouth, is part of the national Playground to Podium programme which will help address the fact that, at present, only a quarter of 16-19 year olds with a disability play sport regularly compared to a third of non-disabled youngsters.

The programme has been set up by Sport England, the Youth Sport Trust (YST) and ParalympicsGB to give disabled athletes the same sporting opportunities as their non-disabled counterparts and as a result, widen the talent pool for disability sport.

The assessment day in Plymouth will see young people participating in football, wheelchair basketball, table tennis and athletics with coaches and talent scouts from the relevant sports governing bodies on hand to provide expert guidance.

Kindred said: "It’s great to visit the Playground to Podium event in Plymouth today to see the young people taking part and enjoying a range of different sports. 

"I hope by sharing some of my experiences of sport at the very top level during the day I can motivate and inspire them to perform to their very best ability."

Playground to Podium will help to create a clear and professional disability sport pathway from school sport, through to club participation and - for the talented few - onto elite performance.

Phil Lane, ParalympicsGB’s chief executive, said: "Playground to Podium is an important addition to the pathways being delivered to support not just disabled young people’s participation in sport, but also their progression.

"By increasing the number of young people involved in disability sport, we can also increase the pool of potential talent, from which we will select the future British Paralympic teams.

"Anyone selected today faces a long journey from club to international level, but this is an important first step for them."

Sport England is investing £4.5 million in Playground to Podium between 2008 and 2012 and Lisa O’Keefe, Sport England’s Director of Sport, said: "Playground to Podium is about making sure that disabled young people have the same opportunities to take part in sport as everybody else.

"We can be immensely proud of our Paralympic athletes but need to build on that success."

Alison Oliver, the YST's Director of Sport, said: "It will be hugely rewarding to see young people who have been involved in this initiative reaching the top of their sport and going on to claim their first gold medals."

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