Meet Fiona Reid, UKSA Trustee

We are delighted to put a spotlight on one of our Trustees – Fiona Reid.  Fiona was appointed to the UK Sports Association (UKSA) Board of Trustees in 2019 and is also Chief Executive of Disability Sport Wales (DSW).

Fiona brings a wealth of experience and expertise to UKSA and cements the continued collaboration and partnership approach between UKSA and DSW.

We got together with Fiona to chat about her background, career and aspirations for British athletes and the UK Sports Association.  

We hope this helps you ‘get to know’ Fiona and UKSA a little more!

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Fiona began working closely with UKSA just over four years ago when she was appointed the new Chief Executive Officer for Disability Sport Wales.  Although not yet a UKSA Board member, she was keen to see the two organisations work closely together to ensure a joined up approach in sport for all athletes, but also ensure there was a clear route to Paralympic and Virtus performance competitions through UKSA for welsh athletes, whether through classification opportunities or selection to the UKSA GB Team programme.

How did you get involved with UKSA?

I have known about UKSA for a long time through my work, and because of the coaching I have done over the years.  I really got involved with UKSA when I became the Chief Executive Officer for Disability Sport Wales almost 4 years ago.

What does your role entail, what are you day to day tasks?  How does this relate to your role on the UKSA Board?

My day job is to make sure that Disability Sport Wales is a great organisation who make a difference for disabled people in Wales to be physically active, and play and compete in sport. Every day is different for me, and in the last 12 months has been just based at home. 

I used to do a lot of travelling in Wales and across the UK, and now I do everything from my spare bedroom. At the moment my days often include meetings (quite a lot of those at the moment), working with Welsh Government and other organisations and sport, making sure that DSW have resources for people to deliver opportunities. 

It’s also about working with people to understand how we can really make a difference and what we need to do to make that difference. 

This really helps with my role on the UKSA board. It means I can ask questions that might help make change, as well as use my skills to help out with tasks.

What are your aspirations for British athletes that are part of UKSA?

For the athletes my aspirations are that there are opportunities to compete at the highest level, with support and recognition in place to do that. 

What are your aspirations for UKSA itself?

For the UK Sports Association my aspirations are similar, I would like to see it supported for the essential work it does to ensure there are performance opportunities for people with intellectual impairment.

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Would you like to know more about the work of the UK Sports Association or Disability Sport Wales?  Would you like more information about the high performance/elite competitive opportunities available for athletes with intellectual impairment through the Virtus or Paralympic pathways?  Please contact us for more information, we would love to hear from you.