The Santiago 2023 Parapan American Games mean a big challenge for many people in the different disciplines, from athletes, coaches, sports qualifiers and judges, who must meet the minimum requirements established by each International Federation.
Within this context, starting this Friday, training will be carried out for 60 national technical officials who -if they pass- will obtain the degree of NTO (National Technical Official) in Para athletics. With this diploma, they will be enabled to participate in the most important multi-sports event in the Americas.
The courses are taught by expert presenters from World Para Athletics, the federation that governs Paralympic sports in the world. They are Ruth Liong from New Zealand and David Jessett and Jon Mason from Britain, and it is expected that they can repeat this workshop in the first half of next year, in order to reach the 120 certificates needed for the Games.
"It is one of the most important activities we have, because it will allow us to develop some necessary skills for the development of Paralympic sport, strengthening its structure at the country level," said Gianna Cunazza, executive director of Santiago 2023.
Meanwhile, the president of the Paralympic Committee of Chile, Sebastian Villavicencio, expressed that "these courses will allow us to organize in Chile valid competitions for the different world rankings, which currently does not happen enough. This situation forces our athletes to go abroad to achieve the records required to qualify.”
THERE WILL ALSO BE AN INTERNATIONAL COURSE
From Wednesday the 7th, there will also be another training for international judges or ITO (International Technical Official) with the attendance of 25 candidates from the five continents, including the Chileans Evelyn Olivares and Sara Henriquez, who will seek one of the highest certifications for these competitions.
Both courses, financed by the Paralympic Committee of Chile (abbreviated “Copachi” in Spanish) and Santiago 2023 -in a joint work of the Parapan American Planning and Integration areas and their "Road to Santiago" program, the Sports Management and the Services to the Federations area-, will develop their practical phase during the National Para Athletics Championship, set for December 10 and 11 at the Colegio San Ignacio El Bosque de Providencia.
Subsequently, similar courses will continue in cerebral palsy (CP) football and wheelchair rugby. Check out the National Technical Official (NTO) and the International Technical Official (ITO) Agenda for World Para Athletics judges.
