Southampton Disability Diving Programme Makes Awards Final

An innovative Active Nation disability diving programme has received acclaim from the world of sport and exercise by being shortlisted for a prestigious industry award.

Divability, which operates at The Quays Swimming and Diving Complex in Southampton to get young people with disabilities involved in the exhilarating sporting art form of diving, was selected for one of just three places in the Spark of Innovation (Programme) category final at the UKactive and Matrix Flame Awards 2013.

Active Nation’s Diving Development Officer (and Team GB Olympic coach), Lindsey Fraser, takes up the tale: “Our diving management team set up Divability in 2010 when we identified a need for a disability section of our existing diving programme. As far as we know, ours is the only programme in the world that specifically caters for disabled children to dive, and it has gone from strength to strength.”

“Our disability diving lessons enable children and young people from the ages of seven to nineteen the opportunity to experience something special.”

“We have seen first-hand just how much the participants have benefitted from the opportunity and we are incredibly proud of all we have achieved. To be nominated for a Flame Award is fantastic.”

While Divability did not ultimately come away from the wonderfully-titled ‘Ball of Fire’ at The International Centre in Telford on 3 July as a winner, its shortlisting at the Flame Awards, which take place annually and recognise excellence and best practice in the health and fitness industry, puts it amongst innovative programmes of the highest standard out there. Add to that its aforementioned global uniqueness and we reckon we’ve got something to be rather proud of.

Lindsey concurs, citing its exciting prospects and its family-based format: “We set up Divability with the intention that it would run as a pioneering project and now it is a successfully established programme from which other facilities will be able to develop their own programmes.”

“We thought very carefully about how the programme would work and decided that it would be most beneficial to allow the whole family to participate together. Families of up to four people can enjoy a diving lesson together, we cater for brothers, sisters, parents and carers. This allows the child to enjoy the activity in familiar surroundings, as well as family members enjoying the activity too.”

To find out more about the Divability programme, give us a call on 023 8072 0922.

Posted on: Monday, August 19th, 2013 by Bita Rezaei

Yay! You've decided to leave a comment. That's fantastic! Please keep in mind that comments are moderated. So, please do not use a spammy keyword or a domain as your name, or it will be deleted. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation instead. Thanks for dropping by!