Episode 23: Inclusive Sport
Meet people with disability from across the state in Choice and Control, a podcast from Carers Queensland.
Sport has so many benefits: it brings communities together, it gets you moving, it’s a way to meet new people and to push yourself to find your personal best. In a world where a lot of people spend a lot of time sitting and looking at screens, sport’s not a bad habit to get into.
So how do we make sure everybody can do that? In this episode we’re talking about making sport inclusive for people of all abilities.
We’ll see what we can learn from AFL Queensland’s Inclusion Team off the back of their spectacular exhibition game on the Sunshine Coast.
We’ll find out about wheelchair sports club The Suncoast Spinners, including their work in reverse inclusion – getting mainstream players involved in, and enthusiastic about, disability sports like wheelchair basketball.
And Dr Ian Dutia is a researcher with the University of Queensland who has a particular focus on athletes with disability. He says there are so many benefits in getting everybody involved in sport.
Find out more
- Suncoast Spinners wheelchair sport
- AFL Queensland all-abilities programs
- Inclusive Sport and Recreation: building access, inclusion and opportunities for people with disability in sport and active recreation
- Carers Queensland upcoming events and workshops
- Carers Queensland NDIS on Facebook
Credits
- Interviews: Fiona Stutz & Jodie van de Wetering
- Production: Jodie van de Wetering
Download the transcript for this episode (.doc)
0:00 Carers Queensland Announcement: You’ve heard of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, but how much do you know about it? Find out what it means, how it works and how to apply for access at Carers Queensland’s free workshop Understanding the NDIS. Find out more, check for events coming up near you, and book your spot online at carersqld.com.au. You can also call us on 1300 999 636.
0:32 Voiceover: Choice and Control, a podcast celebrating people with disability brought to you by Carers Queensland, NDIS Local Area Coordination Partner in the Community.
Sport has so many benefits for individuals and the whole community. It brings people together, it gets you moving, it’s a way to meet new people and to push yourself and find your personal best. In a world where a lot of people spend a lot of time sitting and looking at screens, sport’s not a bad habit to get into.
So how do we make sure everybody can do that? In this episode we’re talking about making sport inclusive for people of all abilities. We’ll see what we can learn from AFL Queensland’s inclusion team off the back of their spectacular exhibition game on the Sunshine Coast. And we’ll find out about wheelchair sports club The Suncoast Spinners, including their work in reverse inclusion – getting mainstream players involved in, and enthusiastic about, disability sports like wheelchair basketball.
Dr Ian Dutia is a researcher with the University of Queensland who has a particular focus on athletes with disability. He says there are so many benefits in getting everybody involved in sport.
1:43 Dr Ian Dutia: There’s health benefits clearly, because people get active. You know, people particular with a complex disability are far less likely to meet physical activity guidelines and as a consequence of that they’re more prone to chronic disease and they have a higher risk of mortality. So when we get people with disabilities active through sport we can reduce their risk of all-cause mortality by you know nearly 40% if we get them training hard and if we get them up above physical activity guidelines, which we know we can do through our research.
So there’s the physical health benefits but then there’s also the social side to sport and community participation, which is really becoming increasingly in focus in research and in clinical practice as well. How do we get people into community environments and participating, and sport really is an ideal method for doing that.
2:35 Voiceover: The AFL’s National Inclusion Carnival for players with disability couldn’t happen this year due to COVID restrictions interstate, so AFL Queensland took matters into their own hands with an exhibition game at the recent Schools Cup in Maroochydore. Players with disability were drafted into two special one-off inclusion teams representing the Brisbane Lions and the Gold Coast Suns, and the exhibition match was livestreamed with commentary so fans could tune in from all over. Richie Lyons is AFL Queensland’s Participation and Programs Manager. He says the inclusion team grew out of public demand for accessible AFL.
