The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Youth Workshop concluded in El Salvador on Saturday, 16 April, with a bright and colorful celebration.
Organized by the IPC together with the National Sports Institute of El Salvador, INDES and funded by the Foundation of Global Sports Development with USD 50,000, the Youth Workshop welcomed 42 youngsters and 23 coaches from National Paralympic Committees (NPC) of six Central American countries including El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.
During the course of the week long workshop, the youngsters were divided into five sport groups to get familiar with different Paralympic sports, including Wheelchair Tennis, Wheelchair Basketball, Para Table Tennis, Athletics and Goalball.
The coaches received training on various areas, such as the Paralympic Movement, adopted physical activity and coached and observed the training sessions by the youngsters.
Carolin Rickers, IPC Development Manager, said: "The pilot youth workshop was a great success for us. It combined the different aspects that we need to look into to assist and encourage the NPCs in their development.
"Looking in the eyes of the youngsters and experiencing their enthusiasm urged everybody involved to give his or her best!
Each participating country also sent their youth co-ordinator to partake in interactive sessions on sport programme development and event organization. They furthermore organized the final event on the last day of the camp for the athletes and put their knowledge to practice.
While the camp was focused on sport development, the athletes participated in highly appreciated educative sessions on rather social topics throughout the week, such as team spirit, the Paralympic Movement, rights for people with a disability, nutrition and their dreams and obstacles.
After an exciting and eventful week, the NPCs were encouraged to further develop sport programmes for youngsters in their countries and enhance their sporting abilities.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is the global governing body of the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games, and serves as the International Federation for nine sports, for which it supervises and co-ordinates the World Championships and other competitions. The IPC is committed to enabling Paralympic athletes to achieve sporting excellence and to develop sport opportunities for all persons with a disability from the beginner to elite level. In addition, the IPC aims to promote the Paralympic values, which include courage, determination, inspiration and equality.
For further information, please visit http://www.paralympic.org.
To watch live action and videos on demand of the London 2012 Paralympic Games, and subscribe to ParalympicSport.TV, please go to www.youtube.com/ParalympicSportTV.
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