Defiant Sports celebrates recent awards wins

On February 7, Defiant Sports won the Disability Award at the annual LTA Tennis Sussex Awards.

This means they will be nominated for the national LTA Awards, in which winners are chosen by a national board.

This is a huge step in towards spreading inclusive sport across the nation, meaning all players, even those with barriers to participation, will be able to enjoy the benefits of sport.

Defiant Sports were founded on the principle of getting Managing Director Loretta’s son Callum, who has cerebral palsy and autism, into fair and inclusive tennis.

Though this proved challenging in 2014 when Defiant Sports began, although Defiant Sports was officially founded in 2017, with inclusive wins such as these it goes to show the difference Defiant Sports and other disability sports organisations are making to create nationwide inclusive sport.

This award follows on from Defiant Sports win in November 2020 at the Sussex Sports Awards.

Here, they won the Inclusion & Diversity Award; a category which launched for the first time this year.

This celebrated the continuous efforts made by Defiant Sports to get everyone involved in inclusive sporting, regardless of their ability or disabilities.

Both award wins show that the voices of inclusive sporting organisations, such as Defiant Sports, are finally being heard. It’s time now, more than ever, for everyone to be able to enjoy the benefits that an active and healthy lifestyle brings to both body and mind.

Defiant Sports are a not-for-profit based in Eastbourne, providing inclusive sport for all, regardless of ability or disability.

Rather than tell their players what sports they can participate in, they instead ask ‘what would you like to do?’, allowing their community to get involved in any sport that interests them.

They currently run sessions in boccia, football, visually impaired tennis, fitness, youth groups, sensory crafts, and more.