From the News Editor

Hi everyone! It is almost the end of 2020 and as a nation, we have been through so much!
 
Last week we celebrated International Day of People with Disability in Australia, an international day observed by the UN. We've seen several of our Australian friends such as Sport Australia celebrating this important day as we consider this year's theme - "Building Back Better: toward a disability - inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 World."
 
In response to observing this day, I was excited to learn that we are one of the NINE NATIONAL SPORTING ORGANISATIONS who formed an Alliance together and that our General Manager Phil Harper is the Vice Chair of this alliance! How cool is that?
 
Now, with Christmas around the corner, what are you all doing for Christmas? This weekend I'll be having a Christmas lunch with my touch footy team - we plan to have burgers at Manly beach and have a game of beach touch footy afterwards. Sounds fun right?
 
Last September, I mentioned that our next edition was going to be due on the 23rd of November. We decided to postpone it to today because it was only fitting to send out our last Active Hands in the last month of 2020. You will get our next edition in January when we return to office.
 
Anyway, stay safe, stay happy and stay healthy (but you can have that fruit cake) this Christmas! See you all next year!
 
Yours in sports news, 
 
Lauren Townsend 
Media & Community Liaison Officer 
General Manager's Report

Wow - how time has flown or has it?

2020 certainly has been different and difficult and we are not into COVID-normal yet. There are still restrictions in place such as contact rules, travel and in particular sport participation. Fortunately, here in Australia we are doing much better than many other countries, but we cannot relax. We know from the recent lockdown experience in Victoria, it could blow up again anywhere.

COVID-19 certainly has made a significant impact on us in different ways - family, work, socialising, community and sport participation and personal mental health and wellbeing. We hope that you are all healthy, safe and able to manage the limitations we have. Please take care and look out for those who are at risk and need support.

Looking back over the last 12 months, while we have had to change how we worked while managing the pandemic, we have still been able to make some significant achievements. Some of these are further highlighted below in this ‘Active Hands’ edition. One major outcome worth noting here is the formation of the Australian Sporting Alliance for People with Disabilities (ASAPD), which has been in development over the last 18 months. With support from Sport Australia, nine (9) National Disability Sport Organisations (including DSA) worked together to find common objectives, potential shared services and opportunities to improve our ability to support sport participation for people with disabilities (including deaf and hard of hearing people). You can read the recent media release here.

Reminding you of our ‘Return to Sport’ information which outlines guidelines and plans on how everyone can return to sport safely. Please check this out and you can find it here. We hope that you will be able to enjoy a better sport experience and enjoyment in 2021 and we look forward to supporting you in any way we can.

I would like to note the efforts of both David and Debbie Larkin who have just announced they are stepping down from the NSW Deaf Sport Committee (NSWDS) after many years of involvement at different levels including President and Secretary roles. We thank them for their commitment and support in making sure sport for deaf and hard of hearing people in NSW is alive and well and has funding stability. No doubt, they will still be around participating and supporting NSWDS and the Australian deaf sports world. All the best, David and Debbie.

Congratulations to Anthony (Tony) Gorringe OAM on receiving an award from Sports NSW for his Distinguished Long Service with lawn bowls. Well deserved.

I look forward to an exciting 2021 hoping that some of our postponed National Deaf Championships will be able to be held sometime late in the new year. Wishing you and your family all the best for the festive season. Take care and have fun.
  
Keep in touch and yours in sport,
  
Phil Harper 
General Manager
Deaf Sports Australia News
What's happening at DSA
Deaf Sports Australia Office's Christmas break
All our staff will be taking a well-earned break with all the offices closed from Tuesday 22 December 2020 to Monday 4 January 2021. If any urgent contact is required, please email to Phil Harper, General Manager - phil.harper@deafsports.org.au.
Grant Updates
We have been fortunate to gain support from both Federal and State Government’s with their COVID-19 recovery grants which has helped our budget because we were not able to receive much revenue from our programs over the last 8-10 months. We thank them for their support.

