Meet the aspiring Paralympic stars of the future at the WheelPower National Junior Games
Video by Natalia Jorquera
Tanni Grey-Thompson. David Weir. Ade Adepitan. Daniel Hopkins?
“It’s my dream to compete in the Paralympics one day,” the 14-year-old told ITV News.
The WheelPower National Junior Games helped start the British Paralympic legends on their road to glory and this year’s participants like Daniel are inspired to follow them.
Returning for a fourth year, he said he’s “loved it even more every time” as he joins up with more 12 to 18-year-olds for four days of competition at the Stoke Mandeville Stadium in Buckinghamshire.
“Where I live it’s in the middle of nowhere. As far as I’m aware there’s nobody around that loves sport and is disabled,” he said.
“So coming here it lets me try out loads of sports that I couldn’t try at home.”
The annual event, which ended on Thursday, offers a range of sports from archery and fencing to wheelchair basketball and pool.
Coaches are on hand to give extra help to the children with a disability.
Daniel said it’s changed his life back home.
“Because of these Games I now play table tennis three to four times a week,” he said.
Jessica Jane Green, 16, told ITV News she comes back every year for the sport and to make new friends.
Though one of the youngest at 12, Ajani Riggs is another whose ambition for adulthood is brewing.
After trying his hand at a range of new sports, he told ITV News: "I would like to compete in archery or shooting in the Paralympics one day."
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