By Jayesh Patel
NHSF (UK) Sewa Team
Saturday 21st February 2015 marked the prestigious and successful ‘National Hindu Students Forum (UK) (NHSF (UK)) National Sports Competition’ that was hosted at the Tipton Sports Academy, Birmingham between 8:30am to 6:00pm where over 30 universities from across the UK competed in over 6 different sports to represent and impress. The National Sewa Team lead by Harshini Patel (Sewa Coordinator) used this opportunity to raise Disability Sports Awareness at a National Scale, continuing on from our successes in raising awareness of disability sports from previous years. Alongside this, Anthony Nolan spent the day recruiting donors for the Raj Bhuller appeal. The day proved to be highly inspirational in more ways than one, I that there was an overwhelming interest in doing what is thought to be right.
Disabilities – overcoming the barriers
You may have heard of disability sports which is currently dominated by Deaflympics, Paralympics and Special Olympics and offers swimming, cycling, hand cycling, running, wheel chair racing and table tennis for disabled people. The NHSF (UK) Sewa vision acknowledges the pioneers, who had the foresight and vision to organise the unprecedented competitions for athletes with disabilities and elected the popular sport of ‘Cricket’ which is enjoyed by British and International Hindu’s worldwide.
Overcoming Barriers
A startling fact to realise is that individual with disabilities people have to overcome many barriers including accessibility, mobility and psychological fears of how they may be perceived and will they be accepted in normal sports event. The medical model of disability individualizes disability and views it as an individual tragedy, and does not account for social barriers which is a mindset we are looking to change. With respect to the Equality and Human Rights Commission we feel that as a society, we should acknowledge the importance of making sports & leisure accessible, remove barriers of assumption and any stereotype/prejudice.
Challenging Rules to raise awareness
Our indoor cricket made use of an indoor ball instead of a cricket ball to make it safe and enjoyable. The rules of the game ensured that all participants had to stand on one leg whilst batting and depending on where they hit the ball, the runs were awarded accordingly. Fielders and bowlers were only permitted to use one arm. Anyone who plays cricket knows that playing cricket using either one leg or arm is much more challenging. The object the game was to raise awareness and provide a realisation of how hard the sports can be for disable people but it can also be very satisfying and enjoyable as all participant found it to be a great fun to take on the challenge and participate.
Benefit of sports
Sport can be an extremely fulfilling activity that not only improves your fitness levels and make everyday activities easier. It allows people to meet and greet as well and it can also help build confidence, leadership, and teamwork, improve communication and, just as important as any of these, it can be fun!
Encouragement & Action
We received positive responses from participants and we hope that the Action Disability Awareness Cricket Tournament inspired all participants to understand the importance and challenges that are faced. Furthermore we hope we have allowed our members to appreciate the need for motivating and encouraging young to old, parents to grandparents and all to participate in all sorts of sports activities for the betterment of their health both physically, and psychosocially.
“Enable the Disabled; Translate Disability into Ability; Capability, a winning Opportunity-Indeed a Reality” – Dr Veena Kumari
The Raj Bhuller appeal
The ultimate gentleman, Raj is a family man, a Liverpool fan and a long serving member of Lions Club International who help who help their community and worldwide charitable campaigns.Raj was diagnosed on Christmas Eve and in mid-January we were told he needs a bone marrow transplant as chemotherapy will not cure his cancer.
In the UK every 20 minutes someone is told they suffer from blood cancer. Almost 25,000 people per year are diagnosed with blood cancer in the UK alone. Worldwide there is a shortage of persons of South Asian ethnicity registered. Raj was diagnosed on Christmas Eve and in mid-January was told he needs a bone marrow transplant as chemotherapy will not cure his cancer.
During National Sports Competition, Raj’s family and Anthony Nolan came to further the campaign and find a potential donor. Over the day, the team spoke to countless students and spread the word of donating bone marrow. Over the day over 50 new students joined the register, a huge feat in bridging the gap in the low amount of BAME donors. With 2 donors arising from sign ups in National Sports Day in the last 5 years, the day has a huge potential to save lives.