Cash support for Loftus is just the Best

DISABILITY SPORT

IT TAKES a lot of hard work and dedication to reach the top – but Blaydon goalball star Matthew Loftus has been handed a major boost towards achieving his Paralympic ambitions thanks to a nationwide funding initiative.

Managed by charity SportsAid, Sport England’s Backing The Best programme aims to support talented young athletes who would face difficulties progressing through their sport’s talent development system without critical financial help.

In total, 70 athletes received support during the programme’s first term in 2016, producing world, European and national age-group level champions.

Loftus is one of those named among the recent intake of athletes and, as a result, the 23-year-old is set to receive an annual award of up to £5,000 to help with essential costs such as travel, accommodation and kit.

He will also benefit from extra support from coaches and physios as he aims to progress in his sport, which involves trying to score by hurling a ball with bells down a pitch.

Loftus said: “SportsAid is massively important for me. I live in Newcastle so travel is far and the train prices are not exactly cheap.

“It helps a lot with that – on an average year I can spend £3,500 year on trains alone, which is a lot of money.

“SportsAid funding also helps with kit, accommodation, flights and just to be able to get to where I need to go for the sport.

“It is massively important, there is only so much you and your parents can pay for, so to have a scheme like SportsAid is massively important for getting athletes where they are today.

“I want to help the sport grow, not many people know about goalball and it is getting better and better across the country.

“Our joining rate last year was about 300% higher than the year before and I want to go to the Paralympics – but I also want the sport to grow and develop.”

Backing The Best will use £5.5 million of National Lottery funding over four years to extend SportsAid’s reach into new areas of the country and offer more support to those who face the biggest financial challenges. All the athletes are nominated to SportsAid by their sport’s governing bodies, with the charity then ensuring funding goes to those who are most in need.

Loftus has already benefited from being part of the programme, having attended a recent workshop with fellow athletes where he met two-time Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington.

The retired swimmer, a former SportsAidsupported athlete herself, believes the support can be invaluable for Loftus’ own sporting journey.

Adlington said: “As an individual, you have to find out what works for you and this is the age to do that for these athletes.

“It is about taking on loads of people’s advice, taking them on board and then figuring out what works and what does not.

“When I reached 13, 14, my parents were struggling to manage everything from competitions to racing suits.

“SportsAid was a massive help with that, whether playing for petrol or new training equipment I needed. It really made a huge difference to myself.” Matthew Loftus