ALL ABILITIES FOOTBALL Football4all
NSW Powerchair Football 2021 Year in Review
Football NSW provides a wide range of football opportunities and programs for people of all abilities. The inclusive opportunities and programs available within Football NSW fall under the name of football4all.
The 2021 NSW Powerchair League season kicked off in late February at Valentine Sports Park. Competing across two divisions, Premier League and Reserve Grade, teams from the Newcastle Jets, Sydney FC, the Western Sydney Wanderers and Hills United locked horns over 15 rounds. Powerchair Football is a modified version of football for powerchair users, using an oversized ball with metal guards acting as the athletes’ ‘boots’. 2021 saw the standard of play increase once again, with a dynamic game style and highly competitive matches between all sides.
Football NSW’s annual football4all Nova Employment Gala Day unfortunately could not go ahead in 2021 due to COVID-19. Although COVID-19 affected the football season, many of our 46 football4all programs managed to recommence playing for a shortened season. Positively, across all football4all programs, 1008 players (224 female and 784 males) participated. Hills Football (HF), Northern Suburbs Football Association (NSFA) and North West Sydney Football (NWSF) came together late in the year on Saturday 4th December to run a gala day and inclusive coaching workshop to celebrate International Day of People with a Disability (IDPwD). The day consisted of small sided games with PINK football4all, Hills Knights Football4all, Spirit FC and Blind and Vision Impaired players, among more. There was also an exciting showcase match with players from the Australian Pararoos team.
CP Football The National CP Football Championship was unable to run in 2021. This would have seen Football NSW sending two teams to compete on the Gold Coast. Although competition was disrupted, CP Football continued to strive to get back on the pitch with training camps at VSP.
Abdullah Karim (Hills United) and Ben Keyte (Western Sydney Wanderers) compete for the ball
The Pararoos Development Centre’s typical program was also affected by COVID-19. The centre is hosted by NSFA with monthly training sessions run for participants with Cerebral Palsy (CP), Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) or symptoms resulting from a stroke. Sessions are run by experienced coaches Ben Akins, Ben Sutton and Jeremy Boyce. Some training sessions for the Female only CP program ran early in 2021. These sessions were delivered by experienced coach Charlotte Ercil out of Valentine Sports Park for female participants with CP, ABI or symptoms resulting from a stroke.
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Dimitri Liolio-Davis (Newcastle Jets) takes on Jordan Crane (Sydney FC) 2021 ANNUAL REPORT | FOOTBALL NSW
11/3/22 10:57 am
