On Friday we returned to the peak for another event, this time it was a Boccia Festival for children and teenagers with disabilities. I had some experience of boccia from the previous event I did with Active Stirling but on arrival Craig asked if I would be able to referee the games which straight away filled me with nerves as I wasn’t 100% on the rules of the game. However, there was a boccia coach at the event who sat us down before the games and went over the rules of the game with us which made us feel very at ease.
The games ran really smoothly and all the children seemed to be having a lot of fun. The event began with 1vs1 tournaments to which was narrowed down to semi-finals and finals and then there were team events giving the opportunity for different schools to compete. The work that Craig does in his role as an inclusion officer at Active Stirling and the Work of Sport Disability Scotland is absolutely amazing and having the opportunity to be a part of these great events has been extremely rewarding for me.
After the event I went along with Craig to Wallace High School where he oversees a programme called Sports Unite. The idea of the programme is to have the pupils of the school come into a sport session of the Additional Support Needs students and to get involved with sports with them and play with them or even just simply chill out and listen to music to encourage participation in sport. The ASN pupils have different lunch times to the other pupils so the session took part after the ASN pupils lunch which was during the other pupils lunch. Due to this I wasn’t expecting a lot of pupils to come as in past experiences I have found lunchtime clubs to not be very busy especially in high schools. The turnout from the other pupils was amazing there must have been about 30 of them in the hall, most of them were there before the ASN pupils and ate their lunch quickly in the hall so that they could join in with the sports. This experience of the Sports Unite programme was a very positive and enlightening one, it was amazing to see how many of the pupils got involved to help the other ASN pupils.
Firstly, well done in refereeing a Boccia game that you weren’t familiar with! I believe that you will gain a valuable experience working with Sport Disability Scotland, as i know a number of people who have benefited from this organisation. Futhermore, the Sports Unite programme seems very encouraging, enabling you to develop your skills coaching multi- sports to kids with additional support needs. I wish you all the best! Lauren
Firstly, well done in refereeing a Boccia game that you weren’t familiar with! I believe that you will gain a valuable experience working with Sport Disability Scotland, as i know a number of people who have benefited from this organisation. Furthermore, the Sports Unite programme seems very encouraging, enabling you to develop your skills coaching multi- sports to kids with additional support needs. I wish you all the best! Lauren