Active Summer Fun: 'Inclusive clubs are often very family-orientated'
A new participation campaign created by the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) and National Disability Sport Organisations (NDSOs) is encouraging more disabled people to find out and play out over summer. Active Summer Fun - #ActiveSummerFun on social media - is an exciting new campaign that aims to support more disabled people to find ways to be active during the warmer months.
This summer we will be talking to various disabled people or those who deliver activities that include disabled people. We hear how they are expecting the next few months to be very busy!
Today, Martin Beddis from Merseyside talks to us. He tells us about his passion for all forms of wheelchair rugby and why it’s so important to keep fit.
Martin’s Active Summer Fun:
All my activity this summer has been rugby-based. Liverpool Lions, my team, play wheelchair rugby league, which is like tag rugby in a wheelchair. It’s five-a-side, and you score a try by putting the oval ball over the line then completing the conversion. It’s very close to professional rugby league.
Then, last year, players turned up who weren’t physically capable of playing, though they could play the Paralympic version. We applied for a grant to set up that version too, and this summer has been all about running taster events and forming a team to enter a league which starts in November.
So that’s two versions of rugby league I’ve been playing this summer, plus coaching and playing rugby sevens based on rugby union. That involves monthly England training sessions to recruit players and get them up to standard.
Last year we hosted, in Liverpool, the Wheelchair Sevens Four Nations – England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and England won. And this year it was our first annual event in Milan against Italy. We lost last year but won, with a stronger team, in Italy this summer. And we also arranged to play the French in Paris, another match we won – that victory makes us the current world number ones.
Personally, this summer I have managed 8-10 hours of rugby a week. I also visit the gym in Runcorn where my wife works, though I have not done as much in the last couple of months because of a back problem.
If I couldn’t exercise it would do my wife’s head in, for a start! The fact that I can go out and train, because I’m so passionate about sport, means that I can be me. If I didn’t do it I’d just be sitting at home in front of the computer, vegging out and not doing a great deal. If I didn’t have this passion for rugby I would do very, very little exercise.
A lot of disabled people do not know what’s out there, or they think they can’t do sport and exercise. Just get out there and give various sports a chance, and if one sticks and you start playing it on a regular basis then the outcomes are so positive.
Get in touch with your local council’s sports department and ask them what accessible facilities and clubs are in your local area. Or even hit the internet and do some basic searches. Literally every club I know of have all got Facebook pages. See what’s out there and get in touch. Give a sport a go and if it’s not for you then never mind, plus the coach might recommend an alternative.
Exercise means a healthy body and mind. And it’s good family fun – inclusive clubs are often very family-orientated. At Liverpool, we have a lot of players who turn up with families who have encouraged them to join in.
After a full-on training session I feel great. I know when I’ve had a good session – I can feel my muscles burning. You can feel a bit stiff the day after, but you know that if you’re not getting that feeling then you’re not pushing yourself to where you need to be, if you want to get fit and keep fit.
If you’re in a wheelchair like me then upper body strength is essential. If you don’t work at it you will get slower and slower. It’s important to do even basic exercise just to keep the momentum going. Being fit is not just useful in terms of sport, but in general day-to-day life.
Find out more about Active Summer Fun. Find out and play out this summer. WheelPower provides opportunities, facilities and equipment to enable disabled people to participate in sport and lead healthy active lives.
