To Play or Not to Play
A parent once told me a story about a fundraiser event that she and her husband attended one evening that had dinner, music, dancing, lots of parents to talk to and even raffle baskets to win. She went on to say how nice the evening was and that they even won a raffle basket that had a sports theme to it that included some expensive equipment, clothing, coupons and a free registration voucher she could use to sign her child up for a particular sport. After telling me all about how neat it was to win this basket, she also asked me if I knew anyone who could use this? I was initially puzzled by this question at first, but then later understood what she was trying to say. She went on to explain that she doesn’t feel she could use any of these things she won for her children and that she didn’t think that playing sports was anything that her children could be a part of in her community because of the support they needed.
That not only made me so sad to hear that she felt this way, but it also got me thinking a little bit more about how this mindset could possibly be changed and if other parents felt the same way? I did some further interviewing and asked several other parents who have children with Autism and other Developmental Disabilities, some questions regarding the specific topic of sports and signing their children up for extra-curricular activities. After speaking with many parents about their thoughts and feelings regarding this subject, I started to realize that there are MANY parents that share this same concern, but often are not sure how to make this happen for their child? Most commonly, just about every parent I spoke to, DO wish for their child to engage in some type of sporting activity, but are not completely comfortable or know much about activities in their area that they feel their child could participate in successfully and with the support they may need.
I found that parents share two different perspectives on this. One: Some parents seem to feel that they will give it a try and sign their child up no matter what their child’s needs are so that they can experience this event and see how it goes, for good or for bad. OR Two: They never sign their child up because they feel there is not enough understanding or support to meet the needs that their children have and feel that they will be stared at and not accepted with others and therefore become apprehensive about signing their child up.
What if I told you that signing your child up for sports can be possible?
What if I told you that thinking a little bit out of the box and being open to some creativity and communication is all you need?
After interviewing several parents about this topic, I decided to start a “pilot sports program” in my community for children with special needs to see if 4 important questions could be answered? The questions were as follows:
Would parents be at all interested in signing their child up for this?
Would I be able to find a network of people in the community and different organizations to listen to what I had to say and help me make this a reality?
Would I be able to find people to volunteer to help coaches and parents with the children during this pilot sports program?
Would parents want to sign their children up again after attending this?
I am happy to say that I was able to answer YES, YES, YES and YES to all 4 of these questions. Yes… Parents were interested in signing their child up for this sports program we had to offer. In fact, so many families were so excited about the opportunity. Yes…with a little research, thinking out of the box and proposing something new to different organizations within the community, we were able to make this a reality. I called coordinators within our town for the different sports offered as well as contacted local youth organizations and church programs that already offered sports for children with special needs and pitched a new idea to them and some were 100% on board and willing! Yes…I did find SEVERAL people willing to volunteer their time to help the parents, coaches and children that signed up for this sports program. I advertised to siblings who had family members with special needs, recruited my own children and husband to help and advertised on Facebook to see who would like to earn volunteer hours to help with this? The response was amazing! Yes… parents said they would do this again. After the pilot sports program was finished, I created an anonymous survey for parents to fill out to provide feedback and asked if they would enroll their child again and 100% of the parents said they would. This was an overall success in getting children to be active in playing a sport, playing with peers and having families feel like they too were a part of something very special. It was an opportunity for parents to enjoy socializing with other parents and enjoy a nice summer evening outside while watching their children play. Many told me that this is the first time they have every done something like this all together. It was truly wonderful to see.
Spring is almost here and in a blink of an eye summer will be too. For a lot of us, you may be starting to think about plans for your kids to be playing a sport outside especially during these seasons. If you would like to know more about how to make this a possibility within your community and for your child, subscribe and download the free resource I created of the steps I took to make this a reality when I did it. I will share with you what I did that you could use as a resource for yourself to get ideas and tips from. You do not have to know much about each sport to create this and can learn as you go. All you need is to be willing to give it a try to make it happen.
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