The importance of sport

WestHam06

Hi,
     I hope that everyone is well. I would like to talk about disability sport as I have an interest in this. I love sport, I'm a huge football fan but enjoy other sports as well. I play wheelchair basketball regularly and really love it. It makes me feel free, it's a great way of socialising and it has been really helpful in me becoming more accepting of my disability. I was just wondering how people felt about the disability sport opportunities that they have available to them if this is something that is of interest to them. Thank you. 

April2018mom

I think sport is important. There is a campaign called Made for Sport which aims to raise awareness of the benefits and importance of sport. Sport is as important as education, art and reading. Everyone needs sport. And yes disability sports is my favorite advocacy topic to discuss at parties etc. 

Are you a member of a club or not? I used to be a active member of my local tennis club when I was a teenager. Perhaps you can even sign up for a community sports team? There are many research studies that have been done on the benefits of sports over the years. Here is a article on why sport should be compulsory in foreign schools. 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.indiacelebrating.com/essay/importance-of-sports-essay/

For more information on why sport is important 

https://www.madebysport.com/

WestHam06

Hi @April2018mom
                                 Thank you so much for sharing this information with me, I really appreciate it and will be sure to read the information you sent me. I see that disability sport is one of your favourite advocacy topics, please may I ask your thoughts on how disability sports are implemented into state education. Thank you 

April2018mom

WestHam06 said:

Hi @April2018mom
                                 Thank you so much for sharing this information with me, I really appreciate it and will be sure to read the information you sent me. I see that disability sport is one of your favourite advocacy topics, please may I ask your thoughts on how disability sports are implemented into state education. Thank you 

I am a homeschooling mom. Sport is a vital part of human development so all UK schools must make sport part of the curriculum. Most schools across all areas of the country run sport clubs and promote sport as well. But they could do better.
There are activities run by community leisure centres too. When I said disability sport, I specifically meant all sports that are appropriate for those who use a wheelchair like my son. How old is your son? What school does he attend? My suggestion is to ask for a meeting to discuss ways to introduce sports to the children. 

I hope that answers your question. I’ll message you in a bit with additional details. 

Chloe_Alumni

Hi @WestHam06 and thank you for sharing this with us!

WestHam06

Hi @Chloe_Scope
                            Thank you for your supportive message. 

WestHam06

Hi @Chloe_Scope
                            How are you? I was wondering if it would please at all be possible for me to ask for your advise. I have a keen interest in finding out about the experiences of disabled people in terms of Physical Education during their school years as well as the general disability sporting opportunities people have available to them in their local areas. The reason for this is because I have Cerebral Palsy and use a wheelchair and also went through state education. I loved Physical Education and at the time was able to join in with some, but not all, of the lessons available, however for some who were permanent wheelchair users this was difficult. Since leaving school, I have had to rely on my wheelchair more and this has given me a greater appreciation of the frustration they potentially felt. Do you have any advise about how I could gather more information about disability sporting opportunities in the education system? Also, I now play wheelchair basketball at my local leisure centre and I really love it. I also find the centre to be very accommodating for people with disabilities, do you feel that this is reflective across the country? Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post. 

Matt_Scope

Hi @WestHam06 @Chloe_Scope I grew up in mainstream education in the late 70's and eighties and it seems, was very lucky with sport.  I walked with crutches and used a handbike to get to school in my Primary years.  During this time I joined in every PE lesson and played Football, Cricket and Baseball to the best extent that I could (I also went to an archery club one evening a week, horse riding on the weekend and swam pretty often..  There wasn't much adaptation around but a good attitude in school helped and I just got on with it.,
When I moved to secondary, I started to use a wheelchair full time. My local school wasn't accessible, so I had to go to a school on the other side of the city.  This school was a crazy set up, but it worked for me and a number of others very well.  There was no adaptations (except we had people in the school employed specifically to carry us up the stairs , there was however a "special school" next door we could access for medical needs / physio if we ever needed to.  We could also access some sport there.
The special school next door had racing chairs (trust me eighties racing chairs were not what you see in the Marathon these days).  However that was what we had and so that's what I did.  
Along with a few others from my school and the special school we got to access a number of athletics competition regionally and nationally each summer and from here I eventually got my own racing chair and through myself into athletics for a number of years.
Eventually I ended up with a career in sport as a Paralympic athlete (Ice Hockey), then a sports development officer and finally a Referee and coach in Boccia.  A few others from my school at this time (there were only 15 disabled pupils out of 1700 kids) ended up with sports careers, one became a very well known Paralympic athlete, another has a career as a sports development officer, and others competed at high levels in sport (and still do).
I know that my experience is not that of many others ant that I had many incredible opportunities when I was young, but from my experience as a sports development officer, I know that provision is still patchy, I would say that access to community sport has  improved, but has a way to go in many areas while access to school sport has definately not improved as much as it should,  However the governing bodies are strong now and sports specific clubs in sports like Basketball offer good opportunities at all levels in the communities, although this really does depend where you live.      

Matt_Scope

@WestHam06 As far as school based opportunities in England try the Youth Sport Trust www.youthsporttrust.org/about-us As well as the Activity alliance, those should be your two main sources of information.

Chloe_Alumni

Hi @WestHam06, you are more than welcome to put a post in our events, research and opportunities board which might get members sharing their experiences with you.

WestHam06

Hi @Matt_Scope,
                            Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with me and it sounds as though the opportunities available to you were amazing which is great to hear. I totally agree with the attitude of just getting on with it, that is so great to hear. It is interesting that you say sport in schools hasn't improved as much as it should, please may I ask why you think this is? Thank you so much for sending me the link and information regarding sports in school, I really do appreciate it. Thank you.  

WestHam06

Hi @Chloe_Scope
                            Thank you so much for replying to my post, I really do appreciate it. I will sure to look at the events, research and opportunities board in the coming days. I may need to please ask for some help with this, I hope this is ok, I will let you know. Thank you. 

Matt_Scope

Hi @WestHam06 I think one of the reasons why school sport hasn't improved much for many disabled are simply a lack of knowledge, both on behalf of individual teachers, along with a lack of knowledge of what is possible and could be available by the child and the family.
In addition to this, there is no consistent effective way of ensuring that PE and school clubs are inclusive on a day by day individual school basis, so while there is more awareness and more provision in place, there is also a lot of times when sport is forgotten about and not seen as important, allowing schools and pupils to avoid putting a strong structure in place. 

Chloe_Alumni

Hi @WestHam06, no problem at all! Just give us a shout if you need a hand.

WestHam06

Hi @Matt_Scope
                           Thank you so much for sharing this information with me, I really do appreciate it. It has also been interesting hearing your point of view as to why sport structures and provisions in schools isn't as well as developed as it could be. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my posts and look forward to exploring this further. Thank you.  

WestHam06

Hi @Chloe_Scope
                              Thank you