Cambridge University Rugby Union PowerHouseGames 2023
The weather gods were with us! On a beautiful September morning we held our sixth PowerHouseGames with Cambridge University’s Rugby Club, sponsored by our great friends, accountants, PEM. We were outdoors at the University’s athletics and hockey ground, so the sunny, dry and still conditions were vital.
Enjoying the fun were Felsted School, Impington Village College, and Castle Special School. The pupils got right into the games – more ambulant as we were outside: touch rugby, walking football, kwik cricket, goalball, sitting volleyball – with football tennis at times as the ground was still damp – and boccia.
Jamie Tucker of That’s TV attended her first PowerHouseGames to capture the fun. You can catch her report here:
We are so grateful to PEM, who have now been major partners for 6 years. Amy Hayden, CSR and Community Lead explained the value to PEM:
“We had an amazing day yet again at the PowerHouseGames 2023! We are proud to have supported this event for many years and each time we thoroughly enjoy getting stuck in with the inclusive games and leading a team of rugby players and school students. It is a fantastic and inspiring day hosted by John; we feel very lucky to be involved each year. It is a great morning out and truly such a rewarding experience.”
And Partner Nikki Loan added,
“A big thank you to John and PEM for making me feel young again, spending time team and skill-building with some enthusiastic young people.”
Adam Smith, who gasped through a broad smile that he couldn’t resist the gap offered him in his touch rugby game, and realised he wasn’t as young as he thought he was explained,
“PEM have sponsored the Powerhouse games for the past 6 events and its an excellent event to participate in, helping individuals building skills and teamwork in a fun, exciting environment. John’s enthusiasm wore off on all of us at such a well organised event. We can’t wait for next year”
Corporate partners are vital to us as they allow us to create these fun events. If your company would like to get involved, help the community, and provide worthwhile volunteering for your employees, please get in touch.
What are PowerHouseGames?
PowerHouseGames are incredible sports days using adapted games and sports, with activities designed to be accessible and fun for everyone, old and young, with disabilities and none, sporty and not. Participants are encouraged to test their beliefs about ability and disability and what it is to be different, to learn to respect other people’s differences, and Power2Inspire works with them to challenge their assumptions of what they can and cannot do.
Inspired? Then Get Involved!
Would your university sports team, or school love to be involved in a PowerHouseGames? Could your company support our mission by volunteering at one of our PowerHouseGames? If so, then we would love to hear from you. We are also always looking out for people willing to fundraise for Power2Inspire through their own inspiring means. Or, you could volunteer individually at one of our events, or you could give to the ongoing work of Power2Inspire. There are SO MANY WAYS we can all help to ensure “no on else is left on the bench!” Click the button here to find out more.
Surprised at Quilters Junior School Paralympic Week
I was delighted to return to Quilters Junior School, Billericay, on the 11th- 15th September to host our Sixth Paralympic Week. It has become such a tradition that younger siblings entering Year 3 are already super excited from all they have heard from their older brothers and sisters. They cannot wait for their turn – this fills me with pride!
The format has been honed over the years and we’ve now mastered it.
We start the week with an assembly where I explain how I have overcome the obstacles placed in my way during my life, and how they too can overcome their challenges, if they ‘Never Give Up’ and learn to face them with the mantra, “I can’t do it…..yet!” and adopt the philosophy that “Practice makes Progress”. These have developed into my straplines, and its excellent to hear children chant them back to me.
Year 6, as the veterans of the games, play first. We host one class at a time in the morning and a competition in the afternoon between the classes. We play new age kurling, goalball, sitting volleyball and sitting netball and each game has their champions. The competition awards more points for all the Quilters’ values – kindness, respect, resilience, teamwork, perseverance – than for winning the individual matches.
Year 5 followed on the Tuesday, Year 3 with help from Y5 leaders on the Thursday and Year 4 with help from Y5 and 6 on the Friday. The competition is fierce but inclusive. It is remarkable how often a crucial game of kurling is won by a “non-sporty” small child, how the good behaviour of unlikely suspects can swing the result. It is a triumph for inclusive sport.
I was challenged by Mr Wade, the head teacher, to a tennis match, but as he was absent, he invited Mr Holmes to deputise for him. Unwittingly I wrecked some devilish plans by insisting this be on the Tuesday afternoon. This allowed me to do an assembly on the Thursday about my recent 108 Challenge – the 108 mile paddle down the river Thames and the nomination I had received and aired on ITV Anglia for the region’s Fundraiser of the Year. It also allowed me to invite Rosie Williams, Power2Inspire ambassador and alumna of Quilters, to attend on the Friday. She recounted her story of her determination to be a gymnast and how she became the British U12 Disabled Gymnastics Champion, in part from her exposure to Paralympic Week.
Back to the tennis: Mr Holmes just defeated me in a closely fought ‘championship’ point!
Mr Wade regrouped, after my meddling with his plans, and requested I play again on the Friday “to film it for Quilters TV” and Mr Berack was recruited for the purposes because he had been saying how good he was at tennis – an exaggeration from Mr Wade.
