Survey focuses on sport for all

Cairns Regional Council joined forces with Cairns Wheelchair Basketball Association and the Cairns Taipans today (7 November) to launch a program aimed at making sport accessible to all in Cairns.

Council’s Inclusive Sports in Cairns program is aimed at providing support for clubs and participants through its Go Clubs platform.

Cairns Mayor Bob Manning said sport was a crucial part of a person’s growth and development and no one should feel like they were unable to participate or be involved in a sporting club.

“When Dylan Alcott won the Australian Open he said his victory was for the 4.5 million Australians living with a disability,” Cr Manning said.

“That equates to roughly 1 in 5 people who may be experiencing difficulty in participation due to lack of inclusiveness around community and sporting facilities.

“We want to create a supportive framework around inclusive sport using Go Clubs as the driver and engaging service providers to fill in knowledge gaps.

“There are many documented mental and physical health benefits associated around being involved in a sporting club in some capacity, it is therefore important to encourage the clubs to be inclusive environments to improve outcomes for the clubs themselves and the community in general.”

“Our end goal is to develop a platform which our sporting bodies can turn to for support to ensure that every club is accessible in Cairns.”

“We want people to be confident that they can go to a sport and they can participate either as a player, a volunteer or an official.”

The first step in the program is an audit of inclusive facilities within sporting clubs. Clubs will be asked to complete a simple survey to identify any gaps the program can assist.