Matthew "Matt" Lloyd is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 paralympian who was born with spina bifida

Spina bifida

Spina bifida is a developmental congenital disorder caused by the incomplete closing of the embryonic neural tube. Some vertebrae overlying the spinal cord are not fully formed and remain unfused and open. If the opening is large enough, this allows a portion of the spinal cord to protrude through...

 and two club feet

Club foot

A club foot, or congenital talipes equinovarus , is a congenital deformity involving one foot or both. The affected foot appears rotated internally at the ankle. TEV is classified into 2 groups: Postural TEV or Structural TEV....

. He has competed in Ice sledge hockey at the 2006 Winter Paralympics

Ice sledge hockey at the 2006 Winter Paralympics

At the 2006 Winter Paralympics, the ice sledge hockey events were contested at the Torino Esposizioni.-Final rankings:-Team rosters:-Group A:-Preliminary round summary:-Group B:-Preliminary round summary:-Classification round:...

, in Sitting volleyball at the 2007 European Championships, and is credited with inventing the sport of Inline sledge hockey. He was born in Crawley

Crawley

Crawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is south of Charing Cross, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.The area has...

, West Sussex

West Sussex

West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...

 and later resided in Hollym

Hollym, East Riding of Yorkshire

Hollym is a small village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in an area known as Holderness. It is situated approximately south of Withernsea and is on the A1033 road....

, East Riding of Yorkshire

East Riding of Yorkshire

The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire, is a local government district with unitary authority status, and a ceremonial county of England. For ceremonial purposes the county also includes the city of Kingston upon Hull, which is a separate unitary authority...

.

Sledge hockey

In 2004 Lloyd took up the sport of Sledge hockey

Sledge hockey

Sledge hockey is a sport that was designed to allow participants who have a physical disability to play the game of ice hockey. Ice sledge hockey was invented in the early 1960s in Stockholm, Sweden at a rehabilitation center...

 (a variant of Ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 and a Paralympic sport) playing for the Kingston Kestrels Sledge hockey team. Lloyd was asked to train with the British Paralympic team early in 2005. In November 2005 Lloyd made his international debut as back-up goal keeper against Italy in the Paralympic Qualifiers in Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. Lloyd represented Great Britain at the 2006 Winter Paralympics

2006 Winter Paralympics

The 2006 Winter Paralympic Games, the ninth Winter Paralympics, took place in Turin, Italy from 10 to 19 March 2006. These were the first Winter Paralympic Games to be held in Italy. They were also the first Paralympics to use the new paralympics logo....

 in Turin, the 2009 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships

2009 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships

The 5th IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships took place in early 2009. The competition was divided into two tournaments, with Tournament B held from 15 to 21 March in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and Tournament A held from 9 to 16 May in Ostrava, the Czech Republic. A total of thirteen teams...

  and the 2011 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey European Championships

2011 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey European Championships

The 3rd IPC Ice Sledge Hockey European Championships is held between February 12, 2011 and February 20, 2011 at in Sollefteå, Sweden. Participating 130 athletes from ten nations: Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden.The 2011...

.

Lloyd is a founding member of the Grimsby Red Wings

Grimsby Red Wings

The Grimsby Red Wings are a British ice hockey club.The Red Wings were founded in 1932 making them one of the oldest teams still in operation. The team currently competes in the North 2 division of the ENIHL....

 Sledge hockey team.

Lloyd retired from playing Ice Sledge Hockey after the 2011 Paralympic Winter World Cup.

Sitting volleyball

In May 2007 Lloyd was approached to play the sport of Sitting volleyball, a version of traditional volleyball played by athletes with a disability. Due to an injury within the team and Lloyd’s Paralympic experience, he made his debut for the Great Britain Sitting volleyball team in an international friendly against Holland in June 2007. Lloyd was selected for the GB Sitting volleyball squad that competed in the European Championships that were held in Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

in September 2007.

Inline sledge hockey

In October 2005 Lloyd became chairperson of the British Sledge Hockey Association. Despite a British team competing in the 2006 Winter Paralympics, it was apparent that Ice sledge hockey was on the decline in the United Kingdom. To reverse the trend, Lloyd came up with the idea of Inline sledge hockey: essentially, Ice sledge hockey but played with sledges with wheels instead of skate runners. Although sledges with wheels had been invented by Laurie Howlett of Unique Inventions and used in both Canada and Germany as training aids, Lloyd was the first person to recognise that the equipment could be used to develop a distinct sport.

The first "official" game of Inline Sledge Hockey was played in December 2009 in Bisley, Surrey. Inline Sledge Hockey is recognised as a sport by the British Roller Sports Federation and a full set of rules was drawn up in early 2010 by Geoff Gooding based on Inline Puck Hockey rules with the first Inline Sledge Hockey league due to be launched in October 2010 in the UK.

Additional Information

Inline Sledge Hockey feature

IPC European Championships Article 2011

Peterborough Phantoms Interview 2011

Mashsport Article 2010

Banners on the Wall Article