Southlander passionate advocate for sports opportunities

Academy Southland graduate Victoria Baldwin once dreamed of competing at next year’s Paralympics in Tokyo, but now she’s passionate about ensuring other people with disabilities are able to enjoy sporting opportunities.

Baldwin is close to completing a degree in occupational therapy at Otago Polytechnic, but four years ago she was a Southland Girls’ High School student with ambitions of riding for New Zealand on the track in Tokyo.

The demands of study and student life saw her put aside her elite paracyling dreams, but she has remained a staunch advocate for disabled athletes, utilising many of the skills learned during her two years in the Academy Southland programme.

Photo: Victoria Baldwin. Pic: Halberg Foundation

Baldwin, who has cerebral palsy, has spent three years on the Youth Council of the Halberg Foundation, the organisation charged with ensuring physically disabled New Zealanders are able to participate in sport and recreation.

“When I left cycling to get into study, I decided I wanted to still be involved in disabled sport. Sport allows people with disabilities to be more physically active, it improves our mental and physical health and our overall wellbeing,” she said.

As a member of the Halberg Foundation Youth Council, Baldwin has helped advise the Foundation, attended sports days and talked about ways to include disabled people in events, spoken to various Government departments about the importance of opportunities for disabled people and attended the annual Halberg Awards.

Photo: Victoria Baldwin, right, and Disability Issues Minister Hon. Carmel Sepuloni. Pic: Marty Melville/www.Photosport.nz

Baldwin’s three-year term on the Youth Council is about to come to an end, but she hopes to remain an advocate and influencer for disabled athletes, including pursuing a role in classification within Paralympic sport.

“People with visual and physical disabilities are all classified within their sports to make it even and fair. It’s a role that can take you around the world, which would be pretty cool.”

Baldwin participates in wheelchair rugby, swims and enjoys a number of other sports.

Her decision to step away from cycling involved weighing up her career goals and a realistic approach to what would be required to quality for the Tokyo Paralympics, something Academy Southland played a significant role in.

“They were amazing. For the whole two years I was involved in Academy Southland, they were always really supportive. I still use all the skills they taught me - like communication and leadership - in my day to day life. It’s really helped me build as a person,” Baldwin said.

“I’m thankful that I did cycling and was part of the Academy group because of who I am now as a person.”