MainНовиниTime to Act, Unstoppable: how adaptive sports facilitate rehabilitation and reintegration for veterans and people with disabilities
Time to Act, Unstoppable: how adaptive sports facilitate rehabilitation and reintegration for veterans and people with disabilities
In the spring of 2022, veteran Bohdan Kliuchka volunteered for the 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade and became a machine gunner. He fought on the outskirts of Krasnohorivka, not far from Avdiivka. During a combat mission, he was wounded and lost his leg. After prosthetics and rehabilitation, he returned to work and became fond of grass amputee football and indoor volleyball.
This is an opportunity to stay physically fit and communicate with people having similar experience.
He is a member of the Dnipro Municipal Sports Club, Cherkasy, which held a promo training in amputee football for veterans and people with disabilities. It is a football played on crutches for people who have lost their limbs.
Adaptive Dnipro Municipal Sports Club is one of the 15 winners of the “Time to Act, Unstoppable” competition, which received a grant from MHP-Gromadi Charitable Foundation under the co-financing conditions within MHP Poruch reintegration program for military and veterans and the State Institution “All-Ukrainian Center for Physical Health of the Population ‘Sports for All’” supported by the Ministry of Youth as part of the presidential “Active Parks – locations of a healthy Ukraine” project.
Our MHP-Gromadi Foundation has been focused on the restoration and development of Ukrainian communities for almost 10 years. A year and a half ago, when we launched our MHP Poruch support program for military and veterans, we realized that adaptive sports could facilitate the rehabilitation and reintegration of wounded military and people with disabilities. So, the next challenge was the fact that most communities lacked modern adaptive sports clubs with high-quality equipment and skilled coaches. Therefore, we supported the establishment of 15 adaptive clubs in various villages and cities of the country within the “Time to Act, Unstoppable” grant competition.
Currently, more than 80 war veterans and people with disabilities train at the Dnipro Municipal Sports Club. Available sports groups: amputee football, sitting volleyball, table tennis, archery, powerlifting, athletics. We plan to open sports groups of rowing on simulators and swimming.
We strive to create a barrier-free environment for people with disabilities, in particular, for those injured during the war, which is just what we do nowadays. The project is intended to establish and arrange sports centers in communities, adaptive fitness clubs for communication with like-minded people and professional support from qualified coaches, thus promoting reintegration into the community’s social life. Therefore, the grant competition for communities allowing them to receive up to UAH 400,000 to establish an Unstoppable Adaptive Club in their village or town is a great opportunity to start activities in this area.
There was an educational module on advanced professional competencies and accounting support within the “Time to Act, Unstoppable” competition. Coaches of sports clubs received related certificates from the National University of Ukraine on Physical Education and Sports.
We support the adaptive sports development at our enterprise, MHP-Urozhay, and in the community. In Cherkasy, there was the inclusive competition “Valor of the Invincible”, supported by MHP Poruch, during which veterans and people with disabilities competed in rowing on simulators, bench press, aero bikes, and kettlebell snatch. Such events prove that our defenders can be role models not only on the battlefield but also in sports.
According to Serhiy Tymofeiev, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, there are already more than 80 adaptive clubs in Ukraine giving classes in jiu-jitsu, general physical preparedness, swimming, Nordic walking, rugby, and archery. All these classes are adapted for people with disabilities.
One of our current priorities in the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine is the development of adaptive sports to set conditions for war veterans, people with disabilities, and people with functional limitations to participate in physical, health, and sports activities, which will ensure their fitness recovery and psychoemotional state improvement. Adaptive sports mean the opportunity to return to an active social life, get support from like-minded people, and feel one’s strengths. Adaptive clubs ensure a safe environment not only for high-quality physical and mental recovery but also for social adaptation, they also help overcome barriers and restore confidence in one’s abilities. Similar projects and the cooperation between authorities, businesses, and civil society institutions ensure the development of an inclusive society, where every manager realizes the importance of adaptive sports, and every beneficiary gets a chance for an active life, recovery, and social interactions.
Adaptive sports is not about physical activity only but about a comprehensive approach to the rehabilitation and reintegration of veterans and people with disabilities. Sports help restore motor functions, increase endurance, and improve general well-being. What is even more important – the advantage of adaptive sports is the opportunity to gradually return to an active social life. Team training, participation in competitions, and personal records allow people to feel support and unity with others, which has a positive affect on their social adaptation.
Additional information:
Time to Act, Unstoppable is a grant competition allowing communities to get up to UAH 400,000 to establish an adaptive club “Unstoppable” in their village or town. The project is implemented on the territory of 13 regions of Ukraine, namely: Vinnytsia, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Lviv, Poltava, Sumy, Ternopil, Khmelnytskiy, Cherkasy, Chernihiv Oblasts, and the City of Kyiv.
Project partners: MHP-Gromadi Charitable Foundation within MHP Poruch reintegration program for military and veterans, State Institution “All-Ukrainian Center for Physical Health of the Population ‘Sports for All’” as part of the presidential “Active Parks – locations of a healthy Ukraine” project, Ministry of Youth and sports of Ukraine.
The project is intended to establish and arrange community sports centers adapted for people with disabilities, including those injured during the war, where they can take physical exercises, communicate with like-minded people, and get professional support from qualified coaches, thus promoting reintegration into the community’s social life.