A second visit to Stephen Perse and another success. If anything, it was better than last year. Despite the weather – it was wet for large parts of the day – fun was had by 142 Year 9s.
Following an assembly in the hall, when I shared my life story and urged them to embrace public exams as I was initially prohibited from taking O levels – it is such a life changer to be allowed to take exams – the 6 classes took part in 6 different activities.
These were goalball, sitting volleyball, sitting netball, tabletop games, boccia/new age kurling and a blindfold cone slalom challenge. We paired boccia and new age kurling to keep up the interest. For similar reasons we had table cricket, polybat and tabletop curling. We haven’t used these much before, so it was lovely to see them creating excitement, competition and learning there are games for wheelchair users and those with limited mobility.
We had six different rotations featuring five inclusive sports: Boccia, Goalball, Sitting Volleyball, New Age Kurling, and Sitting Netball. As with all Games2Inspire, these activities were inclusive and engaging for all. The school also held a brilliant inclusive kilometre where students of all abilities could run, walk, wheel, skip or jump to the finish line! It was also lovely to see the school run a #108challenge as part of their fundraising for Power2Inspire. It is always wonderful to see the legacy of my own #108challenge Kayak continue into 2024 and I hope to encourage more schools, individuals and organisations to participate in their own #108challenge. The day before, the schools had a non-uniform day to boost their fundraising efforts, which was a fantastic success. Prizes were up for grabs for the class and individual who raised the most funds.
We altered the inclusive kilometre into a cone slalom around the main hall, which avoided the poor weather outside. Splitting the class in to approximately 12 pairs, each pair, one blindfolded, one acting as a guide, had to negotiate around the hall, ensuring the blindfolded partner walked through a series of ‘gates’ (two cones separated by about 30 cms). The second time round these gates were made much tighter requiring increased accuracy. The addition of a deduction of points if a cone was touched brought even greater concentration.
To finish the blindfold exercise, we asked the class to stand in a circle, hold hands and then put on their blindfolds. The task was then to create a square! This is extremely difficult and requires great cooperation and communication. One teacher suggested to one class when their shape looked more like an amoeba, to try a circle again, which was successful and then a triangle, which was excellent, and their second effort at a square was almost spot on.
The Year 9s are fundraising for Power2Inspire for taking part. This will help enormously with our efforts to inspire inclusive sport around the country, in particular taking these Games2Inspire into state schools. And a select 12 from the year group will come, we hope, to one of our PowerHouseGames at the Cambridge University Sports Centre.
A big thank you to Charlotte Wells and her sports staff team for supervising the games and making the day so successful.
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.
