RCCS secures District Support for Dream Cricket Gala Day
In March, the club held a successful Trivia Night raising funds to support a Gala Day for DreamCricket. On top of this, the club applied for a grant of funds from the District to boost our capacity to host the Gala Day and has now been advised by the District Grants chair of the success of our application.
The grant is valued at $4,570 and this will help so much in funding the Gala Day. Well done to all involved in organising both the Trivia Night and the Gala Day!
DreamCricket is a program of cricket activities that have been specially designed by exercise physiologists to enable disabled primary school children to actively participate in cricket-based activities which have been specially designed to meet their different needs. These special needs include physical, intellectual and sight impaired disabilities and the children are given the stimulus to achieve their personal best, thereby gaining confidence through their participation in the activities.
Over the past year the Rotary Club of Canberra Sunrise in collaboration with the Rotary E-Club of Brindabella have conducted DreamCricket clinics at schools in Canberra and Queanbeyan, with each clinic typically involving up to 35 disabled children and lasting for approximately two and a half hours. Each clinic has involved up to 10 Rotarians from the two clubs and 10 High School students from Years 9 and 10 who are doing community service and act as activities coordinators for the clinics. More DreamCricket clinics are in train for the remainder of this calendar year. The costs incurred in running these clinics are wholly borne by the two Rotary Clubs.
It is planned to hold a DreamCricket Gala Day in Term 1 of 2017 which will involve all of the schools currently taking part in DreamCricket clinics and be held at a significant local venue (e.g. Manuka Oval). The Gala Day will last all morning, culminating in an award ceremony where every disabled child participating will be awarded a medallion and then closing with a BBQ meal for all of the children and their accompanying carers. It is expected that approximately 180 disabled children will take part.
The next part of this project for the club is to continue holding the clinics and to donate more cricket sets to participating schools. Then, with the gala day early next year, there are many more opportunities for continued cricket activities for those involved. In this way, the project should help many children for a number of years.
Approximately, 180 disabled primary school children from the ACT and region will benefit from this one event. This program enables disabled children to overcome the widely held perception that their disabilities debar them from taking part in sporting activities and gives them the self-confidence and motivation to progress and achieve their personal best. The clinics that have already been held have provided the initial stimulus and this Gala Day will provide a broader forum for more participants to demonstrate and reap the benefits of the program. In humanitarian terms it is essential that disabled children are given every opportunity to achieve their best in all aspects of life and this program meets a fundamental need for all children to participate in sport.