Planning Training for Children 5 – inclusion

Setting up a culture for inclusion

Discgolf has the potential to be a truly inclusive sport but how do I establish a culture of inclusion in my club?

What could an atmosphere of openness and inclusion mean for your club? There are a few simple steps how you can easily start approaching this topic.

Talk about inclusion and be open to all ideas. Then concentrate on the ones that are realistically feasible in your situation. Keep it simple. You should have fun with the process. Goals that are too ambitious can frustrate you right at the start and make the mission of inclusion difficult.

• Invite everyone, in simple figurative language.
• Give the idea of inclusion space in your club.
• Use it as an opportunity to expand your offerings and spread it in your environment.
• Find out whether the different children feel comfortable in the group.

Establishing a structure for inclusion

You have the goal of making your offering more inclusive and have invited a diverse set of participants. Now you want to put those goals into practice. It is important to involve as many people as possible in the planning who will also be working in practice later on.

Try to imagine how the groups you want to open up to will experience the game situation with you. What could training for your target groups look like? If you have the opportunity, invite representatives of the groups during the planning stage or get practical tips from clubs with which your plans are comparable or who already have an inclusive aspect in their offerings.

• Create a play and training venue in the club as a (protected) meeting place
• Choose or appoint a person responsible for the inclusive aspects of the program
• Make an initial plan for the organization of the offer. Keep it simple.
• Start and update the plan with your experience.

Developing a practice for inclusion

Now it’s time to put everything into practice.

Keep an eye on your participants and whether they might be under-challenged or over-challenged by the exercises.

Feel free to change ethe excercises according to your ideas or adapt them to specific needs of participants. Make them easier rather than more challenging. The most important part is to have fun and make everyone feel welcome.

Not everything will be perfect the first time. Implementing inclusion in your offering is a process.

• Adapt practices to the needs of your children and coaches
• Create practices of language-independent communication, such as greeting rituals
• Talk about inclusion and disc golf and get in touch with other clubs, schools and social institutions.