3:12 Richie Lyons: We had some interest from one or two community players who actually had disabilities, and in South Australia and Victoria for a number of years they’ve run community inclusion competitions and we were probably a little bit behind the eight ball. So we started just doing some basic clinics for those participants who were actually already playing community footy and it was amazing how quickly the network grew. All of a sudden we had 30 people coming down every single week to a training session run by Daniel Ramage and one of our previous staff members, Tim Searle, who’s really passionate in this space.
That was about four or five years ago and from there we literally turned around within six months, we were able to form a Queensland representative side for people with disabilities which was just an amazing feat. And that team actually went down to the national carnival, I believe the first year was down in Victoria, and they played in the Division 2 competition and went really, really well. We’ve had a team in that competition every year since.
It has grown from strength to strength to now where we’re in a position where we this year had our very first community competition with three teams across the Gold Coast, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. Up in the Sunshine Coast the Noosa Footy Club have really been very proactive in this space and they put a team in through one of their really passionate volunteers, Rob Purves, who does a lot of work up in Noosa. In Brisbane the Yeronga Footy Club supported the program, and Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. So those three clubs would meet centrally every fortnight during the footy season to come together and play a little centralised competition every fortnight and then that culminated in their grand final event last weekend up at Maroochydore.
5:05 Fiona Stutz: And so why do you think AFL is a good sport for people with disability?
5:08 Richie: Because the game is such a 360 game it really lends itself to anyone playing. Obviously there’s different skills required, so kicking and marking and hand balling. And I think the other thing that probably is attractive is the physical part of it, so there is tackling but probably not as forceful potentially as some of the other sports. I think the participants really love that physical aspect of the game as well so it’s very skilful, very quick, but there is that physical element as well. So yeah, I think that’s probably why it’s pretty attractive.
5:45 Fiona: And so why do you think inclusion in sport is important?
5:48 Richie: With the AFL it’s one of our key agenda items to make sure that we’re fully inclusive in everything that we do. We just need to give the opportunities to all those people regardless of what disability they have, so they can taste our great game.
It’s not just for the physical part of it, it’s the social element of what can provide. Again I go back to the past weekend but seeing how happy the participants were, and the families, we had families who were in tears when their kids were up getting their Premiership medallions. To see how much of an impact we can actually have is super important, so yeah, it is right at the top of the agenda for us.
6:36 Fiona: Besides playing in a side are there any other avenues for people with disability that can contribute to the game?
6:40 Richie: Yes there certainly is and there are some really good demonstrations of this across some of the clubs in South East Queensland. Certainly we always are looking for different volunteers to run water, boundary umpire, goal umpire potentially, and we do have some really good examples of people with disabilities who are performing some of those team manager roles, or water boy or water girl, throughout our senior competitions.
We also have, one of our inclusion players has actually just been included on the National Disability Committee as well. So there are multiple roles that can be performed and I’m sure that all of our community clubs, we’re already seeing this at the three clubs that have been quite passionate; Surfers, particularly Noosa and Yeronga, we’ve already seen the flow on effect of having people with disability as part of their club. What they can bring is more so than just a participant, it really opens the eyes up and there’s so many different avenues to go down.
7:48 Fiona: And so where does AFL Queensland see themselves in the future, adding more people with disability into teams, getting more teams maybe involved, things like that?
7:58 Richie: Yeah, well we’ve had a really big six months. The community inclusion competition got off the ground as I’ve already spoken about, but we also have just in the last month started the Sporting Wheelies competition on the Gold Coast as well. So we’ve had two trial days, or two come and try days, over the last month or so and we’ve got three more between now and Christmas at Metricon Stadium or at the Gold Coast Indoor Sporting Complex there at Karara.
What I would like to see over the next few years is that Sporting Wheelies become a solidified competition, not only here on the Gold Coast but we need to find a venue up in Brisbane as well, so that’s really, really exciting. As well as that, with the inclusion competition I’d love to get up to six teams in South-East Queensland in the same sort of format, just building upon what we have already
8:54 Fiona: That’s fantastic, do you already have some local teams excited about that prospect and maybe doing that in the future?
