Blog: 'EFDS likes to share great examples of better practice'
The English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) website features a blog post every Friday through the year.
April's theme is local opportunities. This week, National Partnerships Advisor at EFDS, Jess Cook, looks at providing a vital link between groups and County Sports Partnerships, and trying to meet the needs of all.
Jess's blog:
As the National Partnerships Advisor at the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS). I work nationally with National Governing Bodies, disability charities and other organisations.
I tend to send most of my days meeting new people and learning about what they do and how their organisations work. From this, I can then help them work out how best to include disabled people in their work, or perhaps develop projects to get more disabled people taking part in physical activity or sport.
I really enjoy what I do. I get very excited when projects I have helped with get established and start running.
This month, EFDS’s blog posts will be focusing on local opportunities and how the charity supports them. Later in the month you’ll be able to read stories from a range of groups who run successful activities for disabled people to be active in. Among many across the country, we like to share these as great examples of better practice.
EFDS often gets enquiries from local charities, disability clubs and other organisations asking for support with funding for equipment, training opportunities, event opportunities or just starting up a sporting activity for disabled people within their club.
As you may have read last month, EFDS has a number of Engagement Advisors that work at a regional level. But as they are a team of just four spread right across England, it can prove hard for them to deliver face-to-face support at a local level where sometimes it is most needed.
To help with this, EFDS often advises, and supports, these groups to contact their local County Sports Partnership (CSP), which are tasked with supporting their individual counties to be more active and help individuals and clubs to gain access to funding, training advice and guidance. EFDS supports CSPs in return, advising them how to give the right guidance so that organisations can best develop inclusive activities.
Training and funding are the same for any organisation, no matter who your members are or who you are delivering to.
For example, just recently we had an enquiry from a club called Horizon Sports, based in South Buckinghamshire, for children aged six years up to adults with a variety of impairments. The club works with a lot of children and adults, who are referred to them by physiotherapists and occupational therapists.
Horizon contacted us because they were finding it hard to employ enough sport coaches who had sufficient knowledge to able to teach children activities and sport. They wanted coaches who can develop children’s health and wellbeing right through to adulthood. That may sound a tall order, but this is effectively what a coach does - be responsible for sharing knowledge in a particular sport so you can develop your skills.
We advised Horizon to get in touch with a disability sports coaching company that we already knew about and was based locally. We also helped to develop a website article, advertising for any coaches who were interested to get in touch.
All this good work was only recently completed. We haven’t yet got to the end of their story, but fingers crossed they find someone that can support them with what they need.
(By the way, if you're reading this and thinking “well, I live in Buckinghamshire and have these skills, and perhaps Horizon are based near me”, please get in touch! We will be sure to pass their contact details on.)
One of EFDS's roles is to ensure that local disability clubs and organisations understand what's available to them and how much support there is out there. If we can help by matching clubs and CSPs, that will then mean a better service for everyone.
So don’t forget- if you are a local club or charity, there are many ways you can open up your doors to more disabled people. One way is to get in touch with your CSP and see what they can offer you. And don't forget to keep an eye on our website for more blogs in this series!
