Trying to select the people to attend the awards has not been easy with so many deserving individuals and fantastic performances from deaf people across many areas.
In order to do this we created a few key criteria that helped us develop a list It should be made up of the following
- A balance of Deaflympic and Non Deaflympic sports should be part of the group.
- We wanted a range of sports to show the breath of talent that exists.
- We needed to ensure that we recognise not just athletes but also those that support then to achieve on a world stage so having coaches, managers, officials and Sport Science support was important
- We wanted a mixture of communication methods ensuring that BSL and non BSL users were represented
- This is a fantastic opportunity to influence key decision makers in sport, media and government and therefore a couple of representative from UK Deaf Sport senior staff would be involved in building on this initial success.
We could have filled places 10 times over with all those that have achieved fantastic success across the year. We hope that people will get behind those that are listed below and share in the fact that these people are representing you all and breaking down further barrier so that in the future more deaf people will be able to gain similar experiences and be recognised for there talent.
The following individuals are to represent Deaf Sports: –
- Stuart Harrison – Vice Chair, UK Deaf Sport
- Tom Smith – Double Deaflympic Medal winning Cyclist
- Sharon Hirshman – Lead person of Bronze medal winning football team
- Paul Waring – 2013 European Deaf Golf Champion
- Rajeev Bagga – 5-time Gold Medal winning Badminton player
- Andrea Hardwick – GB Deaflympic Badminton Player
- Amjid Mohammed – Representing the volunteer medical and Sport Science support
- Lee Dolby – Director of Development, UK Deaf Sport
UK Deaf Sport see this as a small victory and a vital step toward gaining greater recognition and visibility for Deaf sport and we will look to build on this relationship with the BBC to develop more coverage that will inspire a nation of deaf people to take up sport.
