The kids are keen to kick

By Dave Sutherland

BROADMEADOWS Special Developmental School is for kids who have moderate to severe intellectual disabilities. There are just over 90 children at the school, ranging in age from five to 18. That’s prep up to year 12.

On Kick Around Australia Day on August 7 the school will be celebrating the official 150th birthday of our indigenous game just like hundreds of other schools around the state.

“Don’t think for a second that these kids’ disabilities stop them from following footy with the same passion as anyone else,” says school spokesperson Brendan Colville. 

Many of the children at the school spend their weekends in respite care to give their families a temporary break from the often difficult job of supervising them. The respite programs involve the kids being taken to AFL footy matches, which most of them love.

They also love football “theme days”, which the school puts on from time to time. The days are organised to encourage the kids to exercise and learn about the game while also providing a vehicle for social interaction. To date, the theme days have been a great success.

On August 7 this year the school will be organising another football theme day to celebrate Kick Around Australia Day. Throughout the day the kids will be involved in various footy-related activities which will all culminate in a staff versus students match to be held at the end of the day. 

Kids will get their faces painted. They will make banners for the teams to run through before the footy match (as shown in the image to the right). They will make streamers to throw onto the ground. At lunchtime one class will take care of the sausage sizzle.

“Even the kids who aren’t really keen footy fans get swept up in the excitement,” says Brendan Colville.

Brendan suggests that several of the kids – mainly in the older age groups – are good footballers.

“They sink the boot in and give the ball a fair old hoist,” he says. “And there are some pretty good hands as well.”

He says that the girls at the school are just as keen to play as the boys.

“There’s no gender bias here,” he says. “All the girls have a red hot go, and most of them can take it up to the boys just quietly.”

Located as it is in a suburb with a rich mix of cultures and ethnicities, the Broadmeadows Special Development School includes students from a wide variety of backgrounds.

“It’s very easy to engage kids in a day like this,” says Brendan. “The social, emotional, physical and culinary opportunities that a day like this presents has kids highly motivated to participate. In fact, for a lot of these kids Kick Around Australia Day will be one of the highlights of their school year.”