‘Life isn’t over, sport is always there’
Daire Walsh
Wheelchair sport
Paralympian Declan Slevin is hoping to encourage more people with disabilities to get involved in sport in Ireland.
Slevin was speaking at the launch of the Irish Wheelchair Association’s strategic sport plan in Dublin yesterday.
One of the key targets in the plan is to increase IWA’s sporting membership by 10% annually, which would give them 3,000 registered participants by 2020.
Slevin was appointed to the role of IWA – Sport chairman in March and despite having little involvement in sport prior to an accident in 2004 which left him paralysed from the chest down, the current hand-cycling national champion has seen first-hand the advantages that it can bring to people with similar disabilities.
“Before my accident, I wasn’t into sports at all. I was 35 when my accident happened, and that was 35 years wasted of not being involved in sport. Everybody has to work, but at the end of the day, you have to enjoy life as well,” Slevin explained at the IWA Headquarters.
“That’s what I found through the sport. I learnt that I wasn’t the only person in a wheelchair. The introduction of [the strategic plan] would be basically to just get people involved in sports and into your local sports partnerships. There’s no reason to be at home.
“I’d be hoping that everybody, young, old, that’s just after getting in a crash, that are over in the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dun Laoghaire, that they get to know that this is available for them. That life isn’t over for them. Sport is always there. No matter what their problem is, there’s a pathway for you.”
Indeed, after only taking part in his first 16km time trial in 2012, Slevin was a member of Team Ireland for last year’s Paralympic Games in Rio. He finished ninth overall in the men’s H3 road race, and he believes that with the right mindset, there are many aspiring athletes who could follow his example.
“Last year was a dream come through. If you had told me when I had my accident back in 2004 that I was going to be in the Paralympics, you’d be saying ‘you’re mad’. The opportunity I got going there, showing that this was a possibility for anyone that puts their mindset to it, that it can happen for you.
“If you put your mindset to it, and drive on, the support is there for you. Your NGBs [national governing bodies], your IWA – everything is here for you. I hope that people will take that from today as well.”
A year on from Rio, Slevin continues to participate in a variety of hand-cycling tournaments, and recently finished seventh in a World Cup event in Italy. He is also hoping to compete in the World Championships in South Africa next month and revealed that his long-term goal is to compete at the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo.
“We’re a year past Rio now and there are only three years running into the next one, so it’s going to be a challenging time. You never know whether you’re going to be on that plane and going or not but you keep competing until you’re told not to.
“My long-term plan would be to get there, but if it doesn’t happen, then it doesn’t happen. All the World Cups and all that, they’re every bit as enjoyable and challenging.”