Held at the Instituto de Desarrollo Deportivo para Especialistas de Alta Competencia and organised by the Agitos Foundation and Toronto 2015 in conjunction with the Mexican Paralympic Committee, the workshops aimed to be a first step to getting individuals involved in Para-sport.

Nearly 75 participants from 17 National Paralympic Committees took part in the workshops, which were part of the development activities for the 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto.

Conducted in both Spanish and English, coaching workshops were held in athletics, goalball and swimming, whilst classification workshops were staged in athletics, swimming and visually impaired sport.

Eneida Castellón, a participant on the athletics classification course from Nicaragua, was delighted with the outcomes of his three days in Mexico City.

"I learned a lot from this course," he said.I

"am very new in the Paralympic Movement but now I'm really looking forward to working more with my NPC and continue with this,.

"I want to thank the Agitos Foundation and Toronto 2015 for this outstanding opportunity.

"I am looking forward to become international classifier in the future."

The workshops in Mexico come courtesy of Canada's bidding pledge for Toronto 2015 to elevate the Paralympic Movement within the Americas region, as well as promote inclusion and increase participation in sport across the continent ©Getty Images



The event was the third in a string of workshops launched in the build up to Toronto 2015.

Bermudan Lonard Teye Botchway who took part in the visual impairment classification course was impressed by the "excellent organisation" of the "great event".

She added: "We got to see many different athletes and that helped a lot, it was really interesting."

The first "Road TO15: Agitos Foundation Sessions" event was organised in December 2013 and took place in Bogota, Colombia, and attracted 29 representatives from 25 NPCs in the Americas region.  It focussed on organisational capacity, athlete and sport development and strategic partnerships for NPCs.

This was followed in April by coaching and classifier workshops which were staged in São Paulo, Brazil.

In total 90 classifiers and 85 coaches were trained in São Paulo and Mexico City.

The sessions come as part of Canada's bidding pledge to elevate the Paralympic Movement within the Americas region as well as promote inclusion and increase participation in sport.

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