Planning For Participation and an Accessible Warrnambool – All Abilities Sports Day

South West Sport has a long history of supporting people with a disability to get active through the organisations Access for All Abilities program. However, thanks to a $50,000 Reimagine Health Grant from VicHealth, we have begun working with the community of Warrnambool and with disability service providersto co-design an Accessible Active Participation Plan for Warrnambool.

The project aims to reimagine what our communities look like and how they function for people with a disability, creating more opportunities for active participation, social inclusion, and social connection. Ensuring that all members of our community have an opportunity to participate in sport and recreation in a way that meets their needs.

With a focus on co-design and community engagement the organisation will be reaching out to people with lived experience of disability, local clubs, service providers, like minded community organisations, and local government to ensure the plan is developed with and by the community it represents.

A keystep in this community engagement happened today when we hosted an All-Abilities Sports Day at the Reid Oval for year 5 & 6 Students from Merri River School. The students tested their skills at cricket, football, and soccer, thanks to the generous volunteer and equipment support from Nestles Cricket Club, Brierly Christ Church Cricket Club, Warrnambool Wolves Soccer Club, and AFL Western District.

The day provided a fantastic opportunity for the students to participate in a range of sports, and test out the newly redeveloped oval, as well as provided our team an opportunity to chat to students and teachers in a friendly and approachable environment, allowing us to understand how they like to get active and what kinds of accessible participation opportunities they would like to see locally. Hearing directly from young people about the opportunities they hope for is vital to supporting us to reimagine a more active and accessible future in Warrnambool for people with a disability.

We were also lucky enough on the day to be joined by CEO of VicHealth Sandro Demaio who stopped by to check out the All-Abilities Sports Day and chat to some of the students and teachers.

The organisation hopes this project will act as a pilot, creating a model that maybe able to be rolled out in other local government areas, should we be able to secure additional funding.