Who are the participants?

The participants in the sports camps in Cambodia and Angola included boys and girls with and without disabilities between five and eighteen years. Therefore the focus of this handbook is on sports activities for children and young people; however parents, family members or other adults with and without disabilities need also to be considered as participants in sports activities. Experience proves that the involvement of parents of disabled children is a very effective approach that increases the parents’ understanding of their disabled child and their respect by the community. Thus, sports events with the objective of integrating disabled children and young people, need to be open to anyone interested.

When defining criteria for selecting participants for sports activities, the following should be taken into consideration:

• Children with and without disabilities
• Gender
• Age
• Type of disability
• Level of expectations, motivation and skills

Children with and without disabilities

In order to ensure the process of integration, the sports activities should target both children with and without disabilities. Only mutual contact between the two groups can increase mutual appreciation. Non-disabled people will be able to accept as well as develop an emphatic understanding and a sensitivity towards people with disabilities. This direct contact teaches them not to judge a person by his or her appearance or cognitive capabilities, but rather to consider their actual abilities and capacities. This new perspective challenges negative attitudes and behavioural insecurities and may result in a change of behaviour. However the social integration of disabled people means a process where not only the social conditions and the attitude of able bodied people have to change but also the attitudes and the behaviour of the disabled themselves (Rehker, Uwe: Integration through games and sports, Oxford 2000, p. 53)

Gender

Sport is frequently perceived as a male prerogative for leisure and well being, while women have restricted rights and rare opportunities concerning their leisure time. Nevertheless, during the project, girls and young women expressed a serious interest in practising sport. In order to encourage their participation, a corresponding information campaign should promote the subject before carrying out any sport activity. During the event, women need to have access to their own facilities: separate accommodation, toilets and dressing rooms. Experience from the project shows that girls are as highly motivated as boys, when given the chance to participate. However some activities may be more difficult for girls to accept due to cultural values and physical limitations. Boys and young men may also find it problematic to accept the participation of girls in mixed groups. As certain activities demand not only physical strength but also body contact, like boxing and Tae Kwon Do, girls may at first appear shy and reluctant. But after their initial embarrassment, once they have seen that nobody complains or laughs at them, they usually appreciate being allowed to use their physical strength and they may even develop serious ambitions and a fighting spirit. It has proved positive to let disabled girls play together in a homogenous group during the first hours of sports. This strengthens their role as a disabled child among other disabled. The next step for disabled girls is to play together with non-disabled girls in order to strengthen their role as a girl. Only then, the girls are ready to play together with the boys. Consequently, girls and young women need additional support and specific attention in sports activities that are typically considered as male sports.

Age

Sport offers an opportunity for children and young people of different ages to play together under similar conditions. The mix of ages forces the participants to respect and give consideration to different demands and expectations. The larger the age difference, the more understanding everybody needs vis-à-vis the other team members.

Type of disability

Sport for the disabled should be open to everybody to the greatest extent possible, irrespective of the type of the disability. Nevertheless sometimes a medical categorisation is established in respect of the type and the severity of the disability. This helps to identify right from the beginning the potential risks and difficulties, and it indicates which sociomedical professionals might be needed as partners or resource persons . On the other hand, individual motivation, personality, interest etc. are classification criteria, which the individual person with disability may consider more relevant than the type of her/his disability. Both approaches deserve close attention and need to be considered seriously before starting any activity. This usually requires a detailed preparation in advance with representatives of all groups and partners concerned.

Level of expectation, motivation and skills

The level of expectation, motivation and skills determines who will participate and in what way. It also determines the degree of difficulty of the activities. Sport can be practised out of recreational, therapeutic or competitive motives; the project in Cambodia and Angola emphasised the first two objectives. There are always children who are eager to be included in a sports team and others who are more difficult to engage. One specific objective of the project was to invite children who have not yet been involved in or in contact with this kind of activities. Such children may at first refuse to participate because of anxiety or uncertainty concerning their own capacity. Explaining the objective and clarifying the expectations may persuade the child to join in. However, a child should never be forced to participate.

When a child considers a task to be too easy, it will start to lose motivation and its ability to learn. On the other hand, faced with tasks that are too difficult, the child will be unable to cope adequately and may lose all ability to act. The trainer has a difficult responsibility trying to assess the individual level of skills for each child and finding the balance between challenging tasks and risks.