Sport Newfoundland and Labrador brings Para sport to forefront at its summit

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – With assistance from the Paralympic Sport Development Fund (PSDF), Sport Newfoundland and Labrador (SportNL) brought Para sport to the forefront this past November at its annual summit.

SportNL was able to expand its summit to provide information sessions, keynote speakers, and workshops centered around the growth and education of Para sport.

Among the guests were homegrown stars Katarina Roxon, a six-time Paralympian in Para swimming and gold medallist in 2016, and Liam Hickey of the Para ice hockey national team, a two-time silver medallist at the Paralympic Winter Games and a member of the 2016 wheelchair basketball team in Rio.

The idea for a larger Para sport component at the summit was spearheaded by Mark Marshall, SportNL’s Sport Development Director.

‘’We felt that there wasn’t enough exposure out there for Para athletes and I really wanted to try to open up people’s minds to creating more opportunities,’’ said Marshall. ‘’We wanted to open the conversation that it’s not something difficult; it’s something we can all do.”

‘’And the best way to do that was to bring people into a conference environment with some expert guest speakers.’’

A highlight for Marshall included a fireside chat on the Saturday morning. Matt Greenwood, the director of Soccability Canada, flew in from Toronto while Para sport coaches discussed specific Para sport equipment.

‘’Our guests were being exposed to different types of equipment for the first time,’’ said Marshall. ‘’It was a good overview which showcased different elements of Para sport. And Matt explained how they created some successful programs in Ontario especially in and around blind soccer which is his expertise.’’

The summit attracted 50 different provincial sport organizations as well as physical education teachers from all over the province.

‘’We have a lot of small communities around the island; we felt we could expose the high school and phys. ed. teachers at the summit with more knowledge around students with a disability and how to get them involved in sport,” said Marshall.

Hickey is the sport development specialist programming for SportNL.

“The summit was about engaging with people in the sporting community, about what Para sport has to offer,’’ he said. ‘’We really want to provide opportunities for people with a disability to access Para sport. We brought in some amazing speakers and had an informative and educational couple of days promoting Para sport.’’

The province will get another injection of Para sport this summer when it hosts the 2025 Canada Games, August 8-24 in St. John’s. Para sports in the Games include Para swimming, Para cycling, adapted sailing, and Para athletics.

‘’Our hope from this summit is to create an overall interest and have our sport community dedicate more time to how they can get more people with a disability involved in sport,” said Marshall. ‘’Once you get that mind shift then things will start to happen a lot more.”

The Paralympic Sport Development Fund is made possible through funding from the Paralympic Foundation of Canada.

SportNL was a 2024-25 grant recipient of the Canadian Paralympic Committee’s Paralympic Sport Development Fund, aimed at supporting sport organizations across the country in developing and advancing quality programming and opportunities for athletes and coaches along the Paralympic pathway. Applications are currently open for the 2025-26 PSDF. More information can be found at Paralympic.ca/funding-opportunities.