Thanks to Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust, it is easier for children with disabilities in the Rotorua area to participate in sports and recreation – building their confidence, skills and abilities as they play and compete alongside other children.
Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust recently granted $15,000 to help run the Halberg Disability SportFoundation’s No Exceptions Training (NET) in the Rotorua area, after granting a similar amount last year.
NET is a package of workshops for teachers, teacher aides, coaches, tertiary students and activity providers on adapting sport, physical education and recreation to ensure they can include physically disabled New Zealanders.
Last year 17 Halberg NET workshops ran in the Rotorua area, benefitting 253 trainees, and thousands of disabled youth in the region.
“In the past, a child with disabilities might have been told ‘you can keep score’ or ‘go to the library’ while others do physical education,” said Halberg Disability Sport Foundation CEO Geoff Burgess.
“That affects their confidence and limits their opportunities. But when you are able to include children with disabilities you see their self-esteem, skills and abilities, relationships and attitudes, and other aspects of their lives, noticeably improve.”
Halberg NET workshops consist of two one-hour sessions where participants are taught how to adapt and modify physical activities to include children with disabilities. That may involve modifying the space, equipment, tasks or game rules, and teams, to make a sport or activity more inclusive, fair or enjoyable for everyone.
“Kids are brilliant with it,” said Burgess. “We talk about how we can include someone or make something more balanced, and the kids themselves often come up with how we can change the rules of a game to make it more inclusive.”
Participants also develop an action plan for their school, and theyare given access to online resources and idea-sharing forums, adapted equipment, and ongoing support and evaluation from Halberg Disability Sport Foundation.
In Rotorua, Halberg NET workshops are delivered by Halberg Disability Sport (DSA) Advisor Cherryl Thompson, who covers the Bay of Plenty and Gisborne regions.
One school who has benefitted from Halberg NET workshops is Kaharoa School, a rural school 20 minutes north of Rotorua with a roll of 196 pupils, including a student with spina bifida, who uses a wheelchair. Last year the entire teaching staff of eight, plus principal Warwick Moyle,attended two Halberg NET workshops with Rotorua Halberg DSA Cherryl Thompson.
“We wanted to support our student as much as we could,” said Moyle. “It was very helpful. It got us to think about our practices, and how we can adapt and plan for different situations and how games can be modified without ruining their intent and the pleasure of the game for all children.The programme was also relevant for children who aren’t as sporty, for the kids who find it challenging to do physical activities and sports.”
After doing the Halberg NET programme, Moyle asked the school’s caretaker to make an arm wrestling table sothe student with spina bifida could use it for fitness and fun with other students. “He is strong in the arms and upper body and it was a work out for him,” said Moyle. “We try to give him opportunities to compete against himself and opportunities that will lift his self-esteem.”
CherrylThompson has been working with the school to develop its cross country event in June. “We’ve been planning how we can include a visually impaired child, a child with a wheelchair and a child with an intellectual disability in the cross country,” said Thompson. “It starts with setting the course, taking it into consideration in the beginning, not as an afterthought later.”
Simple things make a difference, such as pairing up a visually or intellectually impaired child with a buddy. “Their limbs are not impaired so it’s about using what they have and doing what they can do,” saidThompson. “A boy in an electric wheelchair can’t be expected to go around the sports field three times, so it’s perhaps creating a shorter course on the netball courts, because it takes him the same time to do that with the same effort, and he gets a good work out.”
She said starting the course on the netball courts rather than a grass field is another simple way to include everyone, so a child in a wheelchair can start with other children, then does his own course timed to finish when the runners are returning.
Thompson expects at least half a dozen Rotorua children with disabilities to go on to represent their schoolsin theBay of PlentyInter SchoolCross Country Champs, in the ‘athlete with a disability’(AWD) section.
“I love my job,” said Thompson. “The reward for me is the community sees people with disabilities out in public, doing sports alongside everyone else, and that is really important for people to see that.”
She also works with school coaches, so they have the skills and insight to support children with disabilities if they want to play after-school sports such as netball.
Halberg CEO Geoff Burgess said receiving a letter of thanks from a parent whose child’s confidence or skill level has been improved due to being included in sports is “special” and highlights the impact of what they do. “It makes a huge difference to these children and their families,” said Burgess. “They start to see horizons where there had been limitations.”
Burgess saidHalberg’s NET programme is reliant on funding from organisations such as Rotorua Trust.
“A huge thanks to Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust, whose support allows us to reach a wider audience and run our Halberg NET programme, because without that support we wouldn’t be able to do it, it’s as simple as that,” said Burgess. “Our programmes require resources such as course materials, adapted sporting equipment, paying for people’s salaries, providing vehicles, and a whole range of things. Thanks to funding from Rotorua Trust we can put a knowledgeable, experienced person in front of a group of sports professionals and teachers and they can receive authentic and valuable insights into how to meet the needs of children with disabilities.”
Thompson, who has been a Halberg Disability Sport Advisor in the Rotorua region for eight years, saidshe admires Rotorua Trust because, like Halberg, they are innovative and empowering.
“I enjoy working alongside great people like the Rotorua Trust who want the best for their communities,”said Thompson.
Added Kaharoa School principal Warwick Moyle: “Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust has been a fabulous organisation in the district, and a fantastic support for schools and education in the region.”
Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust provides funding for a wide range of organisations throughout the Rotorua district. It is also the region’s most significant provider of student scholarships and support for high-performing youth.
The Trust has a proven commitment to ensure every funding dollar is distributed wisely with the goal of helping make Rotorua a better place to live, work and play.
ENDS
Photo opportunity:
Kaharoa School’s cross country is on June 9, where a modified course for a disabled student will run alongside the main event. For permission to attend and take photos please contact principal Warwick Moyle on 07 332 3444.
More information about the Halberg Disability Sport Foundation
The Halberg Disability Sport Foundation is a charitable organisation founded in 1963 by Olympic legend Sir Murray Halberg on the belief that all people, regardless of their ability, should have equal opportunity to enhance their lives through sport.
The Halberg NET programme was developed by the Halberg Disability Sport Foundation and Sport New Zealand (then SPARC) in 2006, and revised last year in consultation with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Development. Last year there were 123 Halberg NET courses held around New Zealand, completed by 1845 participants.