Learning through league

Students experience wheelchair footy as part of popular inclusivity program

CASSIDY PEARCE

Stage one students at Jamisontown Public School have taken learning to the next level, with staff handing it to the experts to demonstrate inclusivity at its best.

Part of the new Sporting Schools initiative, the school applied for a grant earlier this year to introduce the students to sports less common to those you might play on a weekend.

Emma Stanley, a teacher in the school’s Learning and Support Unit, which they call the Learning Cove, said that wheelchair rugby league was the perfect fit.

“Because we’ve got our three support unit classes, it was really important to give them an opportunity to integrate into mainstream and have a fun experience together, whilst teaching mainstream kids who may not have seen a lot of kids with disabilities that they are cool, fun kids,” she said.

The program is run by volunteers who double as wheelchair rugby league pros, including Cherie Moulang, who most recently represented New South Wales in State of Origin.

For Moulang, the program, which sees students learning all about the sport through theory work and games, is all about promoting inclusivity.

“I think they need to understand what it’s like for somebody else who has to live in a wheelchair 24 hours a day,” she said.

“This gives them a small taste of it, and it normalises it. It makes it part of an everyday appearance.”

Though some of the students, and parents, were hesitant at the beginning of the three- day program, Stanley said that didn’t last very long.

“I think they were unsure of what it was, and even some of the parents were unsure of what it was, and how they would actually play rugby,” she said.

“There were a couple of kids on the first session that were a bit hesitant, didn’t want to go in, didn’t want to sit in the wheelchairs, so they observed. But, by 10-15 minutes into the second session, they were joining in and saying how much fun it was.”

By the end of it all, Stanley was ecstatic to see just how much the students had gotten out of the unique experience.

“I think they’ve learned a lot about disabilities and wheelchairs – I know they did a lot of educating of the different types of wheelchairs there are,” she said.

“Because some of our classes are integrated with the Learning Cove kids, and we had some split classes, I think they may have even just found some brand new friendships, and experienced a fun activity that I don’t think a lot of the kids would have experienced otherwise.”

Having already applied for the grant again in term two, Stanley said that she’d encourage other schools to get involved as well if they can.

“We’re hopeful that either the stage two kids at the school, or the stage three kids at the school can have a go next term,” she said.