Increasing awareness and support towards the Paralympic movement over the past decade has attracted many companies to sponsor athletes with disabilities. Many athletes with physical or visual impairments signed successful sponsorship deals after their Paralympic Games success like Brazilian S5 swimmer Daniel Dias with Panasonic Brazil, British S6 swimmer Ellie Simmonds with Adidas, BMW, Norwegian Breakaway cruise ship, Speedo and Cadbury, Dutch double-amputee sprinter Marlou van Rhijn with Nike, American snowboarder Amy Purdy with Coca-Cola, Toyota and Kelloggs. However, athletes with intellectual impairments are having a difficult time getting picked by sponsors even after their incredible performance in Virtus or Paralympics sport.

To understand the root cause of this trend and support member organisations/athletes to secure sponsorship deals, Virtus invited Monica Valentin from Brazil as the guest speaker for the webinar on ‘Sponsorship for athletes with intellectual impairments‘. Monica Valentin is the former athlete manager of Virtus Ambassador and Paralympic Champion, Gabriel Bandeira, from Brazil. Driven by her passion for Paralympic sports, Monica has worked at the Brazilian Paralympic Committee for five years, Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, World Championships, Para-Pan American Games, and many other international competitions.

The presentation included an analysis of the sports market, marketing strategies for athletes through digital marketing along with some tips on how to secure sponsorship deals for athletes with intellectual impairment. The webinar was followed by a short discussion session with the Marketing and Communication officer of Virtus, Mousumi Mazumdar where Monica gave insight to the marketing industry and their approach/perception towards athletes with intellectual impairments.

Monica Valentin

After working for more than a decade in the Paralympic sports industry, Monica realized that there are very few people specialized in the marketing industry to guide the athletes in marketing, communications, PR and social media, and decided to open her own marketing agency called Mônica Valentin Commerce and became an athlete agent. Monica has developed marketing-communication strategies and managed the athletes’ brand for many sensational Paralympic superstars from Brazil like Gabriel Bandeira (swimming), Daniel Dias (swimming), Adria Santos (athletics), Susana Schnarndorf (swimming), Luiza Fiorese (sitting volleyball), Raíssa Machado (Athletics), Ruiter Silva (Triathlon) and Vinícius Rodrigues (athletics). She also managed their press operations, PR and commercial representation.

Although Monica had extensive experience in managing many para-athletes with physical and visual impairments, Bandeira was the first athlete with intellectual impairment she started working for in 2020 and confessed the difficulties she faced, partially because of Gabriel’s impairment but mostly due to the lack of industrial support or understanding of intellectual impairment.

Gold Medallist Gabriel Bandeira BRA posing with his Gold medal in S14 Men’s 100m Butterfly at Tokyo 2020. Photo Credit: OIS/Joel Marklund.

“Gabriel has an intellectual impairment which is ‘invisible’ in nature. While trying to sell his profile to sponsors, I realized many marketing directors and teams are not as creative as they should be because they couldn’t see a way out on how to promote this impairment without actually saying it. They had this big question mark on their face like we don’t know what to do, how can we promote a para-athlete whose impairment is invisible?” Monica Valentin told Virtus.

“People working in the marketing industry need to know that it is not the impairment which is defining the athlete or making them special, it is their hard work and their success which makes these athletes special. We can use athletes’ stories without the visual thing, without the need to use images which highlight their impairment.”

Monica further disclosed how Paralympic Games is still not always recognised by brand representatives who see sponsoring athletes with disabilities to be like doing ‘charity’ which makes it difficult for para-athletes in Brazil to secure sponsors.

As a majority of the Virtus member nations work voluntarily, hiring specialised marketing or PR teams who have the industrial experience to find endorsements for athletes can be tricky. We hope member nations and athletes can benefit from this webinar.

A full recording of the webinar is available on the Virtus Academy website.

As a part of the #AthleteFirst Campaign, we are delighted to announce that Virtus Head of Eligibility and Governing Board member, Prof Jan Burns MBE, has been appointed as chairperson at the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC’s) newly launched Classification Compliance and Oversight Committee (CCOC).

Classification Compliance and Oversight Committee. (Prof Jan Burns MBE- back row, second left). Picture Credit- Ⓒ IPC

The CCOC members met in person for the first time in Bonn, Germany recently. The CCOC was developed and approved as a part of the new IPC constitution. The goal of the CCOC committee will be to develop and deliver the IPC Classification Code, increase education and communication about classification across the Paralympic Movement, and guide the member International Federations who are each responsible for classification in their own sport.

