Dr Barry Mason is to head up GB Wheelchair Rugby’s performance and sport’s medicine team. Currently a senior research associate in Sports Performance at the internationally acclaimed Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport at Loughbourough University, Barry is no stranger to the sport having worked alongside GBWR on a number of projects aimed at maximising the performance of wheelchair rugby athletes, coaches and practitioners. Barry was the outstanding choice from a long list of very experienced applicants for the role. He offers something different from the traditional sports performance lead and has proven his ability to maximise research and apply it in a high-performance environment.
Announcing the appointment GBWR Chief Executive David Pond said,
“There is little to choose between the top half a dozen teams in the world and it’s all about those marginal gains. Barry offers something quite unique and will bring a refreshing and different perspective to how we prepare our athletes to be at the top of their game for those big tournaments; his ambition and his passion shines through and that excites me.”
Barry has led performance initiatives within wheelchair basketball, wheelchair tennis and para cycling as well as collaborating with the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation on classification related projects. His thoughtful and collaborative leadership style make him the perfect choice to build a performance team which ensures GB athletes are the best prepared in the world. His appointment further highlights the strength of the partnership between the Peter Harrison Centre and wheelchair rugby; commenting on this CEO David Pond said,
“there is no centre in the world that better understands our sport and our athletes, led by the outstanding Professor Tolfrey, they are at the leading edge of all they do.”
Sharing his excitement at the news first released on GBWR’s social media sites Barry said,
“Wheelchair rugby is a sport that I have worked with since 2007 and I am absolutely delighted to have been given the opportunity to lead the performance programme for GBWR. It’s an incredible sport, and these are exciting times with the GB team having been on an upwards trajectory over the previous years, and I cannot wait to get started to help continue their development”.