We were able to assist Deaf ACT with successful funding in both the ACT Sport & Recreation Grant and Volunteers Australia Program. Well done DeafACT.
Sporting School Program
This will become a major initiative with DSA over the next few years as we develop opportunities for deaf and hard of hearing students across Australia to participate in sport programs alongside our National Sport Organisation partners. For more information on the SSP, see here.
Collaboration work with Blind Sports Australia and Sport Inclusion Australia
Over the last 2 years, DSA has worked closely with these two organisations to provide sport inclusion and awareness training and resources to many national, state and local sport organisations as well as other organisations such as local Councils. We have created an organisation called Inclusion Alliance to continue this work as demand for our support is rapidly growing. We look forward to continuing this partnership in 2021 and beyond as we seek ways to expand our capacity to spread the 'inclusion' message across the sport world.
National Deaf Sport Organisation’s (NDSO’s)
Our 15 NDSO’s have been doing it hard over the last 12 months. All their preparation for 2020 and National Deaf Championship’s as well as International Deaf Sport events were cancelled due to COVID-19. We have been continuing to remain in close contact with them through regular Zoom meetings and information support with ‘Return to Sport’ guidelines, etc.

There are some exciting developments happening with Cricket, Basketball, Rugby and some other sports which we look forward to sharing in 2021.
2022 Australian Deaf Games - update from Garry West-Bail
The 1 Year to go Event will be held at the Newcastle Museum on the 16th April 2021 – more details will be available in early 2021. This date will coincide with the launch and opening of the Games online registration - with early bird fees being promoted.
Please go to www.austdeafgames.org.au and see the website taking shape. The volunteer online registration is currently open so if there are interested people who would like to help out at the Games you now have an opportunity to register your interest

We would like to thank Toby Patullo from Tobstar for his great work on assisting us with developing the website and the online systems.
The members of the current Games Organising Committee (GOC) are:
  • Leonie Jackson – Chairperson
  • Kylie Clear – Interpreter coordinator
  • Andrew Wiltshire – Ceremonies coordinator
  • Sera Bennett – Sports coordinator
  • Paul Harrison – Registration coordinator
  • Riona Twoney – Tindal – Social coordinator
  • Neil and Anna Mackintosh – Logistics and transport coordinator
  • Kate Matairavula – Oceania coordinator
  • Petti McInnes – Lake Macquarie City representative
  • Mark Stratford – Newcastle City representative
  • Volunteer coordinator is vacant

If somebody is interested in working on the GOC as the volunteer coordinator could you, please contact leonie.jackson@deafsports.org.au to outline your interest.

We are pleased to confirm the following Games suppliers:
  • Impact Trophies
  • Alinta Apparel
  • Newcastle Car and Bus Hire
  • Rover Coaches

We are also pleased to confirm Speers Point (Lake Macquarie) as being the venue for the closing ceremony – the soon to be updated reserve will host all of the official closing ceremony activities as well as the post Games party.

We are hopeful of confirming the opening ceremony and Games Hub venues shortly

We are always proud to confirm and thank the Games sponsors and partners:
  • NSW Government – Destination NSW
  • Lake Macquarie City Council
  • Newcastle City Council
  • SWS Lawyers
  • Sanitarium

We are planning to confirm a number of national and local sponsors in early 2021.
DSA Annual General Meeting
A reminder that Deaf Sport Australia’s Annual General Meeting will be in Newcastle, NSW on Saturday 13th February 2021. Newcastle was chosen because our 2022 Australian Deaf Games will be held in the city as well as Lake Macquarie. This will also tie in with our members forum on the same day, a tour of sport venues as well as meetings with the 2022 Games Organising Committee on Sunday 14th February. More news in January 2021.
National News
Sports updates
National Deaf Championships
National Deaf Championships 2020 re-appraisal due to COVID-19 impacts; now moved to 2021
  • Netball
  • Touch Football
  • 8-Ball
  • Lawn Bowls
Rugby
Deaf Rugby Australia is heading to Darwin, NT in March 2021. Contact them if you're interested in playing for them.
AFL
Jamie Howell, an AFL player from QLD was surprised by her team mates when they signed their club song in Auslan after a game. Their video went viral.

Our QLD Sports Development Officer Julie Lyons caught up with Jamie Howell. Watch the video for more on the interview.
Futsal
Deaf Sport Recreation Queensland with support from Deaf Futsal Queensland hosted their annual Futsal Gala Day. Over 60 children from around Queensland attended this event.

Golf
Golf Australia have announced inclusive events as part of their national golf tournament schedule for 2021. It will include two new events as part of their All-Abilities program - the South Australian Inclusive Championship and the Tasmanian Inclusive Championship.

Deaf Sports Australia is pleased that Golf Australia is supporting access and has a great relationship with Deaf Golf Australia.

