A busy few months for Irish Wheelchair Association Sport as clubs and athletes returned to activity across the country.
Following the start of the country’s re-opening, our clubs got back training together where the focus was on fun and socialising once again. One third of our clubs have returned to date with many more waiting on the return to indoor sport.
Last month, in partnership with Mayo Sports Partnership, we organised a ‘Come & Try’ event in Castlebar which was great success. Those who attended got to experience Para Athletics and Wheelchair Basketball, among other games and activities. Massive thank you to the Mayo Sports Partnership for organising the event and for the parents, coaches and athletes who attended on the evening. The aim now is to build on momentum and interest to establish a full-time multi-sport junior club for children with physical disabilities in partnership with Mayo LSP while also getting them involved in future IWA-Sports.
Our summer camp season began at the beginning of July with our annual members camp which was a massive success. The camp was ran in collaboration with SIDOS Lisa & Nuala from Dublin City Sport & Wellbeing partnership. Participants enjoyed Seated Volleyball, Wheelchair Hurling, Boccia, Orienteering, Wheelchair Tennis-Enjoy Tennis, Boxing with Dublin City Sport & Wellbeing Partnership, Yoga & mediation, Wheelchair Basketball, and our very own Ciara Staunton delivered a fantastic Wheelchair Rugby session. Huge thanks to the many staff from the aforementioned NGBS who supported the delivery of many of the activities. The summer camp fun has continued outdoors for our local community in St Anne’s Park where we continue to showcase our many para sports.
On July 25th, our first competition since March 2020 took place with the beginning of the Para Athletics Grand Prix and the first event, the Jamie Boyle Games, taking place in Templemore AC. A very excited group took part in their first event in over 18months much to everyone’s delighted at the venue. A number of other Para Athletic events are due to take place in the coming weeks with competitions running to September.
We continue to enjoy our collaboration with Basketball Ireland over the summer months, where Wheelchair Basketball features as part of the outdoor 3×3 tournaments at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght. This has been a fantastic success in terms of the outdoor option provided and raising the profile of 3X3 Wheelchair Basketball.
Lastly the very best of luck to the many IWA-Sport athletes on the Irish Paralympic Team competing in Tokyo 2020.