A new initiative by a Hill Top couple hopes to encourage children with special needs to play Australian rules football.
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The Wollondilly Redbacks Junior AFL Club will launch its inaugural Cygnet program for children with disabilities, or who have sensitivity or sensory issues.
Redbacks coach Mitchell Seal and his wife Mel will run the free program at Wilton’s Hannaford Oval in 2019.
Mitchell Seal said the initiative aimed to promote Australian rules football and show children how to have an active lifestyle in a low stress and quiet environment.
“We will work with footballs, tackling bags, skipping ropes and basically anything that interests kids of any age to get their bodies moving,” Seal said.
“Mel is an early childhood teacher and has great knowledge about what the children will need.
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“We have to make sure the program is adaptive to the kids. It’s important to get these children to come to you and teach them through a high level of engagement.”
The Seals know all too well about the barriers that children with disabilities can face everyday.
The couple’s son Lachlan, 15, has Aspergers and his younger brother Eamon, eight, has autism.
“Lachlan is fairly high functioning but Eamon struggles with social situations,” Mitchell Seal said.
“For kids like Eamon, it’s hard to get them into a mainstream sport program.”
Seal said the Cygnet program would be tailored to meet the needs of individual participants.
“Each child will be given an individual goal in our program – that goal may be to move into the mainstream football system, or just to kick a footy near other kids,” he said.
“I believe Cygnet will be the first of its kind from a footy perspective in Wollondilly.”
Seal said a special jersey had been designed for the Cygnet program.
The pink and grey jersey features a giant redback and spider’s web that pays homage to the Wollondilly club.
Seal hasn’t confirmed a starting date for the initiative but said he was looking for people to show early interest.
“We will take as many children as we can get in the program, from pre-school age and above,” he said.
“We are not going to cap numbers but believe this program has the long-term potential to grow to 40 or 50 kids taking part.”
For more details about the Cygnet program: call Mitchell Seal on 0422 210 388.
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