Head Coach and Chairman of the Knights Wheelchair Basketball Club, County Londonderry man Jason Kennedy, will be featured on a 90-second slot during the ad break of Saturday night primetime UTV/ITV shows this weekend.
And it’s all thanks to the National Lottery’s ‘Big Surprise’ which honours individuals who have made a real difference with the help of its funding.
Jason is set to enjoy national recognition with around 5 million people expected to tune in across the ITV network.
The Knights was founded in 1990 to help give disabled people the opportunity to get involved in team sport.
Jason initially coached one session, but 18 years later he’s still volunteering at the club. And he’s a man of all trades from Head Coach, to Club Chairman, fundraising organiser and ever-reliable taxi driver.
The club now has over 50 players from across Northern Ireland from seven to 40.
Jason and The Knights regularly to compete in various wheelchair basketball leagues.
For Jason’s ‘Big Surprise’, The National Lottery arranged for him to meet his favourite team, The Harlem Globetrotters, at a recent game at the Bournemouth International Centre.
Jason enjoyed a special meet and greet with the team who presented him with a signed ball and even asked him to do the honorary ‘tip off’ at the beginning of the game. The National Lottery filmed the heart-warming results.
Fellow Knights Wheelchair Basketball Club member, Neil Carlisle, believes that no one deserved ‘The Big Surprise’ more than Jason.
“Jason has continually been a great coach and mentor to our junior players and senior players alike and I really can think of no one better suited than him,” said Neil.
And Jason was more than taken back with his ‘Big Surprise.’
“It’s been fantastic, I wasn’t expecting this whatsoever – it’s been completely out of the blue. I was just coming here to watch the game and it’s just been such as surprise and really nice as well,” he said.
Jason’s ‘Big Surprise’ will air at 7.58pm during the ad break on UTV and is the third of 17 short films which will be shown throughout the year, during ITV’s primetime Saturday night TV schedule, that will celebrate and showcase National Lottery funded heroes across the UK.
The all-important Saturday night Lotto results will also continue to be delivered during the weekly slot.
The Knights Wheelchair Basketball Club was awarded over £29,000 of National Lottery funding to help them provide opportunities for disabled people to get involved in team sport.
The Knights have around 20 volunteers who give up their own time to support the club and help out at weekly training sessions at their two main training venues – Antrim Forum Sports Centre and The Hammer Youth Centre in Belfast.
Since the very first draw in November 1994, The National Lottery has funded over 24,000 projects across Northern Ireland which has amounted to around £327 million of funding.
Each week players across the UK raise, on average, around £30m for National Lottery-funded projects across the arts, sports, heritage, health, education, environment, charity and voluntary sectors.
‘The Big Surprise’ is the continuation of the return of The National Lottery results to primetime TV through a commercial partnership with ITV and follows the success of ‘Race to the Numbers’ where the public was given the chance to win £10,000 at National Lottery funded venues across the UK.
For more information on National Lottery funding please visit: www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk
For more information on Knights Wheelchair Basketball Club please visit: http://www.niknightswbc.co.uk/
