New football initiative held at ALAC as part of Community Living Association’s Social Sports program

A new weekly football program that fosters inclusivity and participation for people with disability has been launched in Albany.

The Social Sports program, held every Wednesday at Albany Leisure and Aquatic Centre, is part of a broader scheme called LifeSkills from support provider Community Living Association.

The LifeSkills program offers a wide range of activities such as fishing, barbecues and singing.

It has been running for about 10 years in Albany, led by group facilitator and support worker Timothy Fairley.

West Coast Eagles Great Southern community co-ordinator Brad Nisbett has recently started an adapted version of the Walking Footy program as part of CLA’s Social Sports.

Nisbett said it was great to see the participants learning and having fun.

“There are people from all ranges in terms of disability so it’s an inclusive program where we do a modified footy game on the indoor basketball courts,” Nisbett said.

“I’ve just been doing that for the past four weeks — they basically do four-week blocks of sport.

“When I first came down about two months ago, they were doing T-ball and I floated the idea that I’d like to do footy with them.

“A lot of them enjoy footy and are into the Eagles, and they just want to have a bit of a kick.”