County News

Slam dunk as basketball project scores Lottery funding

A Stoke scheme is set to fight prejudicial attitudes towards disability as Project Spitfire nets Lottery funding.

The City Council will work with Stoke Spitfires Wheelchair Basketball Team as part of a disability awareness project, funded by the Big Lottery Fund.

Some 11 projects across the West Midlands are benefitting today from £2,820,122 of funding from BIG’s Reaching Communities programme which aims to help those most in need and build stronger communities.

An award of £23,717 goes to Stoke on Trent City Council to work in partnership with the Spitfires basketball team to promote positive images of disability and raise awareness among 11 to 16 year olds in the city. The project aims to address social exclusion which disabled people may face, help develop better understanding of disabled people’s needs and lifestyles and tackle prejudicial attitudes.

The Spitfires will co-host activity days at their sports ground where young people can participate in a range of social skills games and disability sports. The idea is to focus young people’s attention on ability rather than disability, and encourage them to volunteer at future events.

Another aspect of the project will be to provide in-depth training to around 100 young people in areas such as deaf awareness, sign language and visual awareness.

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Golf Academy Discover Day

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Kindsgrove Open Day

Epilepsy Picnic

The Epliepsy Parent Network are having a picnic event at Hanley Park on 28th May from 11.30am-3pm.

There will be numerous activities going on so take along your packed lunch and enjoy the picnic.

Disabled Youngsters Given Chance To Shine
(Playground To Podium Programme)

Last month saw 45 disabled children from across the county take part in a County Athlete Assessment Day (CAAD) as part of the Playground To Podium programme.

This programme is led by Sport England, in partnership with the English Federation of Disability Sport, the Youth Sport Trust and Paralympics GB. The aim of the programme is to create a clear and professional disability sport pathway from school sport, through to club participation and on to elite performance.

Organised by Sport Across Staffordshire & Stoke-on-Trent (SASSOT), this was the second day of its kind which meant that the children took part in talent identification sessions with athletics, football, wheelchair basketball and table tennis. Experienced National Governing Body (NGB) coaches guided the children through drills and activities and were responsible for selecting potential future talent.

Golf, Cricket and Boccia activities were also on offer as the National Governing Bodies of these sports are working pro-actively to develop increased activities for disabled children to access.

GB U21's Wheelchair Basketball player Richard Sargent attended the event and spoke of his journey from his accident through to his devepoment within sport. Richard was keen to show the children that opportunities can arise when least expected and to encourage them to embrace those opportunties.

Richard said "It was a fantastic day to see so many children at the start of their sporting journey. Hopefully I will see one of these children in a future Paralympics"

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