One of the primary roles of the CCOC will be to advise the IPC Governing Board on compliance and development with the IPC Classification Code, on global classification education and understanding along with education and communication about classification to stakeholders.

Prof Jan Burns MB. Ⓒ Virtus Sport

According to Prof Burns, the three key areas which need to be focused on through the movement are (i) Code compliance and implementation of new code, (ii) educating members of Paralympic Family and, (iii) an evolving framework of classifications.

“One of the reasons the IPC Governing Board wanted to reposition the Committee and give it a new name was that it is a real pivotal time in classification, with the Code Review and the ongoing divestment of the IPC sports. The latter means the IPC will shortly not be engaged in delivering classification through its own six sports. Central to the new CCOC is getting into a position of shared ownership and shared responsibility with the Paralympic Movement”, Jan Burns told IPC.

Jan also praised the former Classification Committee and chair Anne Hart and said, “Anne helped create the foundations of what classification is and its importance to the Paralympic Movement. Classification has been on a massive journey over the last 20 years and Anne has had to take a lot of people, sometimes reluctantly, with her. But she has done that with a great degree of humility, finesse, and massive professional competence. I’m in awe of what she has achieved, and the Movement owes her and the fellow classification pioneers a great deal of gratitude.”

The Virtus Governing Board congratulates Prof. Burns and wishes her all the best in her new role, which she will undertake alongside her role with Virtus.

The full list of appointments on the CCOC is available here.

Seefeld witnessed some extreme weather conditions today which interrupted the competitions scheduled for Day-2, especially at the Alpine competition venue Rosshütte ski area. Due to continuous rainfall, the Super-G race scheduled for today, was postponed to the 16th March. Although athletes were unhappy with the cancellation of the race, many athletes were seen enjoying snow fights with their fellow athletes.

NORDIC SKIING

The Cross-Country Sprint race made it’s way to the Nordic skiing venue Seefeld Sports Arena. Although the climatic conditions did not favour the athletes today, Nordic skiers showed extraordinary resilience and determination and put on a great show. While some continued with their ‘A’ game and stayed on top of the podium, others changed their strategy and took out their opponents to climb up the rank.

PERNAL Malgorzata from Poland. Picture Credit- Valentin Baubinder

In Women’s II1 Cross-Country Skiing sprint, PERNAL Malgorzata scored her second Gold from the tournament in the sprint race today. French skier THIROUX Lea took her revenge on BJÖRFELDT Kristin (Sweden) by winning silver, making Kristin settle for the bronze.

(L-R) DUBOIS Titouan, TEEARU Hans (Estonia) and YAMADA Yuta (Japan). Picture Credit- Valentin Baubinder

An identical race was seen in II1 Men’s category where winners from yesterday’s race swapped their places on the podium. As TEEARU Hans wins Estonia their second Gold from the championship in the Cross-country Sprint, DUBOIS Titouan (France) skied ahead of his opponent YAMADA Yuta (Japan) and claimed the second spot.

KOSTNER Tobia (Italy) and COLOMBY Clement (France) posing. Picture Credit- FFSA

In II2 Men’s category, history was repeated from yesterday as COLOMBY Clement from France and KOSTNER Tobia Maria from Italy won Gold and Silver respectively.

Full results can be accessed from the Virtus World Skiing Championship website.

The first-ever Virtus World Skiing Championships for athletes with Intellectual Impairment to be held on Austrian snow was declared open yesterday. 

Austrian Disability Sports Organization Österreichischer Behindertensportverband who are also the Virtus member in Austria welcomed all the dignitaries and athletes to the opening ceremony. The event was attended by Ex-ski stars Benni and Marlies Raich, State councillors Ewa Pawlata (social affairs, inclusion and women) and Cornelia Hagele (health, care, education, science and research), Hans Niessl, President of Sport Austria, federal sports organization, Markus Wackerle, Mayor of Seefeld, the President of the Austrian Disabled Sports Association – Brigitte Jank and Member of the National Council, Agnes Sirkka Prammer, sports spokeswoman for the Green Party.

Dignitaries at the opening ceremony event. Picture Credit- Sebastian Marko

The marching-in of the nations started at 1800hrs at the Music pavilion and was the first action of the program list for the opening ceremony. Numerous local artists set the stage on fire to celebrate the “Festival of Friendship” far beyond sports. Mascot Snowy, played by actor Keanu Pöttinger, was seen walking among the athletes and cheering them up for the event. The children’s choir and the brass players of the Zirl Regional Music School along with an energetic Taekwondo routine display by the Taekwondo Seefeld and Seefeld singer Kathrin Raunigger who performed their show on the stage of the music pavilion were the highlights of the evening.

