Up front, I admit that my ‘best ever’ declaration
is coloured by the facts that the 2011 competition is barely three weeks old and
I've not actually followed any prior SEABL season.
Regardless, I LOVE this season!
I have only watched six games, but WHAT GAMES! I’ve seen some great sports and I’m not just
talking about the basketball games.
I’ve lost my voice from cheering, hurt my hands by
clapping too hard, got sore cheeks from smiling so much, almost had an asthma
attack from laughing and I can’t tell you how often I’ve had to swallow really
hard to stop the happy tears.
Yes, I’ve only seen six games so far, but, if the
six games I’ve seen are an indication of what SEABL is like ... I'm a fan.
Here’s the background.
The Tertiary PLACE’s Physical Activities Program
Director, Mary McKenna, and Spartans men’s Captain, Greg Vanderjagt, have been doing some incredible
things for people with disabilities: SportSTAR; Aussie Hoops; BRW Triathlon;
Functional Fitness; Assistant Manager (AM) for the Under 18 Rep Team. Some other time I’ll talk about that stuff,
but, their collaborations have led to this …
Each week one of the adults connected with The
Tertiary PLACE, is welcomed into the sphere of professional basketball as one
of the team. As an AM, they sit on the
bench for the Spartans women’s and men’s teams and the visiting women’s and
men’s teams. They fold the towels and
hand them to the players, fill water bottles and do whatever else they can do
to help.
I will share just two observations which have prompted
the accolade of ‘best ever’.
- Being part of a ‘team’ is potent.
It’s taken some preparation to
get our guys (who are staunch supporters of the Spartans) to assist on the
opposing bench. What I’ve seen is that
our AM’s actually assimilate into the opposition teams and wholeheartedly cheer
for them. When the Geelong Supercats
brought up team shirts for our AM’s to wear it was icing on the cake!
- These professional athletes are very kind and thoughtful.
Our AM’s have joined in the
huddles, run on court with the team and no one got irritated when one of them
offered this bit of friendly game advice, “Next time work more on your
defence”.
This ‘best ever’ SEABL season is an amazing example
of social inclusion.
Perhaps to really get it, you do have to be
there. You should come along and see for
yourself.
