Sports Development at Aspire

George Timotheou has joined Aspire this month ‘on loan’ from Tottenham Hotspur Foundation (THF) as a Sports Development Officer. George will be working two days a week at the Aspire National Training Centre until the end of March 2010. THF are also seconding their Inclusion Manager, James Isaac, who started his career at Aspire where one of his notable achievements was launching Powerchair Football.

George is relishing the prospect of working with the Aspire team:

"I am looking forward to developing both existing and new sports at the ANTC by using Aspire’s experience in disability and THF’s experience in sport and leisure. I have only been here two weeks and have noticed a really strong team spirit which mirrors our philosophy at the club and creates a great working environment.

One of the sports we are introducing to our existing users is manual wheelchair football and hoping to attract new members to the ANTCs unique and excellent facility.

In the short term, I aim to prove the importance of having a Sports Development Officer that is able to be flexible and innovative in order to create a full time position at the Centre.

Long term, we aim to use the sports introduced as a pathway for our users to enable them to compete at higher levels. There will be days when a panel of coaches will identify the most talented to encourage them to take part in Paralympic sports with 2012 just around the corner.

I have already met some of the athletes at the Centre who invited me to take part in one of their sessions. I thoroughly enjoyed playing wheelchair rugby and would recommend it to anyone."