Feature
- Rewards of recreation
- Kids in competition
- It's never too late
- The elderly and recreation
- Robert Welsh - 98 not out
- Keari Harvey
- Available from the library...
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Rewards of recreation
"The word recreation is really a very beautiful word. It is defined in the dictionary as 'the process of giving new life to something, of refreshing something, of restoring something.' This something, of course, is the whole person." Bruno Hans Geba (Psychologist and trainer of US Olympic skiers)
"Champions are ordinary people who do extraordinary things" Carl Lewis (Olympic gold medallist)
New Zealanders spend $1 billion every year on sport and physical leisure activities. We love to participate, and people with disabilities are no exception. According to SPARC (Sport and Recreation New Zealand) reports, 96 percent of people with a disability are active in some kind of sport or physical activity outside of work. Why? The benefits, says Paralympics gold medallist Tim Prendergast, are enormous.
"Increased self-esteem, an expanded social network, the building blocks for work-related skills, kids who improve their academic achievement by being fit and healthy."
Tim works as a Recreation Advisor for the Foundation in Wellington, and is an inspiration to anyone with a vision impairment who's aiming for the top. He's not long back from winning another gold medal for the 800m at the World Indoor Athletics championships in Sweden.
"I was really keen on sport as a kid," he says. "I had parents and siblings who were into it and so I continued on after losing my sight."
Kids in competition
Dedication, determination and desire are the three qualities Blind Sport CEO Ray McLeod lists as prerequisites for success. The organisation ran its first Sports School in January this year to encourage future winners. "Kids are eager to get involved," he says. "They're competitive by nature."
The special school was held at the Millennium Institute for Sport and Health in Auckland's North Shore. It's both an elite academy and a community recreation and
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research facility. Seventeen blind and vision-impaired young people aged 11-19 crammed five days of activity into three and tried out seven sports, including swimming and athletics. Four athletes and two coaches from Fiji and Tonga were among them.
The majority went on to compete in the Southern Cross Games in April. (See back page for more on the Games.) Ray is keen to see even more kids become part of the pool of talent.
"Opportunities are increasing for participation internationally," he says. "Most kids have no idea what's needed to get to that level. Some blind kids think they're the only blind kids in the country as they don't meet others. The challenge is to find them and get them involved."
Ray also thinks parents sometimes tend to "wrap their kids in cotton wool". "Blind and vision-impaired kids want to do what everyone else is doing," he says. "We give them an opportunity to use world-class facilities and meet up with their peers. It's a big boost to their sense of confidence."
Because children with vision impairments primarily attend mainstream schools, they are often not chosen for team sports, and have to participate on an uneven playing field competing against sighted chidren. Foundation Manager of Children's Services Kate Kerr points out how demotivating that can be.
"If you know from the start you're not going to win, it's easy to not even try," she says. "At the Vision Impaired Games and at peer support camps they are more keen to try because everyone's equal."
The annual January peer support camp in Taupo builds social interaction around the sports events. For many of the 9- to 15-year-olds it's the first time they've been away from home and outside their comfort zone. More importantly, they get to
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meet camp leaders who've been through similar experiences with sight loss and that, says Kate, is reassuring, both for the kids and their parents.
It's never too late
What happens though if you're not destined to be a sports star? In his many years of coaching, Blind Sport CEO Ray McLeod has frequently seen people create successful careers after giving up competitive sport. He attributes their success to the skills learnt along the way - setting goals, meeting and overcoming challenges, time management, and the commitment to showing up and doing the work.
And if you weren't sporty as a kid, it's never too late to start participating and building those skills. Many of the 120 New Zealanders with disabilities who've successfully completed the New York Marathon with support from the NZ Achilles Foundation just decided to have a go. (Outlook profiled marathoner Mike Stevens in the last issue.)
The elderly and recreation
Recreation isn't just about sport. It includes drama, camping, dancing, gardening or crafts such as embroidery. It can be relaxing rather than challenging, and doesn't necessarily require perfect health. Along the way, doing something active that you enjoy might even improve your health!
"Sight loss doesn't necessarily mean giving up the things you enjoy," says Foundation Recreation Advisor Tim Prendergast. "You may have to adapt the way you do it. And the Foundation can help people with those changes. The barriers are often more perceived than real. But the benefits are definitely real."
Robert Welsh - 98 not out
Foundation member Robert Welsh is 98 and considering whether he should give up competitive indoor bowls in favour of joining just as a social member. He's the oldest member of the Blenheim Bowling Club, which meets every Monday. About 20 people attend and as Robert says, there's plenty of friendship and it sure beats sitting around the house all day.
Robert lives alone. He gets up at 6am and cooks all his own meals including vegetables he grows in his garden - at present that's a winter crop of cabbages and caulifowers. Gardening is his other form of exercise, besides bowls, which he's played for many years.
An occasional armchair sportsman, Robert comments, "I like watching the Silver Ferns. I wish I had as much energy as those girls!"
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Keari Harvey
Wave to Keari Harvey from across the street and she won't recognise you. Extreme short-sightedness is a feature of albinism. Keari just accepts there are details she misses out on, such as the expressions of people's faces.
She still throws herself into life with confidence and success. In April, 11-year-old Keari competed in the Southern Cross Games for the first time and won four bronze medals for the 100m and 200m track events, the 25m breaststroke and the discus.
"Competing against other vision-impaired kids was really good for her," says Keari's mother Ann. "The athletes were amazingly fast. You wouldn't believe. She had to work harder than when she's competed against children with a range of physical disabilities."
There have been a few disappointments and challenges along the way. Last year, the school swimming squad decided to train outdoors all summer, which ruled out Keari, who is highly sensitive to sunlight. Joining the indoor basketball team, she had to confront her fear of letting the rest of the team down.
"The game was a little bit too fast for her, it was a bit daunting, but she's just had her first match and is sticking with it," says Ann.
Keari is also learning martial arts so look out anyone in future who says, "you can't..." to Keari Harvey!
Available from the library...
Player Magazine - a popular monthly sports magazine
Gardening Without Sight by Kathleen Fleet TB3538 or BR3674
Popular Activities and Games for Blind, Visually Impaired and Disabled People by Peter Rickards TB3917
To find out more about what's happening locally in the world of sport, subscribe to Blind Sports' quarterly newsletter at sports@blindsport.org.nz and put 'subscribe' in the subject line, or phone TIS option 5, 2. To talk to a Foundation Recreation Advisor call 0800 24 33 33.