Youth Club and DAVE Project Deaf Sports Role Models event report and September 2024 events
Youth Club and DAVE Project Deaf Sports Role Models Event report
August 2024
Sports role models event report
What was this event?
On the night of the England–Netherlands Euros game (but luckily not at the same time!) CYPS hosted an event in Manchester Deaf Centre’s Teddy Webb Hall to introduce d/Deaf young people aged 12–24 to sports role models from the d/Deaf community in Northwest England.
Who came?
CYPS created a joint event for Youth Club (12–16) and DAVE Project (17–24) members. The youth workers wanted to make an accessible event for everyone and had interpreters provide BSL, English and lip-reading to make sure all communication styles were welcome. The team worked closely with UK Deaf Sports to find local athletes for the event: Harvey Waldron (Manchester City Football Club), Matthew Bradshaw (England Deaf Golf), Genevieve O'Hara (England Deaf Football), David Edgington (Worldwide Deaf Gym), and Wayne Sharples (Typhoons Rugby Club). We were also delighted to welcome our funders from The National Lottery (TNL) to take a tour of our centre and experience the magic of our CYPS events.
What happened?
First, we welcomed everyone with a buffet and refreshments. Then, the athletes introduced themselves individually. They talked about their achievements, their personal relationship with their sport and their deafness. It was inspiring to learn about the incredible battles they had won! We took a break to have some pizza before the young people tried out each sport themselves. We had golf practice with professional clubs, dribbling and shooting practice for football, gym exercise challenges and pass the rugby ball (where everyone wanted to catch Wayne out!) After, the sportspeople sat on a panel and the young people asked them questions: How did you start? Who inspired you? What were your challenges? To end the night our members voted for their favourite sports from the event. They also told us what activities they wanted at their youth club. Then it was time to watch an exciting England football game!
What impact did it have?
With this event, CYPS team wanted to help our young people to overcome barriers by creating a deaf-friendly event. By inviting deaf sports role models to share their stories we also wanted to help them develop their own deaf identity and pride. It was empowering to learn that playing sports as deaf people allowed them to develop this themselves and understand their deaf rights better too. We were so proud to see our young people growing their independence by networking with professionals within the community, asking questions and making decisions for the future of their youth club.
A big thank you to Emma and Judy from TNL, our young people, role models, Shannon Howarth from UK Deaf Sport, MDC staff and volunteers for this fantastic event!
September activities for Children and Young People
Want to join in our youth events? Check out the CYPS September events below and look out for BSL videos on our social media very soon.