9:01 Richie: Yeah we do actually. After the weekend of livestreaming the game, we actually had a few enquiries already from another club on the Gold Coast, Labrador, who are potentially keen to look at it. I’m sure that they won’t be the only ones that will be keen to jump on board. The Gold Coast Suns and the Brisbane Lions are big supporters of the program and they’re actually looking at entering teams into the Sporting Wheelies competition as well down the track so it’s really exciting.
As well as that we also have in the past, and we will continue to do in the future, we have an inclusion division in our Q Schools Cup for our high school students. This year unfortunately again due to COVID some of the gala days were cancelled earlier in the year, but it’s certainly on the agenda for next year to bring back. So we’ll have an inclusion division for our state-wide Q Schools Cup competition.
10:01 Voiceover: Former Gold Coast Suns player Daniel Ramage is coach and team manager for the ALF Queensland Inclusion Team, and he is stoked with the results from the exhibition game.
10:11 Daniel Ramage: That went unreal. It’s a great opportunity obviously to broaden the market and demonstrate to everyone what it’s all about. But, you know, that worked well. So it was up on the Sunshine Coast and it was linked in with the Queensland Schools Carnival which is obviously held every year, which involves all the teams.
Throughout the year we’ve obviously had our pathway that we’ve done with our games. With the Inclusion Carnival being cancelled we thought this was a great opportunity to do a bit of an exhibition game and let the guys represent a team. So they all got picked in either the Gold Coast or Brisbane team and they wore the Brisbane and the Gold Coast jerseys and it went really well. Unfortunately Gold Coast lost, but everyone had a lot of fun.
I just think it’s a sport that has lots of opportunity for all ability, it’s a sport that’s easily adapted, it’s just one of those games that I think is inclusive for all. Growing up, I’m from Melbourne and growing up was just born and bred AFL. I guess as I started working in the field, the more I got to know my clients who I work with and the industry in general the more I said there’s no reason that there shouldn’t be an AFL pathway. Obviously that’s been well developed down in Melbourne, and it’s just something that hadn’t got kicked off the ground up here in Queensland.
11:39 Fiona: That’s great and so why do you think inclusion in sport is important?
11:43 Daniel: I think inclusion in general is an important subject, and one that I think we as a community are getting a lot better with. But particularly in sport, I think sport provides an avenue for people to achieve their goals and to learn important life lessons and learn life skills. I think for a lot of our guys, it’s hard to get that in many avenues of their life, and a lot of their lives are unfortunately dictated by a lot of people telling them what they can and can’t do. So I guess sport is their way of really finding a niche for themselves and something that they can excel in and something that they can go out and have fun and learn at the same time.
12:30 Fiona: And so what is coming up for the Inclusion Side in 2022 and beyond?
12:35 Daniel: The last few years, obviously due to everything that’s gone on, the National Inclusion Carnival hasn’t gone ahead. But our goal is obviously to get that back up and going and to build a stronger Queensland pathway that then can lead to the National Carnival. At the moment we’ve got pretty strong numbers in Gold Coast where I’m based, and in Sunshine Coast where Rob and some of the Sunshine Coast-based coaches are running a really great program. So I guess the goal is just to keep developing them whilst at the same time maybe heading into Brisbane a bit more where I think there’s a lot of opportunity and we just haven’t quite got our name out up there.
13:20 Fiona: It sounds like a good goal to have, get into the Brisbane teams a bit more.
13:24 Daniel: Yeah, well, I think it’s a huge market and I think there’s lots of people in Brisbane that would be looking to participate. I guess it’s just getting the word out there. Obviously being a Gold Coast-based organisation, we’ve got our links with lots of schools and clubs down here but it’s hard to identify some in Brisbane, so I guess that’s our goal is finding a way to break into that and get the word out.
13:48 Fiona: And is it just males in the Queensland State Inclusion Side?
