Basketball Victoria (BV) has significant experience, demonstrated capability, and a firm commitment to provide an opportunity for people of all abilities to be involved in basketball. BV utilises a structured and clearly defined approach to ensure inclusion is embedded internally, and that affiliated Associations, with assistance from BV, can confidently take ownership of programs and activities and enhance localised community access.

Karen Pearce, BV's Manager Strategic Operations is adamant "that inclusion at a state, association, and club level must be embedded in work plans and the entire basketball community must be holistic in their approach to inclusion to ensure greater access, opportunity and sustainability: it must become part of everyday business."

As BV's inclusion programs continue to expand and develop, the need to grow the wheelchair basketball base was placed high on the agenda. Previously, apart from a trickle of wheelchair basketball programs in Victoria that BV had established, there hasn't been the dedicated reserves to build and develop this area of the sport to the degree it requires. Finally, after a long period of negotiation, BV and Disability Sport and Recreation have formed a partnership which will see the State Sporting Association become the custodian of wheelchair basketball in Victoria. BV will foster the development of wheelchair basketball in regional areas including Bendigo, Ballarat, Shepparton, and Traralgon, in addition to a number of programs in metropolitan Melbourne. Planning is also underway for a revamped State Wheelchair Basketball Competition and development opportunities for players, coaches, and referees.

BV will continue to coordinate the men’s and women’s Victorian State Wheelchair Basketball Teams, providing pathways to National and International representation. Disability Sport and Recreation CEO, Rob Anderson, said “It is our strong belief that Basketball Victoria’s technical expertise, resources and networks will maximise opportunities for Victorians with disability. We are delighted to work in partnership with Basketball Victoria, ensuring the sport is managed by the State Sporting Association.”

Through this partnership, Disability Sport and Recreation will continue to invest financial and equipment resources to support Victorians with disability in accessing the sport of basketball. Associations will be targeted to ascertain their interest and ongoing support towards Association-based wheelchair basketball development programs and competitions. BV CEO, Nick Honey said; “The agreement reinforces Basketball Victoria’s commitment to community participation across all levels of involvement. We see this program as a natural extension to further expand our capacity in developing and supporting people with disability. With 144 affiliated Associations state-wide, this agreement will help create sustainable inclusion within basketball for the wider community, making Basketball a sport for all. [source: Basketball Victoria]

Golf Australia started their involvement in Sports CONNECT in July 2005. Following an audit of the sport’s process, seven areas were identified for inclusion within a Disability Action Plan: policy and administration, coach education, administrator education, development opportunities, research, partnerships, and promotion.

Golf Australia adopted policies for inclusion and inclusive practice guidelines and incorporated them into their Junior Golf Framework by examining existing practices and starting the process of integrating inclusive elements on a systematic basis. This included an approach labelled ‘Golf for All’ that influenced coaching programs, web site content, and administrator education programs. The Disability Action Plan was embedded within the plans of affiliated State and Territory Associations.

Similar to Gymnastics Australia, Golf Australia recognised that improving relationships with other organisations would facilitate better delivery of their sport. Steps were taken to develop a strong relationship with Deaf Golf Australia – an established provider of golf for people with disability, a memorandum between the two organisations was signed in 2008. Golf Australia was also able to develop productive partnerships with the Professional Golfers Association and various state organisations to effectively deliver grass roots programs through special schools. [source: Sports CONNECT, Disability Sector Education Resource Project (PDF  - 3.4 MB), consultation phase report, Ken Black, Australian Sports Commission, (2010).]

Gymnastics Australia’s Policy Statement on disability commits the sport to ensuring gymnastics practice is inclusive at all levels. This is a significant undertaking, given the multi discipline structure within the sport. The Disability Action Plan captures their commitment and outlines the strategies to achieve these goals.

Gymnastics Australia recognised two important factors early during the process of developing their Disability Action Plan. First, that previously the most active provider of gymnastics programs in Australia for people with disabilities was Special Olympics. Special Olympics runs many excellent sports programs across a range of sports for people with an intellectual disability. While this was not a problem per se, Gymnastics Australia recognised that they needed to assume more responsibility for these programs and create a more productive relationship with Special Olympics. A Memorandum of Understanding was developed between Gymnastics Australia and Special Olympics to address a number of issues affecting participation, including duel membership. Second, GA could see that its Disability Action Plan should, over time, integrate fully into the strategic and operational plans of the organisation. This was a major objective of Sports CONNECT from the outset.

Gymnastics Australia has developed an online education package for administrators, coaches and judges that aims to build awareness of ways in which people with a disability can be included in the sport. ‘Managing Inclusion in Gymnastics’ is just one of a number of strategies that Gymnastics Australia employs to improve its service delivery.

