Starting success
What a triumph! Our first trip to Birmingham and what an amazing venue: the University of Birmingham’s main sports hall. The schools, corporate volunteers and helpers did us all proud.
Building the Birmingham team
A big thank you to Andy Alford, Director of Sport at the University, who said in response to our thanks:
“It was our pleasure [to host] and I am glad the event went so well.”
We are jointly planning with Andy to recruit from the students of their Sport, PE and Coaching course, to make it bigger and better next time. Thanks too to Ross and his team for facilitating the morning beautifully.
Another huge thanks to Access Sport, in particular to Ella Carolan and Sophie Humphries, who brought it all together with help from Nikki English of Sport Birmingham. They recruited the schools and the wonderful deliverers of the six sports, creating pathways into those sports.
Coming together in the best way
That leads me to the six ‘deliverers’:
- Nigel, the Disability Development Officer at the Warwickshire Cricket Foundation. Using the indoor space well, he and Raja created a superb fast-paced laughter-inducing game, with no little skill.
- Tracey, a Boccia England Champion, understood the parameters within which we work and arranged competitive matches in a very short timeframe. James from BGF was very taken by Boccia, describing it as the best game!
- Trevor from Birmingham Goalball praised one young SEN student: “If you can be a natural at goalball, he is a natural. He is doing things [diving about!] that usually takes months to teach. I want to sign him up!”
- Tom and Wyatt from Bears Wheelchair Basketball ran a hugely popular session of wheelchair basketball, managing to play both tag and a short game. The smile on the young wheelchair user’s face when he could scoot past his opponents – “Gee, this is difficult,” said a corporate volunteer – lit up the whole hall.
- Richad and Ajay from the Albion Foundation led a “surprisingly tiring”, “great fun”, game of walking football. I really liked their small nets – put a wheelchair in front and it is a real challenge to score! They are exploring how we can take the PowerHouseGames to West Bromwich, as they have the venue and plenty of participants.
- Last, but not least, Nathan, from Parkour, led a fun, creative and challenging session using the centre’s equipment. He had participants running, jumping, vaulting and doing a forward roll. For those who wanted to do something different, they could go under the vault or jump onto the large mat. Inspiring, adaptive and fun: Parkour is a great addition to our repertoire.
A whole new community
And well done to the participating groups. We had students from SEN schools: The Pines, Victoria College and Ormiston Shelfield Academy; further students from SENSE; two intrepid students from the University of Birmingham, volunteers Ryan, Ian and Tim, and corporate volunteers from BGF, who smiled, clapped, cheered and led their teams with empathy and skill.
I have the t-shirt to prove it!
As Jeremy Macklin, Power2Inspire chair, said:
“It is lovely to spread the fun of a PowerHouseGames to Birmingham. Judging by the smiles, laughter, and fun being had, we need to repeat this success and grow throughout the city. With the support of the University, Access Sport, Sport Birmingham and companies such as the excellent BGF, we can make inclusive sport available to all in the city. Everyone here today will be able to say in years to come – I was there, at the very first Birmingham PowerHouseGames, and I have the t-shirt to prove it!”
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.
Huge thanks must go to Romy Whai for their fantastic photos which have really captured the fun and inclusive nature of the day!
