Ashingdon Primary Academy Games2Inspire 2022
Patrick and I were joined by my nephew Tom Roper for this visit to Ashingdon Primary Academy, in Essex. We were made most welcome by head teacher Mrs Leasure and Mr Robertson.
The whole school assembly produced some great questions:
How do you brush your teeth?
Who inspired you?
and I was able to demonstrate my tennis, albeit gently. The pupils were particularly taken with the Road2Rio challenge and were badgering their teachers to watch the full video on YouTube afterwards!
It was a full day with Years 2 to 6 all having a session of inclusive sports. I was very pleased when a Year 2 pupil who uses a wheelchair was persuaded to come out of it to join in sitting netball (as goal shooter), goalball (very brave stopping the ball) and new age kurling (adept at using the pusher). His teammates worked hard to include him, living up to our strapline of “No one left on the Bench!”
Adding in Year 2 – to accommodate the young wheelchair user – made the timings tight but we flexed it and made it work, enabling 5 year-groups to experience the fun of playing inclusive sport.
Ashingdon Primary @AshingdonAPA
A truly inspiring visit from John Willis and his team today 💪🏼. A big thank you from Year 5; we loved listening to your amazing stories, hearing how you have overcome challenges and taking part in the sporting activities. #power2inspire
Ashingdon Primary @AshingdonAPA
In Y3 we loved our power2inspire session today. We played sit down netball, goal ball and had a go at curling.
Ashingdon Primary @AshingdonAPA
Y2 have had a brilliant morning with John and his team 🏐🏅👟💛 @Power2InspireUK
Year 4 had an exciting inclusive sports workshop with John and his team @Power2InspireUK
All three of us, but particularly Tom, was bowled over by the school lunch – really tasty sausages and proper mash potato. This set Patrick and I off on reminiscing about truly awful food served back in the 70s and 80s! I take my hat off to the catering staff today who provide excellent meals on a shoestring in a very quick turnaround.
Mrs Leasure completed our day by saying she was emailing local schools in the trust to encourage them to book us while the discount is available. She said the messages were ones all schools would love to have. Thank you!
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.
Cambridge University Cricket Club PowerHouseGames 2022
I do so like it when students are proactive. So when Priyanka Patel, co-President of CUCC, got in touch asking for a PowerHouseGames, I was delighted. Especially since we had missed the 2021 version. However with a pre-season cricket tour planned and schools not mixing before the February half term there really was little time to fit one in.
So well played Priyanka and Alex Laybourne (my very able deputy) for arranging the morning in just 10 days!
We were joined by St Faith’s and King’s College Schools, and our friends from Castle Special School. But it wasn’t the usual class of PE students from Castle but an ordinary class. Although only ten were able to attend – illness and other things are likely to reduce numbers at this time of year – we were able to request volunteers from the gym session that the University Sports Centre is enabling on a Monday morning! A big thanks to Nick Brooking of the Centre and to Kevin Martin at Castle for creating these sessions and providing us with some reserves!
We deliberately focussed on cricket, adding table and kwik cricket, to our usual repertoire of boccia, new age kurling, goalball and sitting netball.
A big thank you to Ed Hyde, who came to help out and lead the kwik cricket. I loved the way both teams in each pairing learned how best to include the less able players, including dropping the ball in front of a player rather than bowling it at them.
Bob Barnes of Cambridge Lakes Golf Course – well worth a visit! – looked after table cricket, which was remarkably competitive, regardless of the small balls and tiny bats! Steve Shaw ably led the sitting netball and Tom Roper was not fazed by wearing pink and joining a team. But the volunteer star was Rosie, Paula and Mark Slater’s dog, who helped calm a number of anxious children as they came into the hall. A marvellous recruit!
It was wonderful to see the teams bonding and how they developed. Communication is key in so many of our games, and so there was a great opportunity for all to practice their listening skills: especially in goalball.
Nick Batchelor of King’s was really pleased as he had brought some of the less sporty children, who saw the benefits of just playing and having fun with sports. He is very keen they come again.
The university cricketers were so pleased they were immediately on about securing a date in a year’s time! Let’s hope we can be back to normal and be able to plan that far ahead with confidence. Because everyone involved lived up to both our number one rule – “To have Fun!” – and our tagline, “No one left on the Bench!”
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.
Hockley Primary School PowerHouseGames 2022
I do not know who was more shocked, the lovely teacher Jane Stone or I, when we realised it was over five years since I had visited this “Outstanding” primary school in Essex. Jane was so keen that I deliver assemblies to all ages in the school and give as many of the pupils as possible a chance to play our inclusive games that we alighted on a two-day format. And it worked really well!
On Monday 21st February Patrick Gosling (our champion volunteer) and I delivered our Games2Inspire to the three classes of the combined year group Years 5/6. The pupils played New Age Kurling, Sitting Volleyball, Sitting Netball, and Goalball in hour long sessions. This followed an assembly for Years 3-6, which included some tough questions, such as
“What has been your greatest achievement to-date?”
I suggested setting up Power2Inspire, but only so long as it survives me and carries on bringing inspiration, learning and fun through play!
