Here at DSActive, we are always so proud to hear about the development of athletes and believe that providing opportunities to follow a sport to the level that someone desires is at the core of opportunities for all.
Last year one of the first clubs to offer specific Down’s syndrome sessions for football, Moorside Rangers, did a stellar job in promoting pathways for their players to get involved in other sports, and even take their FA Level 1 qualification.
Here we will briefly recap a few of the many fantastic achievements members of the club achieved, and hope there will be many more to come!
Three members of the squad completed their FA Level 1 qualification in a mainstream course and excelled at learning a lot about coaching, as well as developing their own ideas about how they could help coach the juniors at Moorside.
The course had a theory and practical element, requiring all players to show knowledge about technical coaching, first aid and how to help players of all abilities succeed. They learnt about new activities that they could use at sessions and found out how to react to different situations. Jack, Thomas and Christopher all achieved their goal, and the Moorside coaching team are lucky to be able to have three wonderful young coaches join the team.
Outside of football, there has been success in the pool, with Joseph doing really well for his swimming club, winning four medals last year and currently training for both the European Down Syndrome Championships and the Special Olympics in Liverpool!
Thomas has also swum for England in the European Down Syndrome Championships, winning a gold and a bronze medal. Alongside this, he also finds time to play in our brilliant tennis session with Hale LTC.
Very quickly summarising a few other brilliant achievements, Ben P passed his LTA Level 1, adding to the ranks of coaches emerging from the club, whilst Ben F represented England successfully in badminton and Jack also managed to achieve his gold Duke of Edinburgh!
Coach Kevin Keigher said “I think it should be emphasised, as role models, they are an inspiration to their colleagues”.
If you play a sport, participate in an activity, or have achieved something, no matter what it is, we want to hear from you. Email dsactive@downs-syndrome.org.uk to tell us your story.