When was the last time you played sports with a disabled person? That’s the question Alex, from the charity Power2Inspire, wants to ask students and school children across the UK.

Power2Inspire is a charity set up by John Willis, who was born without fully functioning arms or legs. Alex explains: “Nine years ago, John did an able-bodied triathlon with two friends with the aim just not to come last. They finished somewhere in the middle of the pack and [with] the money raised, John wanted to give to a charity. But [they] couldn’t find anyone who did inclusion through sport, bringing all disabled and able bodied people together to play sport. So he set up Power2Inspire and that’s the mission: trying to embed inclusive sport in educational, sporting and community landscapes. The vision is around no-one being left on the bench. Everyone should have an opportunity to take part in sport.”

Last Friday (21/10), Power2Inspire partnered with Fitzwilliam College’s Sports and Societies heads Maya Hodgson and Bethany Haran to put on Fitz’s first PowerHouseGames. These are, in Alex’s words, ‘‘inclusive sports days”. There were 24 student volunteers, a male and female in each team, and twelve teams of five or six people. In each team, there was a student at an independent school, a state school, and a disability school. The teams played different inclusive sports on a rotation - a mixture of paralympic or disability sports and adapted sports, like quick cricket or sitting netball. “It allows us to bring everyone, including disabled people, together to play the same sport but it also breaks down various other barriers, like between state school and independent school, and state school and university students. Having that aspiration is really important.”

The effect on everyone who participates is clear: “It's different across the different groups but you always see an impact. People are always so focussed on the disabled person in the events but you don’t necessarily see or realise all of the other benefits til afterwards. Sometimes you’ll have a state school pupil and an independent school pupil and the state school pupil can be more nervous to engage.” The reward comes from seeing their confidence grow over the course of the day. “Realising some of the impact that the students get and when they realise how enjoyable it is for them too is great. They take so much energy out of it.”

In parallel, Fitz is also putting on a charity formal today (4/11) to raise money for the Power2Inspire, which Bethany hopes will get as many members of college as possible involved with the Charity. “Hopefully other colleges can do the same and we can create university wide support for Power2Inspire,” she says. They’re hoping to make it an annual event.

For Alex, the aims are the same: “We’d like this to be a regular fixture. The rugby club now has a PowerHouseGames every year in preseason and uses it as a team builder. The students now get that additional leadership aspect out of it which is a big part of the games. A lot of school students and university students have never engaged with a disabled person before. Actually teaching those soft skills are really important.” 

Going forward, Alex is keen to highlight that anyone who wants to can organise a games: “We’re open to engagement with anyone that wants to do it. If someone reads this from the Classics department and goes ‘I’d love to try doing a PowerHouseGames in the department,’ or Girton College, we’re always ready to open up those conversations. “It’s mainly about being available to reach out. We want to extend a massive thanks to Fitz and Beth and Maya for helping us out too. This one’s been really easy to put together because of the work of Fitz.” Hopefully they can do it all again next year. 

To keep up with progress or contact the organisers to set up your own PowerHouseGames, find Power2Inspire @Power2Inspireuk and Maya and Beth @fitzsportsandsocs instagram.