ATHLETES WITH DISABILITIES FUTSAL DAY Dural – July 5TH

NARA Bulldogs Receive their medals

NARA Bulldogs Team photo

NARA Tigers, Bulldogs, Eagles, Thundercats, RSAC Eels, Magpies.

Not the names you would associate with experienced Futsal teams. However, sportsmanship, passion, competitiveness, love and respect for the game were demonstrated by these teams at the Dural Sport & Leisure Centre yesterday as they did battle on the Futsal court.

You see, all these players have some sort of disability, but they were given the opportunity to have a great afternoon of sport and they relished the chance to experience Futsal, many for the first time.

The whole event came about as the Northern Area Recreation Association and Recreation Sports & Aquatics Club, with help from the NSW Department of Sport and Rec, got together to look for opportunities for their clients to experience different activities.

They contacted FNSW Futsal looking for assistance and a partnership was formed that resulted in coaching courses, skills development days and competition days being conducted.

The format of the tournament saw all teams play each other once with the 2 top teams at the end of the Round Robin meeting in the final where the NARA Bulldogs were victors over the Thundercats.

At the end of the day all the participants received a commemorative medallion while the NARA Bulldogs were presented with the perpetual trophy for winning the competition.

Many thanks must go Kelly Oldfield, Kelly Fishburn, Greg Brown and Brian Mendham for all their hard work prior to and during the tournament; also to Paul Jones, Laura Elliot and William Thorby who refereed throughout the day, their attitude and approach ensured that free flowing, enjoyable games eventuated.

A similar day will be conducted on September six at the Bankstown Basketball Stadium, Condell Park with the winners and runners up of both tournament invited to participate at the State championships to be held later this year.