Wakefield Trinity Community Trust have gained the support of BBC Children in Need to help deliver their ‘Enabled not Disabled’ project.

The project will work with physically and intellectually disabled children, introducing them to multiple sports, and helping them to become more active and encourage them to lead a healthy, active life.

Currently, Wakefield Trinity have a physical and intellectual disability Rugby League teams that are largely populated by adults. Through this project children will be able to progress via a pathway to play Rugby League and potentially, one day, for Trinity.

Other sports include Football and Goalball, with the latter being a sport played primarily, but not exclusively, by the visually impaired.

Children will see an increase in confidence and in turn their self-esteem will improve. Establishing lifelong friendships can guard against social isolation and loneliness. Finally, the ability to improve movement in their balance, coordination, mobility and agility will be a natural by-product of their increase in activity. Collectively, all of the above will provide a lift in emotional wellbeing while allowing the participants to become skilled across several sports.

Some taster sessions will be held in local schools following the Easter break directing interesting children and their parents or guardians toward activity sessions in an extra-curricular environment.

Trust General Manager, Craig Shepherd, said: “We made a promise a couple of years ago that we would help make sport accessible for all and we did some great work last year through our physical and learning disability provision but largely with adults. Our target audience through ‘Enabled not Disabled’ is children and young people. The Trust has taken some great strides over the last two years and we genuinely enjoy making a positive impact in people’s lives. I’m extremely proud of the team we have and the work we deliver in the local communities.”

For further information on the project please contact us on craig.shepherd@wakefieldtrinity.com or 01924 211611.