Addressing the crowd, Paula Grameiser-Scher, Secretary of LOC Virtus Skiing Championship, “I can’t believe it yet. Seeing all of you in front of me, it is like a dream that has just become reality. Your presence has made our work more than worthwhile and means everything to us! ”

René Schönberger, ÖBSV-KGM Chairman extended special thanks to the students of the FH Kufstein who are responsible for the organisation of the supporting programme, the students of 2AHWIT of the HTL Spengergasse from Vienna accompanied by their two professors.

Marc Truffaut, Virtus President and Governing board member, Ian Conyers also attended the event and was thrilled by the wonderful programme.

Ian Conyers, Member of Virtus Governing Board Picture Credit- Sebastian Marko

“We are so excited to be here this evening. I want to let you know you that you have one of the greatest local organizing committees that we have ever seen. They went through the pandemic and they never gave up on the Virtus World Ski Championships. So to Paula, to Renee, to the local organizing committee, to all of the sponsors, the coaches and everyone that made this happen. Thank you so much for sticking to it all the way through.” said Ian Conyers, member of the Virtus Governing Board.

Having athletes scattered out across a vast area presents particular challenges when managing national teams. However, Team USA proved this does not have to be a barrier to success when they became the most successful nation at the 2022 Virtus World Cross Country Championships. The event, hosted by Athletes Without Limit(AWL) in the city of San Diego saw the home team win five of the eight gold medals and ruled the podium. This was despite the fact that the team, who won both the 4km and 8km team events, mostly do not train together.

Scott Brinen, Head coach of USA Cross Country team

“They didn’t have any time together to practice. I spent time over the six months before the event having video calls with the athletes and asking them how their training is going, coming up with some sort of resources for their parents/personal coaches if they had any questions,” says Scott Brinen, head coach for the USA Cross-Country team.

Newbies like Ishaan Iyer and Ben Bluemound, teamed up with Paralympians like Mike Brannigan, Breanna Clark, and Kaitlyn Bounds to keep their national flags on top. One of those hidden heroes was Ben Bluemound who inspired everyone with his performance and contribution to the team despite suffering from a seizure just a week prior to the event. He fought through the soreness and medications to play a major role in the team’s event.

Ben Bluemound in action at the 2022 Virtus World Cross Country Championship. ©Athletes Without Limits. Picture credit: DMAC 49

“The seizure I had was apparently triggered by a fever that spiked around early November and I didn’t think I would be able to compete until the doctors cleared me. I was actually in pain in some areas of my back muscles while I was running, and I was adjusting to the new medication at a different time zone.” Ben Bluemound told Virtus.

Athletes spoke highly of each other, of the bond they created and shared over the two-day event. They thoroughly enjoyed staying together, being roommates, having meals together, practising and participating in the event together and appreciating the time which is usually missed through the lack of training camps. The primary reason behind this appears to be the lack of funding.

Brinen, who is the owner and head coach of Badger Track Club in Madison, Wisconsin and a ‘lululemon Ambassador, has been the head coach of team USA since 2019 and is working closely with AWL attempting to create connections and unify athletes across the country which has been a ‘fairly steep learning curve according to him because although the USA has a national program, getting funding support for para athletes is hard and for athletes with intellectual impairment is even harder.

“Many countries have well-funded national programs which unfortunately we (USA) don’t have, and this makes it very difficult to build a team and train it to get the results we want to achieve. All our athletes are spread across the country and I coach only a couple of them but the rest have their own personal coaches. All I can do in this situation is to kind of coordinate with their parents/personal trainers and coach them. Those nations who have national programs or regular training camps get to spend time coaching the athletes for multiple years. I don’t have that advantage. I hope people in our government  or other sponsors see what’s going on and come forward to support us.”

Scott further shared how parents are struggling to find coaches for their children whether it’s in their city or state because of the extra attention or support they need. Many parents end up training their kids themselves which puts a lot of pressure on them as they have to squeeze in the training time alongside their full-time job.

Many Virtus members worldwide face similar issues and have been making their own arrangements whether by fundraising or self-finance to fund their players for Virtus events and other championships. This certainly puts pressure on everyone to have added expenses and is even harder for those at an economic disadvantage.

“If teams like the USA are struggling for funding, we can imagine just how hard it is for some of our smaller or developing nations. I hope governments and organisations come forward to help elite athletes with an intellectual impairment to achieve their sporting dream” said Mr Marc Truffaut, President of Virtus.