Northern Ireland

Rugby legend Rory Best launches initiative for disabled young people in NI

Rugby legend Rory Best has helped launch a new initiative for disabled young people in NI
Rugby legend Rory Best has helped launch a new initiative for disabled young people in NI Rugby legend Rory Best has helped launch a new initiative for disabled young people in NI

IRELAND and Ulster rugby legend Rory Best has launched a new initiative for disabled young people in Northern Ireland.

The 'Include' project, which is run by the charity Sported, aims to see more young people with disabilities participating in sports in a bid to help them "increase self-confidence and feel less restricted in their aspirations".

Figures show that people with a disability in Northern Ireland exercise significantly less than those without a disability.

Around 19 per cent of people with disabilities participate regularly in physical activity, compared with 37 per cent of non-disabled adults.

The charity is supporting four groups in Northern Ireland to become more accessible for disabled young people and will be working in partnership with Disability Sports Northern Ireland (DSNI) to train, support and guide the groups and young people.?

?Among the aims of the project, funded by St James Places, are to provide training to group leaders and volunteers in relation to disability inclusion activities and provide leadership development opportunities for young people passionate about disability inclusion in their sports groups.

Launching the initiative at Portadown Rugby Club, Mr Best spent the morning with young people involved in the Portadown Panthers, a tag rugby group for young people with learning disabilities.

"I am honoured to support the launch of this wonderful project on behalf of Sported," he said

"It was great to spend time with the Portadown Panthers, which is a tag rugby club for young people with learning disabilities. It is so evident just how much they all get out of their club.

"Everyone can benefit from being involved with sport and physical activity, so it is vital that we make sport and physical activity accessible for everyone."

Ricky Mehaffy from Sported said that "working in partnership with DSNI, we will be helping community sports groups become more knowledgeable and accessible for young disabled people to redress the imbalance of the lack of sporting opportunities that currently exists for young disabled people".