It was all a ruse. I was just starting to play when I was surprised – it was a complete shock! – by Sophie Wiggins of ITV Anglia, who presented me with the Fundraiser of the Year Award. Please do watch the video (linked below) which captures the surprise. I was doubly shocked as my family had sneaked on to the playground too and I hadn’t seen them. A wonderful surprise!
You can watch the moment John Willis is surprised as the winner of Pride of Britain fundraiser of the year for the Anglia region, and read about John on the ITV website, by clicking the image.
And this all happened during Quilters’ Paralympic Week! What a fabulous event!
It was a marvellous week, capped by a lovely award. I couldn’t think of a better place to receive it, especially as the Quilters students were quite so excited. The only cloud was the absence of Mr Wade, but the teachers coped admirably without him, and the students are outstanding examples of what can be achieved, with the right dedication from a fabulous teaching staff.
Thank you, Quilters, and I am already looking forward to the Seventh Paralympic Week!
Inspired? Then Get Involved!
If you are interested in hosting a Games2Inspire in your school / college / company / community group then we would love to hear from you. As you can read in our Latest News we have even found a way to make our Games2Inspire a success in lockdown so don’t hesitate to get in touch and we can help you plan your very own Games2Inspire!!
Click the button here to find out more.
Fundraiser of the Year targets Power2Inspire
I met Marco Sementa at the BBC Radio Cambridgeshire Make a Difference Awards in September last year. Marco was named Fundraiser of the Year for 2022. He arranges charity football matches, collecting money for local causes. Just to prove that the Awards themselves can make a difference, Marco volunteered to raise funds for Power2Inspire. He has hosted a number of games, culminating in two games at Peterborough United’s ground, raising an amazing £500 for Power2Inspire.
When Marco heard about what we do at Power2Inspire he was inspired. He said:
“I am looking forward to supporting you and the great work you do. I think with both our visions the team up will be great.”
He is hoping to persuade his employers, RSA Insurance in Peterborough, to match-fund his donation to Power2Inspire and is keen to create his own 108 Challenge – you too can sign up! He believes passionately in the power of sport to inspire so wants to continue fundraising for us for a long time to come.
Thank you Marco and thank you BBC Radio Cambridgeshire for both Making a Difference!
Inspired? Then Get Involved!
We are SO grateful for all the fundraising that is going on with the 108 Challenge. Your donations make a MASSIVE difference to people’s lives through Power2Inspire’s vision to ensure “no one is left on the bench!” THANK YOU!
If you’d like to donate NOW to the 108 Challenge click through to JustGiving by pressing the button here:
Great Easton Games2Inspire 2023
“Why do you look like a penguin?”
What a great question, posed by a Y2 pupil at this lovely, small, rural primary school in Essex.
Great Easton Primary School has a higher percentage of pupils with extra needs, which makes it a caring and inclusive school. The presence of a number of dogs, belonging to various members of staff, typified the wonderful laid back atmosphere.
We had two assemblies and three rounds of games – sitting volleyball, goalball and new age kurling – so a packed day. Fun was had, the learning was evident and the feedback great:
“John was so incredibly inspiring and made anything seem possible! The children thought he was awesome and absolutely loved the games that we played. They were accessible for all children, including those who find physical activity tricky, and allowed the children to experience the world for those with a physical disability as well as challenge them. The joy on Will’s face when he was able to retrieve the ball in goal ball was something else! “
“the kids were so inspired by John’s visit – they talked about him non-stop all day and I have had several parents message to say how much the kids spoke about it when they got home. “
So how do you answer a perceptive question like the opening one? My feet, artificial legs provided by Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, do have the shape of penguin feet; my height is not dissimilar to that of an Emperor Penguin; but I do not have a beak; and I was not wearing a dinner jacket. So I am only half convinced that I do look like a penguin!
The more interesting part of the question is the why?
Because I was born like this?
Because it was ordained?
Because penguins are really the rulers of the universe?
Who knows the answer but it did make my colleague and wonderful volunteer, Tom Roper, giggle and that set off most of the teaching staff. Happy days!
“It’s only the next day and I’ve already used John’s motto: ’never give up’ and ‘practice make progress’ in Maths today when we were learning to use a protractor, and in PE with over-arm throwing. It’s so great when the kids can attach it to someone different giving them advice instead of their boring teachers all the time! I think his is a visit they will remember forever 😃“
“In general the session was great because it helped the pupils to reflect on the bigger picture. We had a great discussion about perceptions and expectations and gratefullness.”
One child said:
“I won’t ever feel sorry for someone like that. Now I know when I see someone in a wheelchair or with mobility issues, I will know they can still achieve in sports and in life so I don’t need to feel guilty or sad.“
What are Games2Inspire?
Games2Inspire events are incredible events, most often hosted in schools, with an assembly and sports day which includes activities designed to be accessible and fun for everyone, with disabilities and none, sporty and not. Participants get to meet our inspirational founder, John Willis, and hear all about how John has overcome obstacles in his life. They then get to put that learning to practice by playing adapted games and sports together learning new skills and being encouraged to test their beliefs about ability and disability and what it is to be different, learning to respect other people’s differences. Power2Inspire works with them to challenge their assumptions of what they can and cannot do.
