DISABILITY SPORTS APPEAL
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 General OverviewWhen it was announced that London is to host the Paralympic Games in 2012, The Lord’s Taverners wanted to find a way to be part of the legacy and build upon its reputation in the field of wheelchair sport. It became clear that the pathway for disabled youngsters into sport has many obstacles and that there is a shortfall of funding at grass roots level.In 2007 The Lord’s Taverners launched the Disability Sports Appeal (DSA) with the aim of raising £1 million by 2012. To be effective and to make a lasting difference, clearly focused 5 year plans have been established through working together with the GB Wheelchair Basketball Association, The Tennis Foundation and CP Sport. Further details can be found by scrolling down the page and we also liaise and work with WheelPower, the national charity for wheelchair sport. The strategy is to ‘Catch – Capture - Create’. That is to find and attract those disabled youngsters who are wheelchair users, introduce them to wheelchair sports through their schools, taster days and sports camps, capture and encourage their interest and sustain their development through regular training, coaching and club development and then the vital work of creating the pathways for competition and feeding into league structures. We are now three years into the work of The Disability Sports Appeal and the results of our clearly defined junior development programmes are producing exciting and progressive opportunities for over a thousand young people in selected disability sports in both mainstream and special needs schools around the country. The pathway we have set for increasing participation with regular coaching and competition is recognised by our partners as an effective means of delivery. In addition hundreds of young people participate in Young Leaders and Young Officials courses adding to their own personal development. We fund the employment of a Junior Development Officer for each of the specific sports adopted. Their dedication and enthusiasm is hugely rewarded by their individual success measured in many ways but none more than seeing the obvious enjoyment of the increasing number of young players. The Lords Taverners is committed to funding these five year programmes and to leave in place a legacy of the work it has inspired. British Wheelchair Basketball AssociationWorking with the British Wheelchair Basketball Association (BWBA), we have developed a programme that aims to build progressively year on year to encourage club and league development and competition. Vital to the delivery has been the appointment of a Junior Development OfficerWheelchair Basketball has to be witnessed as those who have come along to our major competitions will tell. Seeing over 200 young wheelchair players hurtling around the venue and passionately playing their fiercely competitive games is impressive. Three years ago we managed to involve just 8 junior clubs in the league. This year 28 teams are fighting for a place in the National Junior League Finals to be held in Sheffield on 3rd of April 2011. Over and above this there are over 20 more teams training hard to reach league standard. The National Junior Championships where regional teams compete will take place at Stoke Mandeville in October. Teams from the Home Countries will compete for the very first time for The Celtic Cup taking place in Scotland on July 9th and 10th 2011. Several young players are now training with the GB Squads and hoping to be selected for the 2012 Paralympic teams. Talent Development Camps are held for other up and coming players. Year on year more young people are trained for officiating and deployed in the competitions. Already new clubs have been formed and the increase in the number of younger players has led to a new ‘8 foot hoop’ league in addition to the ’10 foot hoop’ league as the younger players and novices cannot reach the full height baskets. The increase in the number of teams entering the leagues obviously represents new funding challenges as it requires additional venues. Six new teams have joined the league this year and a further six are ‘waiting in the wings’. Other achievements include:
www.gbwba.org.uk Wheelchair TennisUnlike other sports wheelchair tennis requires a lot of basic training before a young person can actually play a game. Wheelchair skills are key requiring great agility and handling a racket is in itself a challenge - but to move the chair and play a shot at the same time takes time to accomplish. The only difference from the ambulant game is that the ball is allowed to bounce twice. Through training camps these skills are honed and we have a considerable number of talented players including our own Ambassadors Jordie Whiley and Louise Hunt who are GB players and Endeavour Award winners Alfie Hewitt and Ellie Beaumont are amongst others showing real potential. The Lord’s Taverners National Junior Championships will be in Gloucester on 29 May 2011.www.tennisfoundation.org.uk BocciaThe National Under 19 Boccia Programme was launched in 2008/2009 working in partnership with CP Sport based in Nottingham with the aim to widen the competitive opportunities for those children who have a more severe physical impairment and are more suited to this non contact sport which relies more on skill and subtlety of the player rather than their size, speed or strength. The programme has proved t to be hugely popular, starting in year one with 6 teams and 40 children, in year two we had 8 regional events with over 378 children participating. In year three we have extended our coverage with the introduction of 8 County days increasing participation by a further 288 children and giving more competition activity within a region. Young Officials courses are delivered to enable events to be staffed by young people. In year two we held 9 officiating courses and in year three we will hold 17. The National Junior Boccia Finals will be held on 24 March in Nottingham.www.cpsport.org Table CricketThe aim of Table Cricket is to provide young people who have severe physical disabilities with the opportunity to compete in a competitive team game based on the rules of cricket. It is played in special needs schools and gives young people the opportunity to play in a national competition. The emphasis is upon teamwork and sportsmanship in a fun and enjoyable environment.The England Cricket Board and Youth Sports Trust launched this version of the game via their World Cup Table Cricket competition in 1999. An approach was then made to the Lord’s Taverners to fund the competition. The Lord’s Taverners have since taken on the responsibility for delivering the competition as part of the ECB’s disability programme at a cost of £35K pa. Over 600 children now compete at the regional heats which are held in 9 venues around the country. The winning teams then travel to Lord’s Cricket Ground to compete in the finals in the MCC Indoor School. There is obvious potential to increase participation being one of only a few team sports in special need schools. There are some 1200 special needs schools in England alone. The same blueprint for development with a clearly defined plan will include the following key elements: The National Finals have been a major event in The Lord’s Taverners calendar for 8 years. A newly defined programme has now been undertaken by the DSA to structure the game at grassroots level aiming to increase participation and generally raise its profile across the country. Working with CP Sport the programme will follow a similar approach to the others we deliver but there is a certain amount of preparation work to be done before we can start rolling it out. A comprehensive Table Cricket Manual and other resource material for training, coaching and young leaders are all in the process of being produced. As we start to work with the schools we hope to see more and more of them adopting table cricket not only for recreational play but moving towards the heights of the Finals at Lord’s. And FinallyWe are confident that the DSA is making a real impact on developing young people by increasing the opportunity to participate in well organised sporting activities. There are many case studies that reinforce the value of that work. With additional funding we could make an even bigger impact. The support of The Peter Harrison Foundation has been a major contributor to getting these programmes up and running. We look forward to building on these firm foundations and truly making a positive difference to the lives of many children and their families.
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