Strong Voices

Heather Walker is working on making herself redundant. That will only happen when Nelson’s Inclusive Sports Trust achieves its goal and disabled sports players are accepted into mainstream sports clubs.

Heather has coached basketball and athletics for 40 years and has seen many disabled children along the way who had no way to join in sports alongside their siblings and friends.

She decided to change that. In 2006 Heather asked the Nelson Basketball Association to establish a basketball competition for players with learning disabilities. That was the start of the Fulton Hogan League and the Inclusive Sports Trust.

The Inclusive Sports Trust now covers many sporting codes in Nelson and reaches up to 300 disabled sports players a year from ages five to 40-plus.

“It’s something I absolutely believe in, and I really enjoy. You see the change in the participants – their confidence. It does open doors.”

Yet Nelson remains the only city in New Zealand with a disabled sports league. Heather says there are other organisations for disabled players, including Special Olympics and the Halberg Games, but she says families want to share the everyday experience of participating in sport together in the same venues.

The Trust’s disabled players use the same courts and sports fields as everyone else. “We have always insisted on being where the heart of sport is. If people aren’t seen, how are they recognised?”

The basketballers get a huge boost from the support and coaching provided by local NBL basketball heroes the Nelson Giants. Each season the Fulton Hogan League basketballers play one game at halftime during a Nelson Giants’ game.

Waimea College student Jack Doocey, now aged 20 and close to two metres tall, has been playing basketball and football with the Inclusive Sports Trust for 12 years.

He started with futsal ball skills then joined Junior Jammers, a basketball programme designed for children aged five to 12 years with supported learning needs. He also signed up to Junior Kickers, a programme for young footballers offered by the Trust from 2012 to 2017.

Jack now participates in the senior basketball league, in his college team and, for one afternoon each week during school terms, he is involved in its multi-sport programme, where he gets to play a range of sports with clubs all over Nelson.

Sandra Doocey, Jack’s Mum and a member of the IHC Nelson Association, says it has been very important for her as a parent to be able to make connections with other families. “Heather has made it such an amazingly safe environment – just knowing that if you went to a soccer game or a futsal game that you are welcome to join in,” she says.

“What you get at these things is a very relaxed environment. People can laugh. Children don’t stand out and parents feel safe. That has been hugely important. Heather is the most amazing, amazing person.”

The IHC Nelson Association has been supporting the Inclusive Sports Trust for several years with the purchase of sports equipment.

The Inclusive Sports Trust offers not only basketball and football; but its multi-sport programme for young people transitioning from school introduces players to a whole range of sporting codes – everything from boxing, swimming, rugby and badminton to mini golf and tennis.

“We go into a different organisation each week. We have visited at least 20 community-based sports organisations this year. It really does break down barriers. Some of the young people end up joining. The coaches can see the ability and the potential.”

Heather says they now have sports organisations asking how they can get involved. Forty young people were involved in multi-sport in 2023.

“The concept behind the Trust is that sport is a vehicle for change. In time we won’t need an inclusive sports trust.”

Caption: Basketballer Jack Doocey playing in the Fulton Hogan League.

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