Wheelpower’s National Junior Games 2025

June 2025 –

Today marks the beginning of Wheelpower’s National Junior Games and the Foundation’s 4th year of funding. The event offers individuals the chance to participate in a variety of wheelchair sports such as tennis, rugby, basketball, and numerous others in a safe and welcoming environment.

Conor Harris, Sports Events and Development Officer says:

“The WheelPower National Junior Games is back for 2025! We look forward to welcoming another 100 physically disabled children from across the UK to this year’s Games, here at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, for a week of sport, making new friends and most importantly, fun!

The National Junior Games are always a highlight in the WheelPower event calendar and extra special to welcome so many enthusiastic participants to take part in such an event at the home of the Paralympics. Thank you to The Kentown Wizard Foundation for your incredible support in making this important event happen. We couldn’t offer this wonderful opportunity to so many children without your support.”

Children just like Millie Riley, who attended her first WheelPower National Junior Games in 2023 and has continued to return ever since, after finding her experience of the event transformative!

Millie is 14 years old and a keen Wheelchair Basketball player who first heard about the Games through her club, Warwickshire Bears. Millie was born with DeGeorge Syndrome, a rare condition that affects her mobility and causes her to fatigue easily. Beyond her weekly Wheelchair Basketball session, opportunities for Millie to remain active and play sports are limited.

PE lessons at school prove to be a struggle as Millie is one of the only students at her school with a physical disability, so attending the National Junior Games offers a great opportunity to try out a whole host of wheelchair sports.

When speaking on the National Junior Games, Millie said, ‘My favourite sports so far are Wheelchair Badminton and Tennis. I don’t normally get the opportunity to play either’.

Wheelchair Badminton and Tennis aren’t the only sports that many children are missing the opportunity to try within their schools and extra curricular activities. But Wheelpower are dedicated to being the ones to make these options available. Having heard about their new “Learn to Ski events” The Kentown Wizard Foundation were keen to increase this years grant to accommodate these incredible classes.

WheelPower’s Learn to Ski events are designed to provide people living with physical disabilities the opportunity to experience skiing in a safe, supportive, and adaptive environment. They have been running regional Learn to Ski for adults throughout the UK for the last 24 months, which have been very popular with positive feedback.

They would now like to oﬀer this experience to children from age 5-18 and with this most recent grant from The Kentown Wizard Foundation the charity will be able to pilot the project throughout 2025/26.

Anna Twentyman, CFO of The Kentown Wizard Foundation says:

“Wheelpower are an incredible charity who we have worked with for a number of years. The National Junior Games is an event we look forward to every year and are always taken back by the confidence these children leave with, after taking part in the array of sports on offer at the Games. This is why, when Learn to Ski came across our desk it was an easy decision to make.

These sports may not appeal to every child, but every child deserves the opportunity to make that decision for themselves and this is why we are delighted to be supporting Wheelpower once again!”

Charity Registration number: England & Wales 265498