Athletics
Imelda Middleton from Queensland has been breaking personal best records and the Australian Deaf records (U20s). Her coach Brad Schofield is pleased with her efforts to date and believe she has potential on an international stage.

Touch Football
Three men from NSW, all of whom plays for NSW Deaf Touch Football, have played in the Vawdon Cup competition. They have also made it to the Grand Finals.

‘Return to Sport’ roadmaps
State and Territory governments have been regularly updating the community about rules for returning to playing and watching sport. Here are some links that will assist you (they are updated weekly).

QLD News
Julie Lyons, our Queensland based Sports Development Officer for DSRQ, is working from home. She will also attend events booked in.

I have had the opportunity to interview Jamie Howell in September about her experiences in AFL at local club - Yeronga Devils. Her team surprised her by signing their club’s song in Auslan. They were on TV news that went viral around Australia, even across the world. It was fantastic promotion about accessibility for deaf players in mainstream sport clubs.

We managed to visit some schools doing Sporting Schools Program (SSP) since Term 1 till Term 4. The were some cancellations in some terms due to COVID-19 situations.
 
I hope we will have more SSP booked for next year and that we can expand more programs such as Multi-Sports Day including ADK programs and regional tour visiting FNQ regions.

DSRQ visited Kedron State High School providing DSAT / ADK for four weeks in October / November to deaf and hearing students (Auslan LOTE students). They learnt the sport signs through DSRQ’s video “Auslan in Sport”. We also did some sport activities e.g. Basketball, mixed netball, soccer and AFL. We had Jamie Howell to lead the AFL activity.
Deaf Sailing Try Out Day
Deaf Sailing Queensland provided series of “Come & Try Out" Days every once a month on Saturday at Humpybong Sailing Club (Redcliffe). They received the grant to purchase two new boats.
Deaf Futsal Gala Day
DSRQ’s 5th Deaf Futsal Gala was held on 22nd October at Hibiscus Sports Complex. 72 players from 12 schools participated. We were pleased to see many students making new friends through playing sport.
Tennis Fun Day
We had Deaf Tennis Development clinic at Tennis Queensland on Sunday 25th October. There were 4 deaf and hard of hearing school students attended. We had some potential players.
Diving
Deaf Diving Clinic sessions were held at Sleeman Sports Complex partnership with Diving Queensland since August till October. 3 sessions in August and 3 sessions in October. We had 10 to 12 deaf and hard of hearing age from 6 to 15 years old.
Deaf Futsal Football Queensland's Trivia Night
70 people turned up including two guest speakers, one of whom is Butrus Haider, the Diversity & Inclusion Officer from Football Queensland. The young, old, parents and sport organisations all participated in the event.

Various topics covered ranged from sport, famous sport players and countries. DFFQ also used this event to demonstrate on their future plans and they have set up a youth competition for deaf and hard of hearing players to get involved in.

Nikolas Schlie, the man behind DFFQ, and his young players were involved in organising the event. Great fun was had by all!
VIC News
James Hale, Sports Development Officer for DSRV, is working from home and will continue to do so until further updates from the Victorian Government.

Since the COVID-19 impact, Victoria being the hardest hit by this virus, we also saw an increase in mental health crisis and anxiety cases. We saw job losses, long periods of remote schooling and transitioning to working at home. The introduction to compulsory face mask wearing in public made life even more difficult for the deaf and hard of hearing communities because many of our people relied on reading lips to aid conversation between two people or more.

From March 2020 until now, we have been keeping up to date with the latest in changes to restrictions to sports and recreation and ensured that the club and group members were aware of these changes. We checked in with them regularly to ensure that their members were ok.

The opportunity to facilitate our Deaf clubs governance program funded by VicSport has been moved to February 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions this year. We did manage to complete a survey of member clubs on their organisation needs which will assist with the training development.

DSRV in conjunction with VicSport had finished completing its survey and scheduled to have clubs meeting on December 10th regarding Governance training.

DSRV will hold their state club meeting in early February 2021 via Zoom to follow up on how everyone is doing and gather updates of what's happening in each sport for 2021.

We are visiting Forest Hills College this week to share information on our Active Deaf Kids program and a possible AFL Kids clinic program.
 
Check under "National News - Sport Updates" for a COVID Safe Plan (Return to Sport roadmaps) specific to the community sport and recreation sector in Victoria.
 
