Sport NSW & Variety deliver inaugural Activate Inclusion Sports Day in Blacktown

Blacktown Leisure Centre hosted the first delivered event by Variety NSW & Sport NSW for the Activate Inclusion Sports Days initiative in partnership with Blacktown City Council. 130 students aged 5 to 18 years registered to attend this event with State Sporting Organisations across Tennis, Netball, Basketball & Football hosting breakout sessions. Sport NSW ran the Touch Football session on the day in conjunction with our university sports intern program. Supporting these State Sporting Organisations were Wheelchair Sports NSW and Blind Sports NSW.

The day was supported by Ability Links, Uniting Care, Guide Dogs NSW/ACT and SydWest community organisations which gave valuable information to teachers and families in the local Blacktown and surrounding areas for community services, resourcing, funding through the Variety Scholarship Program in addition to education around work Blacktown City Council and Sport NSW were undertaking.

This initiative received enormous feedback from teachers, sports, parents but most importantly the students who normally don’t have an opportunity to participate in the right adaptive environment to encourage, coach and mentor across active recreation and sporting activities.

Variety NSW has come on board as the major partner for the Activate Inclusion Sports Days initiative for the next 3 years and during that time Sport NSW will partner with Variety to deliver a minimum of 36 days in partnership with various local councils across both Sydney Metro and Regional NSW. These days will act as a feeder to physical, sensory & intellectual inclusion leagues that mainstream sport have been working toward after the model was established by Football NSW and their Athletes with Disability Futsal League which has run successfully linking mainstream clubs and mainstream competitions across the disability athletes spectrum for over 6 years.

Murray Elbourn, Disability Inclusion Manager at Sport NSW is already working with all of sport to increase inclusion delivery through the Knowledge Exchange Inclusion program where he works in councils with clubs and associations to make the sports more aware of ways to collaborate with inclusion athletes and participants for stronger outcomes around education to coaches, officials and club administrators.

The next 3 Activate Inclusion Sports Days are already in place with local councils across Parramatta, August 11, Fairfield-Liverpool-Canterbury Bankstown, September 8 and Central Coast on September 22. More days are set with Wollongong, Hunter, Wagga Wagga, Northern Beaches, Coffs Harbour, Tamworth, Dubbo, Penrith, before May 2018.

For more information on Activate Inclusion Sports Days please contact Murray Elbourn on 0427186734 or by email inclusion@sportnsw.com.au