Friday 29th March – Forrester / St Augustine’s High School, Edinburgh
The eighth annual Para Sport Festival took place at Forrester / St Augustine’s Community Sports Hub, Edinburgh on Friday 29th March, welcoming 87 school aged pupils with a physical, visual or hearing impairment from across the East of Scotland to register for the event. The festival aims to provide a platform for young people from the mainstream education environment an opportunity to access sports delivered by experienced coaches while also raising awareness in Para Sport. This year’s event invited young people to a session that involved sports that were appropriate to their impairment, welcoming children with a visual / hearing impairment in the morning and individuals with a physical impairment in the afternoon.
The number of young people attending the event has grown year on year since its inception in 2012 and demonstrates a strong picture of partnership working between Scottish Disability Sport and Edinburgh Active Schools with significant input from key organisations Lothian Disability Sport and Edinburgh Leisure. Active Schools Coordinators from Edinburgh provide a pivotal presence on the day, facilitating the event and leading the groups of young people throughout while making them feel welcome and supported for the day. There was also significant support from Edinburgh College students at this year’s event, another partnership that has been formed over time to develop the event and provide essential experience for individuals in relation to working with people with a disability.
Jill Coleman, who has the responsibility for Disability and Inclusion within the Edinburgh Active Schools team while also taking a lead role on the festival commented, ‘The festival is one of the highlights in the Edinburgh Active Schools school sports calendar, not only is it a fantastic sporting event for the young people in our schools but it also creates an opportunity for dialogue with young people and their parents regarding further potential sports development in schools and the wider community.’
The day is also supported by some Scottish Governing Bodies and delivered by local inclusive clubs from the region, providing a direct link for any young people who are keen to make that transition into more regular sporting opportunities. The sports delivered on the day were Badminton, Boccia, Cycling (tandem) Goalball, Hugby (rugby for visually impaired people), Swimming, Tennis, Volleyball and Wheelchair Basketball. Additionally, parents are encouraged to attend and stay for the duration of the event and providing an insight to disability sport and the opportunities that are available to their sons / daughters in local and surrounding areas. Some of the feedback from parents included ‘We love this event – my daughter slowly comes out of her shell and it’s great to see her participating in sport alongside her peers’ and ‘An amazing event, can’t wait until next year’.
The event was also supplemented by an Athlete ‘Question & Answer’ session, welcoming current sporting stars along to provide an insight to their journey so far as an athlete. Scottish Borders swimmer Beth Johnston (Galashiels) and Edinburgh based Josh Manson (Wheelchair Basketball) were kind enough to share their respective journey’s and answer a host of questions for the young participants in the Q&A session.
Neal Herbert, Scottish Disability Sport Regional Manager (East) highlighted,
‘The numbers attending on the day continue to highlight the popularity and the need for the event in the region. Around half of the young people were new to the event and this is down to the hard work that partners do before the day in terms of identifying eligible participants from their local area. Active Schools are key to this and continue to work well in collaboration with Scottish Disability Sport to make the festival a success and aim to encourage all participants into regular sporting opportunities post event.
Additionally, the collaborative working between many governing bodies of sport and local inclusive clubs provide an ideal opportunity for many young people to try particular sports for the first time and therefore hopefully encouraging them into more regular opportunities.’
For further information, please get in touch with Neal Herbert, Scottish Disability Sport Regional Manager (East) on 0131 625 4414 or neal.herbert@scottishdisabilitysport.co.uk or
Jill Coleman, Active Schools Coordinator (Equalities and Inclusion) on 0792 076 8288 or jill.coleman@ea.edin.sch.uk.
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