The Industry Restart Guidelines for Physical Recreation and Community Sport and Professional Sport have also now been updated, and are available at the Coronavirus Victoria website.

2021 will focus on rebuilding clubs and groups and creating a new COVID-19 "normal" participation in sports and recreation activities. There is a lot to organise and learn to prepare for people to get back into safe participation in activities again. We look forward to assisting clubs, groups and schools through this process again.

To date, our networking has been great with:
  • Disability Sports and Recreation. 
  • Deaf Children Australia  
  • Tennis Victoria 
  • Triathlon Victoria 
  • Victorian Deaf Education Networks VDEN (schools and teachers in Victoria, deaf and mainstream)
NSW News
Lauren Townsend, Sports Development Officer for NSW Deaf Sports, is also working from home and will continue to do so until end of this year. 
 
NSW have had an interesting year.

We have a clubs meeting every quarter with our club members. Our last meeting was in October. Club surveys were sent out as well. The results have been received and now planning is underway for implementation of clubs' and other stakeholders' involvement into Active Kids Program. We are currently talking to a few of our club members about these potential opportunities.

We have gained a new club member and would love to welcome them - Auslan on Wheels

Previously the COVID-19 Sport Update meetings (organised by Office of Sports NSW) have been conducted quite frequently during the COVID-19 restrictions came into place. The meeting is now once a month - attend every Sports updates provided by the Office of Sports NSW.

The COVID-19 restrictions have been restricting visitors from entering schools in NSW. This meant we could not implement our Active Deaf Kids' program for some time. The Sporting Schools Program are still offering additional funds for other purposes. Restrictions in NSW have now eased up and more information will be received later this week.

Our President David and Secretary Debbie Larkin are leaving NSW Deaf Sports. We are sad to see them go but we wish to commend them for their service at NSW Deaf Sports over the years in which we are forever indebted. We wish them both all the best in their next chapter.

NSW Deaf Sports will have their next Board meeting after Christmas and will release further information regarding board positions afterwards. Please keep your eyes peeled on our Facebook page.

We also wish to thank Murray Elbourn, Disability Inclusion Manager from Sport NSW for working with us and other organisations in the past. He has now moved on to becoming the new CEO of Disability Sports Australia - congratulations Murray! We wish him all the best in his endeavours.
Tennis ID Session
City Community Tennis Club hosted a Tennis ID Session last month. You can find out more about them here. The weather hasn't been in our favour and two tennis players attended with coaches present. Thank you to City Community Tennis and Tennis NSW for hosting this ID Session and providing accessibility.
Sport NSW Award
NSW Deaf Sports, with support from David Larkin and Lawn Bowls NSW's Warwick Binet's, nominated life member Anthony Gorringe OAM to receive the Distinguished Long Service Award presented by Sport NSW. Anthony's services over the years have been greatly acknowledged.
Her Sport Her Way Project
Winston Hills Cricket Club, with Cricket NSW and our support, have completed the exclusive program designed for the deaf and hard of hearing children. A handful of children attended and Deaf Cricket NSW's Chris Ashenden coached the children. There are plans to host a Come and Try Cricket for deaf and hard of hearing girls/women in January. The end goal is to develop a deaf/hard of hearing NSW Deaf Cricket team for girls/women to attend the NCIC against other cricket teams.
International News
World Championships Updates
Swimming
Argentina has been confirmed as the host of the 6th World Deaf Swimming Championships. It will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 13 - 18th August 2023.

MTB
Turkey has officially requested postponing the 2020 World Deaf Mountain Bike Championships to 30 March – 04 April 2021.  

International Day of People with Disability
This event is observed by the UN. Deaf Sports Australia share their article on Katie Kelly OAM, an Australian Triathlete living with Usher Syndrome. She is a Gold Medallist and a two times World Champion. She is also a board member at Deaf Sports Australia and a founder of Sports Access Foundation.

2021 Deaflympics
Brazil, South America is the location for the Deaflympics to be held in December 2021. DSA has been working with our National Deaf Sport Organisations and Sport Integrity Australia (risk management assessment for health and safety) to assess whether we send an Australian team due to Brazil being a serious COVID-19 hotspot. We are already aware of our Federal Government’s concerns and restrictions on international travel and quarantine rules still likely to be in place in 2021. DSA will continue to monitor, discuss with our NDSO’s and make a decision in the new year.

See here for more information on the 2021 Deaflympics here.