DISABILITY
Location: Birmingham
Words & Images: Graeme Longstaff @grayo–
The Greatest Place on Earth If someone asked you to describe the greatest place on earth, where would your mind automatically whisk you away to? That beach in Bali, the cobbled streets of Croatia or the mountaintops of the Alps? For me it’s a little closer to home – Chelmsley Wood, to be precise. Now, I can pretty much guarantee that no one has ever called Chelmsley Wood the greatest place on earth. However, every Saturday morning I take one of my lads there, Ted, aged six, to football practice. “Big deal,” I hear you say in your head. You’d be right – this is a big deal. You see, Ted has a form of Cerebral Palsy called a Hemiplegia that affects the right side of his body. He suffers from a lack of balance and coordination; what he calls “being wobbly”. This also affects his confidence in day-to-day life and can sometimes hold him back from getting stuck in with other kids. However, from just playing in the garden we stumbled upon something Ted loved, where he seemed to forget about his Hemi and just be free. That was football. After some time playing at home it was obvious Ted yearned for something a little more, something to call his own. So, we set out to look for a place where Ted could train and play in surroundings
gets Ted out of bed faster than know-
that not only understood his disability,
ing he’s off to play his beloved football.
but most importantly allowed him to feel
But football is only part of Ted's love.
teams like this exist, and this is down
part of something.
He loves his friends, his coaches and
to the dedication of the club and the
his feeling of belonging. And you know
coaches. I need to say a huge thank
what? I can fully get this.
you to Scott, Callum and Darren – you
After lots of internet reading (by my rockstar wife, I must add) looking at All Abilities teams such as Aston Villa and
When you come down here and just
to be from these young guys and gals. However, there’s a big reason that
all hold a special place in our family's
West Bromwich Albion, we focused
observe what goes down on that pitch,
heart, and I’m sure in the hearts of the
our attention on Solihull Moors Ability
it pretty much brings me to tears every
other players' families.
Counts Foundation.
time. Tolerance, acceptance and unadul-
We reached out to Scott Langford
Also, a huge shout out to the guys
terated inclusion. None of the kids care
from Nike Teamsport (you know who
from Solihull Moors and we were
about race or religion or sexuality or abil-
you are) and Kitlocker who are helping
welcomed down to check out the
ity or pretty much anything – apart from
us sort out the junior team and frame
training session. The rest, as they say,
having fun and playing football. The world
football team with their very own kit!
is history! Over one year later nothing
could learn a pretty good lesson in how
Love from the Longstaffs. TGP
