Empowering Inclusion through Disability Sport - DOSportUK March 2024 Spotlight

Welcome back everyone to our March edition of the DOSportUK monthly spotlight! This month, we are focusing on empowering inclusion through disability sport. We have some very exciting things to talk about this month and it always brings us great satisfaction to reflect on the moments that bring us towards a more inclusive society for everyone.

This month we reflect on our amazing competition in London, we shine the spotlight on Dominic (one of our awesome members), and we have an exciting announcement about our brand new inclusive basketball session 👀

As always, we are grateful for the unwavering support of our fantastic community that drives our passion to rewrite the narrative of inclusivity in sports. March was an exciting month for DOSportUK, so we hope you enjoy this edition of the DOSportUK monthly spotlight!

Darcy, Collette, and Jen on BBC 5 Live Drive Time

Let’s begin with an initiative we were very proud to be a part of. This month, Darcy, Collette, and Jen had the pleasure to talk on BBC 5 Live as part of the BBC’s neurodiversity week, an initiative aimed at promoting understanding and acceptance of neurodiverse individuals. This week provided a platform for organisations like ours to amplify our message and engage in meaningful discussions about disability sport. We were thrilled to discuss all things encompassing basketball, sport and inclusivity. 

Darcy, one of our fantastic members at DOSportUK, highlighted the profound sense of belonging, confidence, and joy that sport brings to people of all abilities. We hope this message continues to inspire more individuals to come together through the power of sport, serving as a powerful reminder that through open-dialogue, collaboration, and advocacy, we can continue to drive towards a more inclusive society for everyone. BBC 5 Live featured a lovely clip of the interview on their website, which you can watch here.

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to BBC 5 Live for providing us with this brilliant opportunity and big credit to Darcy, Collette, and Jen for smashing the interview!

DOSportUK x Special Olympics GB Basketball Competition 

This Easter weekend, we were thrilled to host our latest DOSportUK x Special Olympics GB basketball competition in London, supported by UPS. It was another brilliantly fun event, with over 80 basketball players turning up at Kensington Leisure Centre to take part. There was some excellent basketball on show, with our members showcasing their skills and passion for the game. However, what truly stood out was the spirit of sportsmanship and kindness shown throughout the whole event. 

To all the participants, organisers, supporters, and partners that made the event possible - thank you for your unwavering commitment and dedication to enriching the lives of those with intellectual disabilities, and creating a more inclusive environment for anyone to enjoy the sport they love. Well done to everyone who played in the competition, we couldn’t have asked for a better day of basketball fun! Also, a big shout out to Jim Carter for coming down to support the event. His presence definitely added some extra encouragement and inspiration for our athletes. And, To top it all off, whilst we were in London, we also had some time to explore the city, including a much loved visit to Wembley Stadium!

Another fantastic event, we loved every second of it. We can’t wait to do it all again in May for our next event in Leicester.

Member Spotlight - Dominic (Derby Warriors)

We now move on to one of our favourite parts of this monthly blog, shedding light onto our brilliant community of members and volunteers. This month, we would like you to say hello to Dominic (right on image), one of our fantastic members at our Derby Warriors inclusive basketball sessions.

Dominic has been a member with DOSportUK since March 2020. Unfortunately, Dominic was due to have his first session with us the week lockdown started, so he started with the online sessions first. Those times are a bit of a throwback now aren’t they! Despite this, Dominic enjoyed the virtual sessions we did, and he had a basketball net at home to practice. 

Here’s what Dominic had to say about what he enjoys the most about attending DOSportUK sessions: “The competitions, playing as part of a team, and scoring. I have made new friends and I enjoy seeing them and talking about sports with them”. Dominic also said what he loves most about basketball: “Scoring, I like to do this a lot! I like practicing on Mondays, it makes me active. I went to New York to watch basketball last year, I loved it!” 

As we can see Dominic really loves scoring 🤣. Dominic also has many interests outside of basketball including playing football for Hilton Harriers, supporting Derby and Arsenal, and watching Formula 1. 

It makes us very proud to see members such as Dominic not only have an enjoyable time at our sessions, but also get involved in so many other things unrelated to basketball. It’s not just about giving our members fun and friendly experiences at our inclusive basketball sessions, but also providing them with the confidence to go after opportunities in all aspects of their lives! 

Introducing our Brand New Inclusive Basketball Session

We are now very excited to announce our brand new inclusive basketball session, coming to the community of Stockport from the 16th of April! This session will follow the same theme as all our other inclusive basketball sessions, providing sporting opportunities to people with intellectual disabilities. We focus on physical fitness, coordination, fun basketball drills, and the opportunity to build friendships in a welcoming environment.

We are also thrilled to be working together with Access Sport to bring this session to life. Access sport share our same commitment to inclusivity, and focus on providing benefits to physical and mental well-being, personal development, community engagement and a sense of belonging. 

Our inclusive basketball sessions are for people of all abilities. We go at our own pace and you don’t even need to have played basketball before. A fantastic way to stay active, play some basketball and have some fun!

We’ve put the session info below and if you would like to come along, please drop us a message or you can even just turn up on the day. Anyone and everyone is welcome, and we can’t wait to meet you!

16th April

Werneth School in Stockport, SK6 3BX

6-7pm

£2 per session

What’s coming up for DOSportUK?

Coming up this Saturday 6th of April, we have our 5000 basket fundraiser, where we are aiming to shoot 5000 baskets in 5 hours. Can we do it? It’s certainly going to be a challenge, but we’re going to give it our best shot, literally! We will be hosting the fundraiser in the beautiful town of Bakewell, so if you fancy popping in and shooting a few baskets after a nice walk in the countryside, we will be forever grateful. If anyone can’t make it but still wants to contribute, feel free to send us a little video of you shooting some baskets to add to the tally (We’ve popped our details at the end of the blog if anyone wants to share with us). We need all the help we can get!

We are very grateful for all the generosity from our amazing partners and supporters that help to keep our sessions running, but we continue to need funding to ensure we can provide the best experiences possible to our members. So, we would like to spread the word as far and wide as possible.

We’ve put a link here to our JustGiving for anyone who would like to donate 🙏

Once again, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to everyone that continues to support us and be a part of our amazing community. You really are the heart of everything we do and this drives us to a more inclusive society for everyone. 

If you would like to virtually partake in our fundraiser or if you would like to feature in our next blog, you can either: send an email to adam@dosportuk.co.uk, tag us in your posts, or drop us a message on any of our social platforms.