Inspired? Then Get Involved!
If you are interested in hosting a Games2Inspire in your school / college / company / community group then we would love to hear from you.
We are also always looking out for people willing to fundraise for Power2Inspire through their own inspiring means. Or, you could volunteer individually at one of our events, or you could give to the ongoing work of Power2Inspire. There are SO MANY WAYS we can all help to ensure “no on else is left on the bench!” Click the button here to find out more.
Middlesex CCC PowerHouseGames 2023
Middlesex County Cricket Club hosted the first ever county cricket PowerHouseGames on Friday 24th March, with professional players, women and coaches from the Middlesex women’s pathway, pupils from William Perkin School, staff from behind the scenes at the Club and disabled players from the Middlesex Super 1 Hub in Hackney.
Judging by the cheers, laughter, smiles and whoops, Power2Inspire’s Rule No. 1 was followed pretty closely – as everyone had FUN!
I was allowed to play – my first ever foray into the playing side of a PowerHouseGames! We started with Sitting Netball – gee, it is tiring! We were on the artificial turf or similar of the indoor cricket school, so scooting on our bottoms was more of a challenge. But it was such fun, and so inclusive.
New Age Kurling matched us, the royal blues, against the silver team including my great mate, Andrew Cornish, the CEO of Middlesex CCC. Andrew had worked out we have known each other for over 40 years! It added spice to the game, which his team then won. More worryingly, Andrew offered to recount stories of our escapades in our youth to anyone who came up to him afterwards!
On a more serious note, he commented on how wonderfully inclusive these games are and how much everyone of all standards and abilities can get out of them.
Round 3 brought boccia and a very competitive game against the purple team, led by Stevie Eskanazi. He did make it particularly hard on one end throwing the jack through the entrance gap, which brought mirth and no little skill.
‘Eski’ and Toby Rowland-Jones, the club’s co-captains, spoke magnificently at the close, saying what a privilege it was to be a part of the games and how they hoped it would be an annual fixture.
After a break – great snacks Alex – we were up against the red team in Kwik Cricket. I haven’t played any form of cricket for 20 years, so I was delighted to be able to hit the ball the first and second time. However, as you have to run every time you hit it – sideways to a marker (a set of stumps in this case) rather than forwards – by the fifth hit I was blowing so hard I couldn’t hit a barn door!
Fantastic fun to play with such talented professionals and be allowed to have fun – thank you Martin Andersson and Alan Coleman.
Sitting Volleyball gave us a welcome sit down. I noticed Angus Fraser, Cricket Development Director and a hero of mine in my youth as he bowled for England, came to watch and was encouraged to play. He commented:
“Played in two matches [one being sitting volleyball] and won both”.
The hunger never dies!
“I had a wonderful day at Lord’s with Power2Inspire. This session and the kind of engagement it provided was super as people with different abilities could get involved and do sports alongside each other with just a few adaptations, and this really helped to break down barriers. I have met lots of kind, enthusiastic, and brilliant young people who have reminded me that it’s really about having fun and bringing people together. Truly inspiring, and I look forward to getting involved again!“
Heidi Pathak
Our last game was Goalball, which I find hard. When you have one impairment, being given another – in this case being blindfolded – amplifies the challenge. However my team were excellent at giving instructions and Monica was a brilliant player for the final one versus one shoot out.
I would like to thank all my teammates for accommodating my needs and making it such fun.
I would also like to thank our wonderful volunteers: David Ellis (chauffeur, time-keeper, organiser), Heidi Pathak (player – on my team), Steve Shaw (player) and Paul Sanwell (photographer).
But the biggest thanks go to Kari Carswell, Participation Director, who battled hard to make it happen. She overcame venue booking, sponsor drop out – my, did they miss a trick! – an independent school dropping out – again what an error – and having to find, with the indefatigable Michael Wilson (Middlesex CCC Head of Disability Cricket), some disabled players at the last minute.
I will leave the last comment to Kari:
“I see so much value in doing this event so I’m extremely keen that we crack on and make it work regardless of numbers. I’m sure between us we can make it work.”
She filled all the spaces, made it happen and it worked: inclusive sport was enjoyed by 72 people with a wide range of abilities and backgrounds and ‘No one was left on the bench!’
What are PowerHouseGames?
PowerHouseGames are incredible sports days using adapted games and sports, with activities designed to be accessible and fun for everyone, old and young, with disabilities and none, sporty and not. Participants are encouraged to test their beliefs about ability and disability and what it is to be different, to learn to respect other people’s differences, and Power2Inspire works with them to challenge their assumptions of what they can and cannot do.
Inspired? Then Get Involved!
Would your university sports team, or school love to be involved in a PowerHouseGames? Could your company support our mission by volunteering at one of our PowerHouseGames? If so, then we would love to hear from you. We are also always looking out for people willing to fundraise for Power2Inspire through their own inspiring means. Or, you could volunteer individually at one of our events, or you could give to the ongoing work of Power2Inspire. There are SO MANY WAYS we can all help to ensure “no on else is left on the bench!” Click the button here to find out more.
With special thanks to Paul Sanwell of OP Photography for his fantastic photography on the day. All photos used with permission