My trip to Westerings Primary Academy on Monday 5th February came about from a very young pupil from Hockley School pestering his teacher mum! He went on so much about my assembly, she had to persuade her head teacher to invite me in!
Mr Adam Stainsbury, the head, was thrilled that my assembly covered the two key messages for their term: resilience and determination. By the end I had the children repeating after me:
“Never give up”,
“Practice makes Progress”, and especially,
“I can’t do it…[pregnant pause]….YET!”
After the assembly we played sitting volleyball, goalball and new age kurling, in eight groups of about 30, in 30-minute sessions. A tiring but very rewarding day.
A big shout out for our three volunteers – David Ellis, Rosie Williams and her gran, Carol. David has been a stalwart of many games now, but this was only his second at a Games2Inspire. [His first was at Quilters, when I was awarded the Pride of Britain regional fundraiser of the year award, but as he (and I) was unaware of the surprise, he was packing up when it was made! I feel guilty he missed it.)
Rosie is our youngest ambassador – read all about her here. Rosie was the Under 12 British Disability Gymnastics Champion 2022, and officially joined Power2Inspire as an ambassador and volunteer.
She is so good with the children, so quietly confident, she is a wonderful role model and ambassador. Carol really embraced her volunteering, looking after the goalball, cajoling the pupils to give instructions (learning which is right and which left is a start!) and keep their blindfolds down, so they don’t cheat!
It was a pleasure to visit a new school and from the enthusiasm of the children, one to be repeated year on year!
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.
