Football Australia & Special Olympics Australia kicking goals

Students at Beenleigh Special School have enjoyed fun sessions delivered by Football Australia Coach Lorenzo Giannini. Special Olympics Australia’s Playing for All Invasion Games category, is a great stepping stone to develop skills that can be transferable into more sport-specific environments like football.

The school has applied for Sporting Schools in Term 1, 2022, to be delivered after their Playing for All program, and hope to continue the student’s development of football skills and knowledge. The partnership between Special Olympics Australia and Football Australia can allow the school to continue delivery with the same coach, allowing students to develop positive relationships and maintain encouragement to stay engaged and participate.

The school and teachers have been extremely happy about the program, PE Teacher Charl Du Plessis commenting, “Lorenzo is a great coach, and has developed good connections with the students. The resources are very useful for the staff to use alongside the program with the students that aren’t joining the group. They can follow what Lorenzo is doing and they can modify for the students participating parallel”.

Coach Lorenzo has enjoyed coaching the students and using the Playing for All Invasion Games resources. He commented “I feel confident in delivering the session to most students and the games with different progressions and regressions. The pictures are good in the planner showing what the game is supposed to look like and the games themselves are good. The ‘TREE’ page on the activity cards is really good in showing how to modify the game and adapt the session according to the participant’s needs.

The Inclusive Sport in Schools program is available to all schools with students with intellectual disabilities and autism. To book a program click here.