Here is a Letter from Robyn Smith from Ausrapid on the LTs involvement with Opens, Hi Paul/Briana On behalf of everyone at AUSRAPID and those we represent, I wanted to send you both a huge thank you for your work this year. By all accounts, the Lords Taverners Shield component ran brilliantly and the players always rave about their involvement. Thank you kindly for the invite to the Presentation dinner, I very much appreciate your hospitality and was impressed by the professionalism of the evening. I havent been to a Presentation dinner for about 12 years, but can assure you the nights were poles apart - well done. I hope you also felt the power of inclusion first hand. These men and women are included seamlessly into the event and you would not know that 70 people with an intellectual disability were attending the Presentation night. I cannot begin to tell you how inspired and proud I am when I observe how far they have come. Many of these participants have been bullied and ostracized their entire life, many would never have dressed in this fashion for a function, ate with a knife and fork at a table, been taught etiquette and how to listen attentively during speeches, let alone been clapped, cheered and respected for their ability and successes by their heroes. The domino effect which this causes in their lives after the event is immeasurable. These life lessons go home with them and more often than not are shared enthusiastically! They gain the confidence to partake in the community in other ventures. Anyone deviating from this expected positive behaviour is pulled into line by their peers. I have heard athletes say to others - dont you spoil this for us. All this is achieved through being valued and included in sport. Cricket Australia is to be applauded for their growing work with the sport of Indoor Cricket. You can see the sport improving by the day. Heres to the National All abilities strategy being embraced by the wider Cricket community and more importantly a benchmark for Australian sport in general. I have included a rough movie I took of Michael Bartels. When Michael starting playing in 1998 or so, he could barely speak. On Saturday night he was insistent on thanking everyone publically, that is the 470 people in the room, but as there was no forum for this I recorded his message on my phone. I hope you have the chance to listen. Thank you sincerely. Robyn Ms Robyn J Smith Chief Executive Officer
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 00:08:36 +0000
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