THE JACK PETCHEY FOUNDATION EXTENDS PARTNERSHIP WITH PANATHLON CHALLENGE
The Jack Petchey Foundation has extended its support of Panathlon Challenge by investing £50,000 in the development of Panathlon in London and Essex in 2011.
The Jack Petchey Foundation will support schools participation in the Panathlon Challenge and help Panathlon develop its coaching awards, leadership courses and officials qualifications for disabled young people. Furthermore, additional funding will enable the new sport of Powerchair Football to be introduced in to Essex.
This means that the Jack Petchey Foundation has invested a total of £179,000 in the Panathlon over the last seven years to enable major growth across London and Essex.
Panathlon will additionally continue to develop the Jack Petchey Foundation Outstanding Achievement Award to recognise exceptional contributions from disabled young people.
The Jack Petchey Foundation, based in Ilford, Essex was founded in 1999 and aims to help develop the potential within young people aged 11-25 right across London and Essex. The Foundation is eager to help youngsters to take advantage of opportunities and to play their part in society. In the last 10 years, in excess of £65 million has been given to a wide range of organisations and schools.
Trudy Kilcullen , Chief Operations Officer for the Foundation said. “ We believe that all young people should have the opportunity to achieve their potential. Panathlon is the only organisation that enables young disabled people to participate fully in competitive sports designed to suit their needs. We fully support their work and look forward to seeing even more disabled young people becoming coaches and sports leaders in the future.“
The Panathlon Challenge is now in its tenth successful year of delivering sporting opportunities and “mini-paralympic” type competitions for young disabled people. Events kick off in January and culminate in a London Final in June in the sports of Boccia, Polybat, Table Cricket, New Age Kurling, Football and Athletics.
Danny Crates, Paralympic Champion and Panathlon charity patron said: “ Panathlon is a fantastic opportunity for young disabled people to take part in sporting competition and I thank the Jack Petchey Foundation for investing consistently in the expansion of the Panathlon Challenge in recent years.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
· Panathlon Challenge has been delivering competitive opportunities for young disabled Londoners since 1999. It will invest £250,000 in sports equipment and coaching funds in 30 London Boroughs in 2011 and expand to all 32 London Boroughs by 2012. Multisport competitions will take place between January to June 2011. Panathlon will also be working in Essex, Kent, Liverpool and other cities during 2011, involving around 2,500 disabled young people in total.
- The Jack Petchey Foundation was established in 1999 and gives grants to programmes and projects that benefit young people aged 11-25. The Foundation is eager to help young people take advantage of opportunities and play a full part in society. The Foundation focuses on London and Essex. Since it has been established the Foundation has awarded grants totalling over £65million. http://www.jackpetcheyfoundation.org.uk
- Panathlon Challenge involves the sports of Football, Athletics, Polybat, Table Cricket, Boccia and Kurling and involves disabled children aged between 5 and 19.
The Panathlon Foundation Charity (1072638) i s funded this year by the Football Foundation, Mayor of London, and various other trusts and charities.
