29th April 2010,

DSA Rolls Out the Schools Education Program

In an exciting development, Deaf Sports Australia rolled out our new Schools Education Program last week with the Victorian College for the Deaf chosen as the first school to host a session.

The program provides deaf and hard of hearing students with valuable information featuring: 

  • the opportunities and benefits of participation in sport
  • a deaf sports role model to share their experiences in sport
  • a Q & A session with students
  • an informal sports/activity coaching clinic with a DSA staff member and sports role model

Students at the Victorian College for the Deaf had the opportunity to listen to former Deaflympian, Sam Quinn and current Deaflympian Renee d’Offay who both play basketball. The students were enthralled as Sam and Renee spoke about how they got involved in sport and have had the opportunity to represent Australia overseas.

Sam, being the father of two young children, pointed out how important it is to ensure young kids have the opportunity to be active from a young age onwards.

After the workshop, the students were given a run around on the school’s basketball court for some fun activities.

DSA has been developing the Schools education program over the last six months and will be trialling the program in 8 Victorian Schools over the next three months with a view to making it a National program in 2011. The program has been made possible through the generous financial support of the Lord Mayor’s Charitable foundation.

DSA is keen to use sport as a conduit through the Schools Education Project to tackle health issues within the deaf community with the latest information from the Australian National Health Survey showing 51.1% of the deaf community are obese (33.4% national average), 13.5% have diabetes (8% national average) and 41.7% lead a sedentary lifestyle (30.2% national average).

“The earlier we educate about the benefits of participation in sports, the better for young people so that they can get into a habit of eating and playing well and being able to reach school children through the DSA Education Program is a great start” says DSA Sports Development Officer Irena Farinacci.

 

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