Weir Discusses His ‘space For Sport’
Six-times Paralympic gold medal winner and six-times London marathon winner David Weir has teamed up with Barclays to support a local community sports initiative in his home county of Surrey to take part in their latest ‘My Space for Sport’ campaign video.
Weir, who took part in the London Marathon on Sunday and was one of the memorable stars of the London 2012 Paralympics, went down memory lane at his local race track in Kingston where he first started wheelchair racing as a child and still to this day trains for all of his big races.
Check out the full video at Sport Industry TV.
Weir then went on to the Barclays Spaces for Sports site at the Longmead Centre, Epsom, where he joined Blenheim High School students in a training session and spoke to the young people about the importance of practising sport from an early age.
The ‘My Space for Sport’ campaign champions Barclays community sports programme, Barclays Spaces for Sports, and draws upon leading sports stars, actors, and musicians to share the places that they first played sport and highlight the facilities that are now available through the Barclays initiative, providing sustainable sports sites to disadvantaged communities.
Speaking about the day, Weir said: ‘Sport impacted my life from day one. My brothers were boxers and I used to go to York Hall and watch my brother fight, so I had to really find a sport that was suitable for my needs. I tried a number of sports and wheelchair racing was the one that gave me that buzz that no other sport did.’
‘A site like the Barclays Spaces for Sports Longmead Centre in Epsom benefits young people massively, because it keeps them out of trouble. I grew up on an estate and I would have loved somewhere like this when I was younger to play basketball and football. It’s massively important to have some sort of space for kids to play, so what Barclays are doing at the moment will inspire the next generation.’
The Barclays Spaces for Sports Longmead Centre in Epsom is a multi-sport site, that people in the local area can access at all times throughout the year and can take part in a number of different sporting activities every week.
Weir joins Olympic athlete Louis Smith MBE, England rugby star Chris Ashton and Hollywood actor Idris Elba who share their first space for sport exclusively on Barclays Football Facebook and YouTube channels.
Since its launch in the UK in 2004 with partners the Football Foundation, Barclays Spaces for Sports has created 200 sports sites in disadvantaged areas across the UK benefiting half a million people.
In 2008 it was extended globally with further sites and projects already established in South Africa, the United States, the UK, Spain, Zambia, Zimbabwe, China, Hong Kong and India.
