Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean. Fiona Reid is Innovation Manager at Disability Sport Wales and responsible for looking at how Welsh sport can support equity for disabled people.
Here, she talks about the huge area of work to integrate disability sport into mainstream Welsh sport clubs.
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The core message is simple. Our vision is for an inclusive active Wales.
We want every disabled person hooked on sport, and offered real choice as to where, when and how often people they play sport.
Over the past 15 years Wales has established itself as a successful nation in disability sport.
Results of the most recent Sport Wales School Sports Survey tell us that more disabled young people are now getting better access to school sport and PE than they have had in the past; and that disabled youngsters now have greater choices around what sports they play, when, and where they play them.
Our club structure is more buoyant than it has ever been. Over the last 12 months we have seen a further increase in the number of regular clubs, to record numbers of over 13,500, a growth of nearly 17% on last year, whilst the number of clubs and sessions in Wales has also risen to 736.
We have also seen the growth and impact of education and training programmes, and a big jump in Disability Inclusion Training (DIT). As a result of these courses more mainstream coaches and volunteers are now working within the disability sport sector than ever before. Processes for disabled people to become coaches and volunteers are gradually becoming more supportive.
Our elite success has been staggering. A total of 93 Welsh athletes have represented ParalympicGB alone over the past 3 Games, and there have just been four Commonwealth Games medals won by para-athletes in Glasgow 2014, so we are doing things well, and things are changing � but it can still be better.
We know that not everyone wants, or will be eligible, or will have the skills to be a Paralympian, or to excel at the Deaflympics, or to be selected for an intellectual disability sports competition, but the choices and opportunities need to continue to grow so that it IS possible for any and every disabled person across Wales to know about what�s out there, and have the chance to choose what they could be.
There is so much going on out there; audio trails in Snowdonia; supertots sessions in Conwy; surfing in Swansea; deaf golf at The Vale Resort and Spa; inclusive gymnastics competitions throughout the regions; target shooting in Pembrokeshire; as well as over 240 people playing wheelchair basketball on a weekly basis across 9 clubs; a para-triathlon held in Llanelli and an intellectual impairment tennis tournament. Opportunity is varied and growing.
Everyone in disability sport is effectively striving to do themselves out of a job - a strange notion but true. We want our partners to do the job without us, in the same way and with the same thought as they do for non-disabled athletes and participants.
Cultural and philosophical change does not happen overnight. However, we are buoyed by evidence which confirms we are beginning to challenge the way that our sector delivers inclusive sport. We have developed insport, a national programme designed to support our mainstream partners to work more confidently and proactively within sport.
We knew we needed a long term exit strategy � something that would mean the tenure of disability sport in Wales would continue to be strong, continue to be sustainable, but to achieve this we must increase the capacity and will of those who will become the future providers of choice when it comes to delivering disability sport.
The automatic assumption that disability sport should happen in a specific and separate environment is wrong - but it might be that after thought, discussion and planning that it is the right environment for the individual or group. It is the process which needs to be inclusive. �Inclusive� doesn�t necessarily mean everyone doing the same thing at the same time in the same space, but it might be for some people.
Over the past 12 months tremendous progress has been made. Golf Development and Golf Union Wales, Tennis Wales, and Welsh Gymnastics have all achieved insport NGB Bronze standard; Table Tennis Wales, Welsh Football Trust, Welsh Athletics and Welsh Rowing have all achieved insport NGB Ribbon standard; and Welsh Triathlon, Welsh Sailing, Welsh Karate Governing Body, Cricket Wales and Welsh Cycling are all pushing through the first straight towards insport NGB Ribbon. These National governing bodies of sport are ambassadors for inclusive sport in Wales � showcasing what is possible and taking back what is rightfully theirs � the sport.
19 of the 22 Local Authorities have already achieved an insport Development Standard.
There are now a total of 145 insport Clubs, with a further 87 working towards Ribbon standard. Insport Ribbon standard demonstrates that a club not only achieves minimum operating standards, but does so with inclusion in mind. RCT Tigers and Cwm Gymnastics both reached insport Club Gold standard � a testament to the combined working of coaches, National Governing Bodies, disabled people and the Local Authorities.
We recognise that there is much work to be done and that we are only at the start of the insport journey � however, the early signs are good.
We are being asked to be innovative, to respond to changing times, to a challenging economic environment and most importantly to our customers whose own sport and recreation requirements are being shaped by a changing society.
Our Calls4Action supported pilot programme delivered in partnership with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board intends to create enhanced awareness, understanding and greater coherence between the health sector and the disability sport network in North Wales.
We are also doing things differently when it comes to developing new education and training products.
The Sainsbury�s �Active Kids For All� course is a good example of this approach. Funded through the commercial sector, the programme now delivers across all four Home Countries driving the practise of inclusive delivery in PE to both the teaching profession and critically to those who provide support in an education environment.
Although things are improving we still need to close the �hooked on� gap between disabled and non-disabled pupils. The call to make Physical Education a core subject within the curriculum has never been more important. Our call to make Physical Education inclusive is critical.
We are a nation that is respected the world over for what we have achieved in a relatively short space of time. Together we have created over a million doorstep opportunities every year, with over 330 clubs and a voluntary workforce of nearly 5,000 making it happen. We have sustained success on the World competitive stage over the last four Paralympic Games growing our athlete contribution to British teams incrementally Games on Games.
Swansea 2014 will undoubtedly be a success not only for Welsh sport and its partners, but also for our athletes. Let�s build on the foundation that we have created, and work together to ensure that over the next decade we achieve our collective ambition of a Wales where inclusion is the norm.
www.swansea2014.com
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