Coach gets funding for wheelchair basketball career

East London Advertiser: GB Paralympian Ann Wild has received a Gillette Great Start grant to help her wheelchair basketball coaching careerGB Paralympian Ann Wild has received a Gillette Great Start grant to help her wheelchair basketball coaching career (Image: Archant)

London Titans coach and former GB Paralympian Ann Wild OBE has received one of Gillette’s Great Start grants to help her wheelchair basketball coaching career.

Former UEL sports scholar Wild turned to coaching after retiring from a glittering career in wheelchair basketball, which included representing the Great British women’s wheelchair basketball team at five summer Paralympics.

Now a coach at London Titans Wheelchair Basketball team, Wild’s Great Start grant is going to be used to fund her Level Two qualification, helping her to fulfil her role as coach to three of the club’s teams.

London Titans are London’s biggest wheelchair basketball team and the most successful in the South East. Based at the Olympic Park’s Copper Box arena, the club are continuing the legacy of the London Paralympic games and run four teams who play throughout the UK in various leagues.

The Great Start Programme, now into its third year, started following the London Olympic and Paralympic Games to recognise the importance of coaching for the future of sport in the UK.

As part of the programme Gillette partnered with sports coach UK to sponsor a significant number of coaching qualifications which can be applied for via facebook.com/GilletteUK.

This year Gillette is celebrating the achievements of over 50 worthy recipients from 22 different sporting disciplines, including coaches of lower-profile sports in the UK such as wheelchair basketball and ice hockey.

Of the successful applicants the most popular sports included football, netball, rugby league and swimming; over 25 per cent of the grants went towards football and netball qualifications; 36 per cent of recipients are female and 64 per cent are male; a fifth of grant winners come from the South East, making it the second most successful region for applications behind the North West and 22 per cent of recipients are under the age of 25.

Gillette Brand Manager, Jared Regan, said: “We are proud to see such a high level of interest in our Great Start Programme as it moves into its third year of grant winners.

“We are delighted to play our part in supporting the next generation of sports coaches and it is great to see an increase in rugby league coaches applying for grants following last year’s World Cup.”

The aim of these grants is to ensure that the men and women involved can go on to positively affect the lives of thousands of young people and help carry forward a sporting legacy following the success of London 2012. Sports coach UK estimates that, on average, a qualified coach will work with around 500 different people during the course of their career.