Better Together Through Sport days for families in West Yorkshire this summer

2 mins read

Monday 24 April 2023

Tags: Better Together events, Better Together Through Sport, Family events and activities

Thanks to National Lottery funding we are able to put on three ‘Better Together Through Sport’ activity days in West Yorkshire this summer.

We’ll use the funding of just under £10k to work in partnership with local Wakefield sport venue, Disability Sport Yorkshire, to run three events focusing on sport for children and young people with additional needs during the summer holidays.

We hope the weekly disability sport sessions will help reduce isolation and increase family confidence by enabling families to try out new sporting activities in a safe environment, make friends and share experiences with other families.

Watch our video about what difference sport can make to disabled children and young people.

Last year, parent carers that attend our Better Together events told us that they feel less isolated (86%), more confident (75%) and more informed about how to get the support they need (70%). Three quarters of the children and young people who attended said they made new friends and all of them said they would like to try the activities on offer again!

Hannah Hassouni in Contact’s fundraising team says: “We’re really looking forward to working with Disability Sport Yorkshire this summer and encouraging children with additional needs in the region to get involved and try something new.

“Families we support tell us that leisure and play opportunities for their children – after school, in the holidays and at weekends – are extremely limited and barriers like accessibility and cost can get in the way. Children with additional needs who are not given sporting opportunities can miss out on the physical, mental and social benefits that taking part in sport brings and their emotional and physical wellbeing can be negatively impacted which can contribute to their social isolation and lack of confidence. And because Contact’s family workers will also be on hand at these weekly sessions, parent carers will be able to talk to us directly and get direct access to Contact’s trusted information, advice and support.”

Read our Holidays, Play and Leisure webpage.