I loved visiting the early years/reception groups in their own classrooms separately on Monday and Tuesday. When I suggested my daughter’s forecast that I should be a duck when I grew up had come true, due to my artificial feet imitating duck feet, they disagreed. They thought I was more like a penguin!
On the Tuesday Patrick and I had the Year 3/4s and an assembly to the Year 1/2s. The same games were played with the same joyful enthusiasm. A straw poll at the end of each session gave a resounding win for sitting volleyball as the favourite, though every activity had its champions. Jacob Bowen, the outside PE provider, joined us and declared his favourite was New Age Kurling – ideal for after-school clubs – and Sitting Netball, the game I claim to have invented, as it could occupy a lot of children inside in wet weather safely.
It was such a success we are hatching a plan to repeat in the summer along with a SEN school to truly embed the lesson that, “No one be left on the bench!”
Inspired? Then Get Involved!
If you are interested in hosting a PowerHouseGames in your school / college / company / community group then we would love to hear from you. As you have read we have even found a way to make our PowerHouseGames a success in lockdown so don’t hesitate to get in touch and we can help you plan your very own PowerHouseGames!!
Click the button here to find out more.
Festival of Inclusive Cricket 2021
On Saturday 4th December, with the Ashes series fast approaching in Australia, Power2Inspire ran their first Festival of Inclusive Indoor Cricket at Cambridge University Sports Centre. It was amazing to see so many people having fun and playing cricket, in one form or another, regardless of ability – bringing smiles and laughter from all of those who attended, and adding more joy to the Christmas spirit that was beginning to kick in.
As always with our festivals, the aim is inclusion through sport. Our mission is to embed inclusive sport in the community, bringing people together to play, regardless of age, gender, faith, sexual orientation, or ability – and we have a vision that “no one is left on the bench”. The event saw us welcome 50 people to enjoy various versions of inclusive cricket, and seeing these groups, with its range of abilities and backgrounds, playing together showcased our mission in action.
One of our newest trustees, Richard Hill MBE, was our cricketing expert on the day, and he ran the table cricket and clock cricket games. Matt Morley and James Williams from Cambridgeshire County Cricket, who we thank for their support before and at the event, ran Kwik Cricket and made sure those interested in more cricket after the event had the contacts to try inclusive cricket clubs in the area. There were also some cricket skills games running during the 10am – 1pm time slot (many of the participants stayed for the full three hours!) – a truly action-packed morning of cricket!
Trustee Richard Hill MBE, our cricketing expert for the day!
Our founder John Willis, getting very competitive with Table Cricket!
Power2Inspire’s No.1 Rule is “To have FUN!” – and that was certainly the case. Because of this we have already committed to host the winter festival in 2022, alongside interest in a summer festival as well! So, there are no excuses not to be involved next year!
As a final note, we would like to extend a massive thank you to the ECB for their grant to run the event, and to Cambridgeshire County Cricket for their support.
“It was great to support the Power2Inspire Festival of Inclusive Cricket this morning.”
Cambridgeshire County Cricket.
“Just to say many thanks for the session on Saturday. My son (and I) really enjoyed it, and we look forward to joining other Power2Inspire events in future.”
Parent of Festival attendee.
If you’re now inspired for Inclusive Sport then do join us at our next big event:
No event found!
Hoohaah and Power2Inspire 2022
Power2Inspire is delighted to announce its partnership with hoohaah as the official chosen charity for 2022.
hoohaah was set up by Hannah Hodgson and Alison Cronk in 2012 – their first event ‘The Wimpole 10k hoohaah’ in May of that year was a tremendous success and raised a significant sum for the East Anglia Air Ambulance. Since that date hoohaah has added many new venues to their portfolio, raising over £100k for local charities in that time. Power2Inspire are delighted to be the chosen charity partner for 2022.
Power2Inspire was set up by John Willis, who was born without fully formed arms or legs, to encourage more inclusion through sport. As a youngster he was left on the sidelines when it came to sport, so he is determined that “No one be left on the bench!” regardless of age, gender, race, faith or disability. He says:
“We are delighted to be partnering with hoohaah events and to be working with Hannah. This is a great opportunity to support the charity either through running in beautiful and unique settings, or through volunteering as marshals at the events. We are also hoping to run one of our iconic Super Sensory 1km at one of the hoohaah events in 2022.This partnership allows people the chance to be involved and support the charity in several ways, meaning “No one is left on the bench!”
The race list for 2022 is as follows:
You can register for races by clicking the button here and anyone interested in marshalling should contact Hannah directly at info@justhappen.co.uk for more details.
Contact details and Notes to editors
John Willis can be contacted here
Facebook: facebook.com/Power2InspireUK
Twitter: @Power2InspireUK
- John Willis won the “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the “Cambridge News Pride of Cambridge Community Awards 2014 – http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/SLIDESHOW-Winners-Pride-Cambridge-Community/story-23026321-detail/story.html
- Link to 2021 SuperSensory1Km: https://www.power2inspire.org.uk/super-sensory-1k-2021/
- Link to 2019 SuperSensory 1km (including video): https://www.power2inspire.org.uk/super-sensory-1k-2019/