How to Bring Inclusive Sports to Your Community
Coach Jessie with our 18 month - 3 year old class in Danvers, MA
If you’ve seen our introductory posts on our professional and personal motivation for starting Inclyousion Sports, you may be thinking “Ok yes I’m in, how do I sign-up?!”. Our current in-person class offerings are here . Nearly all Danvers classes are at capacity and our new Spring 2022 classes in Peabody and Revere have limited availability, so if you’ve been thinking of joining, don’t wait! Once we’re full, we’ll be implementing waitlists until further expansion is possible.
If you’re not located near our current classes, don’t lose hope! We have two ideas for you…
Virtual classes
Later this Spring we are launching virtual classes, which will include options to purchase equipment bundles and to schedule 1:1 monthly coaching calls to work with the Inclyousion Sports team on goal setting for supporting your child.
Virtual classes are an important addition to our offerings because of:
Cost: Virtual classes will be offered at a lower price point than our in-person classes, which will make them more accessible to more children.
Location: If you live outside of the regions that we currently serve, our virtual classes are a great option to encourage more movement at home or to complement current extracurricular programming.
Time: Virtual classes will offer quick but impactful videos to teach specific sports skills and games to children. The efficiency of quick videos will encourage engagement and participation. They offer a great screen time option (I see you parents trying to make dinner with young kids running around) that will teach valuable skills. And as an added bonus, your kids can do classes in their PJs :)
Impact: While the sign-up for our in-person classes is completed primarily by parents/guardians, our virtual classes will be a fun option for educators and other professionals who work with children (BT, OT, PT, etc.) to have in their classrooms or to enhance the services they provide.
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In-person classes
The successful launch of our classes in 2021 has inspired many recreation departments across Massachusetts to contact us regarding partnerships (which we are SO excited about!). During our conversations with the recreation department leadership teams, they all share stories about how parents have contacted them requesting inclusive sports classes, and they didn’t know how to serve these families in their communities. After listening to what the recreation department is looking for, together we build an Inclyousion Sports program that will appropriately serve each individual community.
Parents have a powerful voice, even if it may not feel like it during the individual challenging moments. If inclusive classes are not yet in your city/town, you can advocate to your local recreation department that this is something that your community needs.
To start…
Google your local recreation department’s information and see what inclusive sports program offerings are available. Note that often you may find sub-separate or adaptive leagues or programs (e.g., autism swim), but this is not the same as the inclusive style of classes we offer through Inclyousion Sports, where we bring children of all abilities together. We are not suggesting there is anything wrong with other types of classes, they are just different from ours.
If there are no inclusive sports programs available, find the contact information for the Recreation Director and/or Assistant Recreation Director. They may refer you to other staff members that support program planning or therapeutic recreation. Ask what inclusive sports program offerings the department is planning and when they will be available. It’s also helpful to confirm what times of year seasonal programming is completed, as typically this is done several seasons in advance. If the contact person doesn’t have a plan to offer inclusive programs or isn’t familiar with what inclusive sports means, share our website (www.inclyousionsports.com) for them to learn more. Share a bit about your child, what you’re looking for, and why inclusive sports is important to you. Communicate your intention of a time-bound follow-up (e.g., one month from your discussion) and remain in touch with your contact. Keep in mind that recreation departments are often doing the best that they can with limited resources and small budgets, so while changes may take time, they are possible. Be persistent and see these leaders as partners towards building a more inclusive community.
Tell your friends in town to do the same type of contacts - there is power in numbers.
Overall, it’s a win-win for recreation departments to work with a company like us to bring inclusive programming to their communities. We don’t charge fees to recreation departments for delivering our classes, as all costs are paid by the families who sign-up for classes. We provide the staff, equipment and curriculum, so these are all things that the department doesn’t need to worry about.
Do you have any other tips on advocating for inclusive sports programs? Leave a comment for others to learn from your experience!
Kristen
