In the photo:
Loretta Lock, managing director of Defiant Sports, stands in the Inclusion Hub in a body warmer holding Active Sussex trophy for Inclusion and Diversity Award.
What did your volunteer do?
Loretta gives up countless hours each month for Defiant Sports outside of her paid hours. Despite only being part time, Loretta clocks in about 40-60 hours most weeks, manning the Inclusion Hub, helping out at sessions, working behind the scenes, and making sure everyone feels welcome in sports.
Defiant Sports delivers inclusive sport to all, ensuring everyone has a place in sport. It was founded after Loretta, as a carer, was frustrated at the lack of disability provision in sport. Without Loretta, Defiant Sports would not exist, it is her hard work, constant enthusiasm, and dreams of an inclusive and accessible society that keeps the organisation succeeding.
How did your volunteer make a difference?
Throughout the previous year, Loretta was one of only two staff/volunteer members not put on furlough. This meant she juggled coaching online sports, providing emotional wellbeing support calls/zooms, managing paperwork/emails, driving PPE and food supplies to doctors/nurses and families in poverty, and ensuring anyone who needed support could find it at Defiant Sports.
She did all of this whilst in a pandemic! Despite the dangers and stresses over the past year, Loretta has always had a smile on her face, fought back against discrimination, and fought for an inclusive world for people like her son, Callum, who has cerebral palsy and autism.
