Northern students swap legs for wheels

It's not every day that able-bodied school kids get a chance to experience sport as a disabled athlete. But, that's exactly what Northern Health School pupils were given the chance to do.

Northern Health School first floated the idea with Parafed Northland, a disabled sports body which aims to offer a pathway and inclusion in sport, so that a student of theirs could participate equally in sport with classmates.

After approaching Parafed, the students were given a chance to have a crack at wheelchair basketball on Thursday. And, the idea turned out to be a winner.

Parafed Northland community sport adviser Leesa Andrewes said it was rare to have schools approach her to see what disabled sport was like.

"Inclusion and awareness were the main goals," Andrewes said. "They [the pupils, accompanied by a few teachers] also had an appreciation of the guys who'd been playing a while and the skills they've got, as well as their speed.

"[It was] a small group and they all, I think, gained some skills throughout the session. And, I suppose, had a bit more appreciation for the difficulty the chair brought to basketball rather than your regular basketball."

Andrewes said Parafed was seeking funding to take its wheelchair basketball chairs around Northland to build awareness and get more disabled people involved in sport.

Parafed was looking to have a wheelchair basketball team entered in a winter league competing against able-bodied basketballers who would borrow a chair to play against wheelchair athletes.