Supporting young people with a disability is something Ignite has been involved in with programmes such as Thumbs Up and Athletes with a Disability over the past years. But this year marks the first opportunity for Ignite to get involved with these young people within the school environment.
This year Naenae College has given us the privilege to work with the amazing young people in their special needs unit. Over the weeks with them so far we have seen them grow in confidence and just pure enjoyment in being involved in new sports and activities such as speedball, lawn bowls, football, and other fun team games. They especially enjoyed the basketball drills and line tag which they were very talented at.
Feedback received from the students was a mix of enjoying the sports and activities but also the pleasure of getting to know and spending time with our staff. "The Ignite Sport mentors are just awesome!" "We have so much fun playing all the cool games they teach us."
The biggest buzz has been watching those students who normally opt out of exercise, enjoying the fun, physical challenges that Ignite Sport offers. The programme has been so positive, all-inclusive and tailored to the diverse range of abilities and needs of our students. We have all made new, cool friends who have become immersed in our Te Whanau Tahi community and we can't wait to continue our journey! Arohanui 'IS' Team!
Teacher
If you are interested in having us run a programme in your school or with your community based programme please contact us.