TABLE CRICKET: Stephen Harris (Kaikohe East School) playing table top cricket at the Northland Junior Disability Sports Day at the ASB Leisure Centre last Thursday. PICTURE/SUPPLIED
TABLE CRICKET: Stephen Harris (Kaikohe East School) playing table top cricket at the Northland Junior Disability Sports Day at the ASB Leisure Centre last Thursday. PICTURE/SUPPLIED
Forty athletes between the ages of seven and 21 contested 10 different codes at the inaugural Northland Junior Disability Sports Day in Whangarei last Thursday.
Event spokesperson Maia Lewis, Halberg Disability Sport Adviser for Northland, noted the very successful day allowed the athletes to compete in a range of disabilityspecific sports including boccia, goalball, sitting volleyball, wheelchair basketball and blind cricket.
"Really it was about having a go, not really about finding a new champion or anything, just get them to try new experience ... try sports that suit their impairments," said Lewis, whose role it is to help physically disabled young people across the region to connect with sport and recreation opportunities.
She noted the event was a collaborative effort hosted by the Halberg Disability Sport Foundation and Parafed Northland, while staff from NorthTec, Sport Northland, Northern Football Federation and Northland Cricket Association were among local sporting providers who jumped on board to help out.
"A real community effort. We didn't drive the sports, we just help upskill the providers."
The Northland event will help prepare the team to represent Northland at the 2016 New Zealand Junior Disability Games in Cambridge next April. It is planned to make the Northland Junior Disability Sports Day an annual event.