Gymnastics Australia’s Education Manager, Linda Pettit, commented that managing inclusion in gymnastics is one of their sport’s more promising disability-related strategies. “Just from the coaching perspective, this has the potential to reach up to 3500 coaches and judges,’ she said. ‘It’s not about the technical aspects of coaching a potential participant with a disability because coaches, through their accreditation processes, already have that. This is about raising awareness, changing attitudes and getting a social message across on inclusion.” [source: Sports CONNECT Review 2010, unpublished report, Australian Sports Commission, 2010).]

In developing the package Pettit said the organisation first asked itself where the problem areas existed in servicing people with a disability. “At least once a month I would get a call from a coach or an administrator saying they had turned away an interested participant with Down Syndrome, for example, because they don’t have the technical capacity or specialised classes to coach someone with Down Syndrome. Obviously we needed to get the message out that coaches do have the technical capabilities, and ‘special’ classes are not always needed or even wanted to coach participants with a disability.”

Pettit said using an online platform to deliver the training is innovative, but might require the gymnastics community to embrace change. However, Gymnastics Australia felt confident it would work. “We’d previously delivered a risk management resource online that was mandated training across the whole [gymnastics] community. We worried that it might affect our membership, but the entire community embraced it and there was then the option to expand online work into other areas. The support from the ASC (now Sport Australia) definitely made the difference in getting this [online training] off the ground”, Pettit said. “We run seven sports under the gymnastics umbrella and it’s a challenge to resource. What we wanted through Sports CONNECT, initially, was for gymnastics to be an option for participants with a disability. We’re already getting phone calls. We want the doors of our clubs to be open to everyone and that means getting the inclusion message across to our administrators, judges, and coaches.”

Among other Gymnastics Australia strategies is the Club 10 Quality Assurance Program that provides gymnastics clubs with resources to consider why and how their service is accessible to people with disabilities. Gymnastics Australia has also begun a review of all National Coaching Accreditation Scheme and National Officiating Accreditation Scheme competencies to include working with participants with disabilities. The working relationship between Gymnastics Australia and Special Olympics Australia also helps to avoid membership duplication and confusion. [source: Sports CONNECT, Disability Sector Education Resource Project, consultation phase report, Ken Black, Australian Sports Commission, (2010).]

• Understanding the benefits of gymnastics for children with a disability, Campain R, Gymnastics Victoria, VicHealth, and Scope (2014). The Understanding the benefits of gymnastics for children with disability project was a joint research effort by Scope (a Victorian disability service provider) and Gymnastics Victoria. The project aimed to identify key issues in relation to the experiences of children with a disability, aged 2-17 years, who participated in gymnastics. The responses from participants indicated that both parents and instructors noticed the physical benefits of gymnastics, including: strength, flexibility, balance and coordination. They also stated there were benefits for the child’s confidence and self-esteem, while gymnastics participation also aided social development. Parents and instructors valued the fact that gymnastics was fun for children and not overly competitive. Children with disability were able to advance and achieve according to their personal abilities. Parents observed pride and satisfaction of their child’s involvement and achievement, and most parents valued the social interaction with the club and other parents. Many instructors expressed the need for further understanding of a child’s disability and how to best work with a particular child. Key areas for improvement were identified and four recommendations made: (1) increase disability awareness training for gymnastics instructors; (2) increase funding to clubs for resources; (3) increase open and ongoing communication between instructors and parents, and; (4) foster an inclusive gymnastics club culture that welcomes and supports all participants.

Swimming Australia Ltd (SAL) is committed to a swimming for all philosophy. Swimming Australia incorporates inclusion strategies in all aspects of the sport, creating opportunities for people of all abilities to participate. Whether participants choose to swim for fun, health, or fitness; aspire to be a world champion; or choose to be involved in a non-swimming role such as a coach, official, or volunteer, a policy of inclusion helps to create opportunities.

SAL has developed an Inclusion Framework that is designed to become an essential tool to assist state organisations and clubs in their planning and operations, as well as provide a practical tool for learn to swim centres and other aquatic organisations to ensure the sport of swimming reflects community values. The first step in launching the Framework was the hosting of a seven part webinar series focussing on SAL’s pillars of inclusion, to address these questions: (1) How to get there and get in? (2) How willing are you to make it happen? (3) What can you do? (4) Who will you work with? (5) Who will you tell? (6) How are you responsible? (7) What do you want to do?

The Framework draws on lessons from existing models and research and addresses both participation and athlete development objectives. Swimming Australia has partnered with the University of the Sunshine Coast to establish a three year research project examining the barriers, motivations, and outcomes of participation in swimming for people with physical disability. This research will add to the evidence base and help inform future decision making.

SAL has these resources and documents:

• National Inclusive Swimming Framework, Swimming Australia Ltd., (2015). The Inclusive Swimming Framework (ISF) is a blueprint to guide Swimming Australia, its stakeholders and aquatic partners toward achieving full inclusion of people from a diverse array of circumstances and backgrounds in swimming and aquatic activities. The ISF incorporates the direction, thoughts and opinions of the swimming and aquatic community and aims to establish a consistent approach to planning and policy development for the swimming and aquatics sector.