About Us
dsport is a charity managed by a board of elected volunteers.
Our vision is for Wellington to be a diverse and inclusive region.
dsport is underpinned by the principles of inspire, enable, achieve.
We inspire disabled people to believe in themselves. To aspire to being involved in sport and active recreation. To dream.
We enable disabled people to get into sport and active recreation. We don’t believe in can’t. Rather how can we. How can we make this fun and make this work? We persevere and we build strength collectively.
But more importantly, our members achieve. They overcome adversity, find work-arounds and creative solutions to achieve. And for some, they will achieve their dreams.
dsport was previously known as Parafed Wellington.
Board Members
Ross Hanning - Chair
Ross and his family joined dsport in 2015 to enable his son Corran, an aspiring field athlete who had New Zealand representation and wearing silver fern firmly in his sights, to experience Para sport. Ross is a qualified Athletics NZ technical official in field events.
Since this time, Ross has moved from being a parent to taking over the financial responsibility for dsport as Treasurer.
In 2023, after a number of years on the committee, Ross agreed to take on the role as Chair. Ross brings significant business and sport govenance experience to the table, and is committed to ensuring dsport achieves its vision and inspires, enables and achieves.
Ross runs his own consultancy business providing specialist business consulting to professional and financial services.
Alan Signal - Treasurer
Alan joined dsport in 2011 and since 2012 has been a member of the Board. Between 2015-2023, Alan was Chair, and now holds the position of Treasurer.
An active Para athlete, Alan represented dsport in Wheelchair Rugby and Wheelchair Basketball, and remains an keen supporter of all dsport sports teams.
Alan trained as a secondary school teacher but found the world of disability support services his real calling. He is a Rehabiliation Coach for Laura Fergusson Trust in Wellington, working with clients with traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injuries. The Trust is the provision of services and facilities, including providing expert rehabilitation services, to meet the needs of the disabled community, their families and the funding bodies within the health and disability sector.
Denise Harrison
Denise joined dsport because her son, David, is one of dsport's longtime boccia players. Denise supports David's competitive spirit acting as a ramp assistant.
In 2017 Denise agreed to join the dsport Board and brings the perspective of a parent and sport volunteer.
Until recently, Denise was the Librarian at Postgate School where she would encourage and support young readers to discover the amazing world of literature.
Shaun Markham
Hailing from Dunedin, dsport welcomed Shaun to the Board in 2023.
Shaun is an avid sports fan and you will likely see him at Sky Stadium supporting the Hurricanes or at The Basin watching the wickets fall.
For years, Shaun Markham tried to keep his disability on the down-low but over time has come to embrace the opportunity to stand out and show others what people with disabilities can do
He is a Para athlete himself, having competed in both athletics track and field. Shaun is also an Athletics NZ official.
Shaun graduated from the University of Otago with a Masters Degree in Economics. His disseration was titled "Capital accumulation and growth in a heterogeneous panel context".
For the last four years he has worked for the Reserve Bank, most recently as a Senior Analyst.
Staff
Dr Catriona McBean – Manager
022 620 9763
Catriona has been the Manager at dsport since 2012. Prior to joining dsport, Catriona managed a range of national sports organisations including Swimming NZ, Sport & Exercise NZ, Orienteering NZ and oversaw sport and recreation at Victoria University.
Catriona has a PhD in disability sport from the University of Waikato. Her thesis "I forget I have a disability" looks at how an anti-ableist sport system can be established in New Zealand.
In 2023, Catriona won the bid to host the World Wheelchair Rugby Paralympic Qualification Tournament 2024. The tournament was hosted at the NZ Campus of Innovation and Sport in Trentham, where 8 teams competed for the last 3 places for the Paris Paralympic Games. In a world first, Catriona transformed an indoor artificial sports turf into and world class indoor wheelchair rugby competition venue.
She is a Board member of Paralympics New Zealand and a Trustee of the NZ Paraplegic and Physically Disabled Trust (Paraloan).
Catriona is a trained educator for the Agitos Foundation, supporting Oceania nations developing Para sport capability. She worked with Kiribati to achieve membership of the International Paralympic Committee and advises the Oceania Paralympic Committee. Internationally, Catriona has held a number of volunteer roles at the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympic Games, 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Paralympic Games and the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Emma Mulhern - Sport Development Officer
021 302 115
Emma has a passion for sports, people and community development.
Originally from Ireland, Emma and her family moved to Wellington 12 years ago. A trained physiotherapist, her career has moved from hands-on client interaction to health consultancy roles, including work-place health and wellness assessments and workshop faciliation.
Last year Emma completed her Masters in Business Studies Management from Massey University. Her disseration thesis was titled "Exploring Sports' Leaders Understanding of Male Alleyship for Female High Performance Coaches in Aotearoa".
Emma is also an Independent Facilitator for dsport Wellington as part of a pathway project with High Performance Sport New Zealand. In this role Emma works with young aspiring high performance Para athletes on their early journey in Para sport.