Taranaki secondary school students enjoyed the Taranaki Secondary Schools Sports Association (TSSSA) All Abilities Athletics Day at the TET Stadium and Events Centre in Inglewood on Tuesday. Photo / Alyssa Smith
Taranaki secondary school students enjoyed the Taranaki Secondary Schools Sports Association (TSSSA) All Abilities Athletics Day at the TET Stadium and Events Centre in Inglewood on Tuesday. Photo / Alyssa Smith
Secondary school students leapt into fun at the Taranaki Secondary Schools Sports Association (TSSSA) All Abilities Athletics Day last week.
On Tuesday 96 students from Stratford High School’s Te Rangamarie unit, Inglewood High School, Te Paepae o Aotea, Spotswood College, Francis Douglas Memorial College, Waitara High School, New Plymouth Girls’ High School and Coastal School swapped classroom learning for fun in the sun at the TET Stadium and Events Centre in Inglewood.
TSSSA has worked in collaboration with Parafed Taranaki, Halberg Foundation, Special Olympics and Athletics Taranaki.
TSSSA regional sports coordinator Karla Ralph said this event was the biggest of the 11 events on their all ability calendar.
“This was our big end-of-year event to bring all of our disabled athletes together, connect and have fun.”
The athletics day had seven stations: high jump, a bouncy castle, long jump, 25m and 50m walk or running races and mini hurdles, javelin, egg and spoon and sack races and shotput and discus.
Ralph said all the field events were modified and adapted to suit every individual student’s needs to ensure they could participate, have success, be safe and have fun.
“We adapted the equipment and athletic activities so everyone could be engaged and involved. The javelin had three stations with catch tail balls with ribbons, nerf arrows and foamy javelins. Egg and spoon races allowed our wheelchair athletes to put the egg on their trays,”.
Image 1 of 13: Stratford High School student Manny Munroe, 18, gets ready to throw at the Taranaki Secondary Schools Association (TSSSA) All Ability Athletics Day at the TET Stadium and Events Centre in Inglewood on Tuesday, October 22. Photo / Alyssa Smith
She said as well as getting out in the sunshine, the day was also about creating friendships.
“We always try and mix up the groups to ensure the students mix with other schools and build new friendships.”
It wasn’t just the para-athletes learning a new skill, Ralph said; staff from Sport Whanganui also joined in.
“They came to Taranaki to help and observe the event, with a plan to run something similar in Whanganui.”
Halberg Foundation regional adviser for Taranaki, Whanganui and Manawatū, Max Pringle and TSSSA regional sports coordinator Karla Ralph at the Taranaki Secondary Schools Sports Association (TSSSA) All Abilities Athletics Day in Inglewood on Tuesday. Photo / Alyssa Smith
Ralph said the event went smoothly, thanks to the team of volunteers.
“We had volunteers from Parafed Taranaki, the Halberg Foundation, Special Olympics New Zealand and Inglewood High School. The Inglewood students had received inclusivity training and were there running the activities and getting involved. We’ve noticed our para-athletes love when their peers get involved. We also had the support of teacher aides and staff from the different schools.”
New Plymouth Girls’ High School students Portia Plumtree and Eden Fairweather, both 18, at the Taranaki Secondary Schools Sports Association (TSSSA) All Abilities Athletics Day in Inglewood on Tuesday.
New Plymouth Girls’ High School students Eden Fairweather and Portia Plumtree, both 18, were there.
Eden said she enjoyed all the activities, but her favourite was discus.
“I had a lot of fun today. I also like the long jump and high jump.”
Special Olympics New Zealand regional sports coordinator for the west of the Lower North Island, Steve Lyster, said events like the All Abilities Athletics Day are important.
“It’s about socialising, experiencing different things and having a go. The athletes were great supporters of each other, always encouraging people to do their best.”
Parafed Taranaki senior adviser Tracy Coker said the team were happy to work alongside TSSSA to deliver the event.
“The collaborative approach is a sustainable way to create quality events that cater to everyone.”
Halberg Foundation regional adviser for Taranaki, Whanganui and Manawatū, Max Pringle, said it was great to see everyone participating.
“The best thing is this event allows our athletes to participate in their own way as the event was pretty fluid, flexible and adaptable meaning everyone experienced their own kind of fun.”
