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March 24, 2023
For the past six years, Beyond Sport and WWE have partnered to celebrate incredible young leaders who are overcoming personal hardships to positively impact their communities through sport. Today, meet 18-year-old Paris McLeggan-Milner, a 2022 recipient of the Courageous Use of Sport Award, presented by WWE.
“Out of all the accomplishments I’ve made and the barriers I’ve overcome, I am most proud of myself for never giving up and not letting my past experiences stop me from helping others that are experiencing the same resistance I am experiencing in sport.”
Coming from a low-income, single-parent household that has a history of domestic violence and homelessness, Paris faced many challenges growing up. When she was just six years old, her mother went to prison for a time and Paris was taken into care where she was subjected to abuse until she was able to return home. She currently acts as a partial caregiver for her mum whilst working full-time.
In addition to her family difficulties, Paris comes from a disadvantaged area in South London where there are high rates of crime and youth violence. After having already dealt with the death of her father, in 2021, she also lost two of her close friends. This, coupled with the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic and financial issues at home, has been extremely draining on Paris’ overall health and well-being.
But, from a young age, Paris has always been determined to find a positive path. Rather than letting personal and societal obstacles define her future, she works hard to stay away from negative influences and is motivated by the support of her community and in giving back.
“My community inspired me the most growing up. Being one out of three girls in my area, they’ve always been supportive and generous to help me achieve anything that I wanted to do. They told me that they didn’t want me making the same mistakes they did when they were my age growing up – in jail, selling drugs, unemployed or on benefits. They have pushed me to be a better person and taught me to always help others.”
When she around 11 years-old, Paris started going to community football sessions run by the BIGKID Foundation – an award-winning youth and community non-profit that supports youth from low-incommunities in South West London who are at risk of social exclusion, crime and violence – after being invited by a neighbor to attend at a local park. From then on she was hooked, continuing all through school and during after-school clubs where she found new experiences, cultures, enrichment programs and was able to build relationships with other young people. She also found a love for all types of sport.
When Paris first began playing, she lacked confidence and felt she wasn’t faster than other people and therefore wouldn’t succeed. But after trying out different kinds of sports, she learned that individualism is special and to be different is an advantage. Now, loving taekwondo, skiing, tennis, football (soccer) and American football, she’s increased her self-esteem and learned new skills like self-discipline and balance, which has helped her get through many tough moments in her life.
“Sport brings a lot of people together from different backgrounds, especially where I grew up. Everyone comes from different backgrounds, but what really gets everyone together is sport. I live in Stockwell, which is also called ‘Little Portugal’ because of the many cultures and backgrounds of the people that live here. The main thing that gets everyone together is sport.”
Paris quickly went from being a Foundation beneficiary to an apprentice to a full-time Programme Officer. She is also a youth coach and attends local schools in the city to teach kids football (soccer) American football (contact and NFL flag) – which she says is her favorite because of its inclusive and familial nature. She explains that the most rewarding aspect of her work is the opportunity to help and support young people in her community.
“I get to help them with their sports careers, schoolwork and I even get to help them with their mental health by just being someone they can confide in. It’s also very rewarding to see the impact I make on the young people I coach and the change in their confidence.”
However, when pursuing American football specifically, many people in her neighborhood said that she couldn’t play a male-dominated sport. But, Paris has never been one to let others’ opinions and gender stereotypes stop her. Encouraged by BigKid, she joined the locally competitive South London Renegades, initially as the only girl on the team. She then went on to persuade other young women, including her friend who is now part of the team to try out the sport.
They went on to inspire other girls to play and together tried out for Great Britain women’s tackling team, where two of them – including Paris – got through. One of her goals is to play international games, so she’s extremely excited to be playing Sweden and Germany later this year. Seeing how she has been able to excel and maintain her adventurous spirit in the face of so much adversity, Paris has made it her mission to get other young women into American football and sports overall. She is breaking gender barriers on and off the pitch and field and wants others to do the same.
“I’ve had a lot of challenges on the way. I’ve had people doubt me and my abilities but the way that I’ve overcome that and am still overcoming that is by surrounding myself with supportive people, people who fill me with love and support me on my journey… I’m here to prove everyone who ever doubted me wrong. With all the progress that I’m making it definitely means I’m making an impact on somebody else’s life and their doubting me and everything else isn’t going to stop me from what I want to pursue and the impact that I really want to see.”
Paris’ advice for other people facing hardships, but still wanting to make a positive impact, is to “keep on learning and don’t ever limit yourself to just one thing. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Try new things and whatever you feel like won’t benefit you, might benefit someone else. Focus on yourself and have a mentor if you can. Give yourself a goal and work hard towards it.”
Paris left the country for the first time ever this year to Italy to go skiing and to New York to participate in Camp America where she coached and trained young people in addressing social exclusion, youth violence and mental health issues. She was also selected to coach the NFL UK team and be a support system for the kids during the recent NFL Flag Championships at the 2023 Pro Bowl tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada. As part of a partner program between the NFL Foundation UK and the BIGKID Foundation, Paris supports the delivery of NFL Flag in London. “It was a great opportunity for me to experience this as it inspires me to continue to help other young people to compete at the same level as those kids did.”
Paris shared that winning a Beyond Sport Courageous Use of Sport Award presented by WWE shows that all her hard work had paid off. “This award means a lot to me, especially to see how much other people also appreciate the work that I do. I feel fulfilled.” She plans to use the award grant to establish a new all-female British league BIGKID team, helping with the cost of hiring (renting) training facilities, purchasing equipment and traveling to games.
Congratulations Paris!
Learn more about our 2022 recipients.
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