Nine of our students from Year 8 and 9 headed to Hoops Basketball Centre in Barrow-in-Furness on Thursday 2nd May, to take part in an Inclusive Sports Leadership Day with students from four South Cumbrian Schools. Most of the students attending had special educational needs and the day was about how to include everyone in sports activities.
The day began with several ice breaker activities in which students from different schools joined together in teams and got to know each other. There was lots of laughter and competitive spirit.
Former Paralympic basketball player, Paula Johnson brought a set of wheelchairs for students to use so they could experience how it feels to access sport from a chair. These chairs proved very popular with most students wanting to try them out. Many commented on how tired their arms were and how small they felt.
The students then worked together in new teams to discuss what it means to be a leader and the skills required to lead successfully. It was great to see everyone contributing and keen to present their ideas.
Finally, before lunch, the students listened to two inspirational speeches, one from Charlotte Hartley former Olympic hockey player and one from this year’s Sports Ambassador, Joe Morgan, who talked about how hard he works to improve his strength despite his disability and how everyone can be successful if they believe in themselves.
The day culminated with students working in new groups again and creating their own games choosing from the huge range of different sports equipment on offer. They tried out their own games and then went on to demonstrate their games to other teams acting as leaders. Coming up with new games was more difficult than expected but everyone was successful and had lots of fun.
Thank you to Hilary Stephenson for inviting us and well done to all the students involved: Levi, Emily, Nicky, Eve, Samuel, Sienna, Bella, Leah and Emmie for throwing themselves into all the activities and representing William Howard so well.
