Active Summer Fun: 'Chaddy Park is all about getting your child active'
A new participation campaign created by the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) and National Disability Sport Organisations (NDSOs) is encouraging more disabled people to find out and play out over summer. Active Summer Fun -#ActiveSummerFun on social media - is an exciting new campaign that aims to support more disabled people to find ways to be active during the warmer months.
This summer we will be hearing from various disabled people or those who deliver activities that include disabled people. We hear how they are expecting the next few months to be very busy!
Today, youth football coach Jason Trickett talks to us. He discusses helping to coach a cerebral palsy (CP) youth football team, and how his daughter having CP prompted his interest in disability sport.
Jason’s Active Summer Fun:
My daughter has cerebral palsy, so I bring a lot of that experience to my coaching. But I had never previously worked in disability sport, and entered into it as a novice, although I had coaching experience through my lad’s team.
I started at Chaddy Park (Chadderton Park FC) as a parent on the sidelines when my boy started in the under-7s team. I was then asked to get involved in the coaching of the under-8s, and they are now under-14s which shows just how many years I’ve been doing it for.
Then Cerebral Palsy Sport (National Disability Sports Organisation) contacted us with the idea of setting up a cerebral palsy football group for children with the impairment.
So 25 coaches from the club completed a disability football coaching qualification and then, with the help of Cerebral Palsy Sport, we held a football kickstart day. People attended, some showed us what to do and then we took it on as a club on our own.
What I learned through the disability coaching course is that you can run the same session as you would for any child but you tailor things to suit, so the equipment might be different and so on. But I just try to keep it as much about football as possible, and provide the children with activities that all can participate in.
My daughter is now in her 20s, and there are things from bringing her up that I now bring to coaching. It’s about knowing the limitations of the players’ movements. I can see similar things to what I experienced with Hannah with some of the kids at the club. Every child has a different level of ability and mobility, so it’s all about learning by spending time with them.
When Hannah was growing up she struggled at school in terms of playing PE. She wanted to take part in netball but the school was always concerned with provision. This was some time ago to be fair, but at the time the school kept telling us they couldn’t spare the extra member of staff to supervise her.
Now I am trying to provide opportunities for disabled children. It’s great, because the kids all love attending. Every two weeks we get together. The parents have all created friendships and are they're sharing experiences and ideas for activities.
It has been a really good outlet for the children and the parents. The kids are able to be more active and all the coaches really enjoy taking part too.
We get together every other Sunday, though at the minute we’re on our summer break and will start again in September. It is a two-hour session with players travelling from as far afield as Huddersfield, Liverpool, Blackpool and Stoke-on-Trent.
The players get together and we split them off into smaller units, because we have a big range of mobility and age groups. The really young ones play together, then the kids that use frames, then the older ambulant ones.
We put on activities that are specific to each group, then at the end we have a friendly matches between them all. They really enjoy that – it’s what they look forward to.
We usually have anywhere between eight to 15 coaches helping at each session, with a dozen being an average number. That’s a good amount, because it’s three or four coaches helping each group.
The children just love the opportunity to be able to play, alongside children of similar ability. Some of the kids that attend have never, for example, seen another child with cerebral palsy using a frame. They just assumed previously that football wouldn’t be possible because they use a frame. Now they see they can play, because others who are playing are no different to them.
Our first session back will be on 6 September and we only charge minimal subs from parents, just to cover costs.
I’d encourage parents to consider investigating something like Chaddy Park in their own areas. It’s all about getting your child active. Being disabled should not prevent children from taking part. Parents bring their children to us because they so obviously enjoy it. There’s always something to do at Chaddy Park!
You can find out more about Active Summer Fun. Find out and play out this summer. Cerebral Palsy Sport is the country's leading sports organisation supporting people who have cerebral palsy to reach their potential.
