BBC South Power of Sport Award - winner's profile: Power Chair Football
The Power Chair Football project has won the
2009 BBC Power of Sport Award, supported by Sport England, for
the South.
The project has had a huge impact across the
southern part of Hampshire and is mainly benefiting young people
between the ages of eight and 18 years old, all of the whom use
wheelchair.
The project, which is run by Fareham Borough
Council, provides specially-designed attachments for the
wheelchairs so that the youngsters who use them can play football
in a fun and safe environment. The attachments allow participants
to guide the giant footballs around the pitch, intercept the ball
and score goals.
Power Chair Football, which has been running
since January 2009 and is due to continue until January 2012,
offers after-school coaching sessions and holiday programmes with
qualified coaches. There are now sessions running in three areas
each week - Southampton, Eastleigh and Fareham. Future plans
include developing a county competition and hosting a power
wheelchair club from Milton Keynes at an event in Fareham in
February 2010. They are also aiming to form a Power Chair football
team enabling the players to get the all important competition
opportunities they want.
Sometimes wheelchair users are unable to
participate in football due to difficulties in getting the right
equipment, the cost of it and the playing opportunities available
locally. The Power Chair Football project has helped to overcome
these issues by securing funding from Sport Hampshire & IOW and
The Football Foundation to buy the specialist equipment needed –
and then delivering the right coaching during sessions.
Power Chair Football has also had an impact on
parents and guardians, offering them a break and leaving them in
the knowledge that their children are in a safe and secure
environment. As well as providing qualified football coaches to
deliver the sessions, the project also provides carers to ensure
the safety and wellbeing of the participants.
Gregg Baxter, an eight year old wheelchair
user, has really benefited from the project. Greg attends a
mainstream junior school where he is the only wheelchair user. He
loves playing football in the playground with his friends however
finds it difficult when competing against able-bodied children.
“Gregg is always playing, talking and watching
football, it is the air that he breathes,” said his mother Dawn.
“Power Chair football is a level playing arena for Gregg, competing
and playing with other chair users who do not see their mobility as
an impediment. He thrives in the ability to score goals, learn
skills and new rules. It increases his self esteem and confidence
and he talks non-stop on his return without any thought that he has
been doing anything different to what his mates at school have been
doing. He is a proud and confident boy who has taken on the
challenge of meeting new people and socialising head on – because
it is a sport that he loves and can do.”
To find out more about this project, please
visit the websites for Fareham
Borough Council or Hampshire Football
Association
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