13:52 Daniel: At the moment the Queensland State Inclusion Team, when we picked the team, that is at the moment just males. They’re looking at trying to develop a female league, and in a couple of years we’ve had female exhibition games. I know in Sydney we had an exhibition game with the female athletes. At the moment, especially up in Queensland and where we’re at in our growth stage, it’s primarily males in that. But leading into that, all our games that are based in Queensland they’re all inclusive, so girls are able to come and we’ve had several girls come along the way and participate and had a great time.
14:33 Carers Queensland Announcement: If you or someone in your family is using the NDIS, you’ve probably already heard of the myplace portal. Time to level up and make myplace work for you. Carers Queensland’s myplace Portal Support Sessions can help you find your way around, and get confident accessing your plan information online.
Charge up your phone, tablet or laptop and bring it along to a free session near you. Find out more, check for events coming up near you, and book your spot online at carersqld.com.au. You can also call us on 1300 999 636.
15:09 Voiceover: From the football field to the basketball court, Paralympian Bridie Kean brought home silver when she represented Australia in London in 2012 and bronze in Beijing in 2008. During her sporting career she was involved with the Suncoast Spinners, a wheelchair sports club offering basketball and rugby. After retiring from competitive sport she got involved in their reverse inclusion program, getting non-disabled players involved in wheelchair sport to raise awareness, support, enthusiasm and to help the sports grow.
15:40 Dr Bridie Kean: I always played in their tournament when I was a high performance athlete, but I was very focused on my own training and performance. So it was when I retired from wheelchair basketball in 2015 I started working more closely with Spinners on the first reverse inclusion program that we delivered and I believe that was in 2017. Since then I have become President of the organisation, and am involved whenever I can be. The momentum from that first reverse inclusion project where we were fortunate to receive an ILC grant that meant we could start this initiative, and it’s just kept going and building from there.
16:21 Fiona: What do Suncoast Spinners see in the future? Next five to ten years, what would they like to achieve?
16:26 Bridie: I think we want to keep doing what we’re doing in terms of delivering wheelchair basketball to our community, and making that as accessible to anyone who wants to play. So we’ll continue to be an all-inclusive club where we welcome people with and without disabilities to play wheelchair basketball. We want it to be a sport for anyone who wants to play it, so we’ll continue to do that in the social sport space.
It’s really important for us to deliver social sport. It’s super exciting, the opportunities that come along with high performance sport and I can speak to those obviously from my own experience, but what I never want to get lost is the importance of social sport having a place. We don’t want that to become just a pathway focus to the elite side of the sport. It’s very important, but we also need to be making sure that people at all levels of the game can play. So that’s something in the next ten years that will stay really important to us as an organisation.
And then the other space is the schools, I think schools are such a great opportunity to introduce a wheelchair sport as a part of regular physical education. It was something that I didn’t have growing up in school and I do have, probably my worst memories of school are sitting on the sideline of PE classes and wanting to be involved but not having an adaptable version that I could always participate in. It was just that we didn’t know what we now know in terms of providing access to different sports. In the Sunshine Coast region that’s something we really want to tackle, and provide schools with the opportunity to have an inclusive sport as a part of their regular rotating sports that they provide students. That’s a big area of focus for us.
18:41 Voiceover: To find out more about the Suncoast Spinners visit suncoastspinners.com.au.
And if you’d like to check out AFL Queensland’s inclusion options head to aflq.com.au and look for ‘community programs’.
A big thanks to Fiona Stutz for the interviews in today’s episode.
Thanks for joining us at Choice and Control, a Carers Queensland podcast. For more information about the National Disability Insurance Scheme or Carers Queensland contact us online at carersqld.com.au.
You can call us on 1300 999 636 or head to facebook.com/CarersQueenslandNDIS.
Mentioned in this episode
- Suncoast Spinners
- AFL Queensland's all-abilities programs
- Carers Queensland website
- Carers Queensland upcoming events and workshops
- Carers Queensland NDIS on Facebook
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