Rhiwbina Squash Club have been awarded the insport Club of the month accolade due to their proactive approach to the programme and achieving level silver.
The club provides squash lessons for disabled people and wanted to further extend this provision. This is highlighted as Rhiwbina are the first Squash club in Wales to achieve insport as a well as achieving ribbon, bronze and silver in a short period of time.
Rhiwbina Squash Club got involved in insport as Richard Plenty who has become a key volunteer introduced the idea of racketball for disabled people when he started playing with his daughter. “I was taking my daughter Laura to play Racketball and thought of bringing the young adults from Weston house in Bridgend where she stays Sunday till Friday term time too.”
Therefore, approximately twenty disabled people from Weston House in Bridgend attend regular rotation sessions with eight being able to be coached at any one time due to the confined space on court and the student’s health. The students from Bridgend attend sessions every Monday. A key reason for becoming insport accredited was for Rhiwbina squash club to open up their services to a wider group and offer the opportunity for more disabled children and adults to play squash.
Rhiwbina Squash Clubs insport Lead Officer Richard Plenty said “The difference insport has made to Rhiwbina has been tremendous as it has encourages all our members to be more open to anyone with disabilities to get involved in squash. It has also made us better as coaches as it puts us out of our comfort zone.”
This is only the start for Richard and Rhiwbina Squash Club as they want to get more disabled people playing squash and encourage other squash clubs across Wales to also offer the service. Plenty said “Our ambition is to get more people with disabilities joining and playing alongside other members. To see wheelchair Racketball as an official sport in Wales and to promote disabled people playing squash whenever the opportunity occurs.”
For other clubs who wanted to get involved in insport Plenty states “My advice to any club would be don't focus on what someone can't do and focus on what they can do.”
Rhiwbina Squash and Racketball club have also opened a new fourth court which is wheelchair accessible and Rhiwbina alongside Squash Wales was the first squash club to feature at the 2015 Wheelchair Sports Spectacular.
Michelle Daltry Disability Sport Wales, Partnership manager said "Rhiwbina Squash Club have made tremendous progress through the insport club standards. It is fantastic to see such a proactive club offering a broad range of opportunities for disabled players and we would like to congratulate and thank them for their continued support and enthusiasm for inclusive squash and racketball".
Joanna Coates-McGrath, Sports Development Officer said "I would like to congratulate Rhiwbina Squash Club on achieving insport ribbon, bronze and silver. They are totally committed to providing inclusive opportunities at their club and also have a regular session specifically for disabled people which they are looking to expand even further. The club have been a pleasure to work with and are already working towards insport Gold."
Mike Workman, Director of Wales Squash and Racketball: “WSRB is very proud of Rhiwbina squash clubs achievements and more importantly raising the bar for inclusive squash in Wales. The club have achieved so much in such a short period of time as they move into achieving insport Gold which is an incredible feat.”
