By YVONNE SAKALA –
NORWEGIAN Olympic and Paralympics Committee (NIF) senior advisor Diane Huffman has said people with disabilities should be integrated in various sports activities.
Huffman said people with disabilities have equal opportunities as the able boded and should be encouraged to come out and participate in sports.
She was speaking when she officiated at the Sitting volleyball training workshop for teachers at National Sports Development Centre (NASDEC).
“What we are doing is building that awareness and gives the coaches skills to work with the differently abled people. We are hoping people will go back into their communities where they will engage children with others with disabilities,” Huffman said.
Huffman said she was mandated to come up with a new sports policy to include people with disability but how to implement the programme was a challenge.
She said NIF decided to hold workshop for the coaches because they are the ones that were working with children in communities and have the skills and capacity to engage children with disabilities.
“Sport should be for everybody and we want to engage as many people as possible in sport in order to improve their health,” she said.
Zambia Volleyball Association (ZAVA) General Secretary Charles Haambote said the association has already identified five centres in Lusaka where the sport was being played and soon the project will be rolled out to other parts of the country.
He said it was important to include differently abled athlete into the sport and that it was the wish of the association to have volleyball played at all levels.
“This is the first time we are stepping up our effort to introduce sitting volleyball in schools and communities we want to include people with disabilities to also take part in the sport,” he said.