PSAS Athlete Toolkit

The Para-Athletes Guide

This toolkit is aimed at athletes with a disability who aspire to become world class and compete for their country at an international level. This includes athletes that have joined national training programmes supported by the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) and are competing under their international federation (IF) rules for a particular sport (such as Para Athletics or Para Powerlifting).

The toolkit is designed to provide useful information and step by step guides on important aspects of Para sport such as classification, competition, coaching and communication. The information provided has been put together in response to research carried out to identify the challenges, gaps and opportunities that are faced by para-athletes in Ghana, Malawi and Zambia, but it is not country or continent specific and can be used by any para-athlete wanting to progress in International Paralympic Committee (IPC) sanctioned sport.

It is estimated that 15% of the world's population has some type of disability and taking part in sport can be an excellent way of becoming healthier, fitter and more confident. You could become a role model so that you can inspire other people with disabilities to get involved in sport, give you a ‘voice’ so that you can influence change, travel the world and even become a national icon.

Whatever your reason for wanting to succeed in sport, this guide will help you to navigate your way through some of the important parts of the system so that you can be more confident when you turn up at a major event in being fully prepared.

You will enjoy some real-life examples from top international competitors, be able to use a ‘check list’ to support your planning, identify who needs to help you make decisions, and give you some links to additional information if you want to look more thoroughly into a topic.