Footy fun for all abilities

EVERY Friday morning at Peter Krenz Leisure Centre, the nation’s favourite sport is transformed for people with a disability.

Balloon Football League is a modified version of AFL created some 20 years ago by three men with the help of Scope, a not-for-profit disability service provider.

“It was basically what they call in the industry a co-design so they told us what they wanted to do and we helped them develop it,” said Scope community inclusion officer Manny Pimentel.

“They wanted a sport where they could play a team sport and be together and still be competitive because there’s very limited opportunities for people with complex disabilities.”

“BFL provides a pathway for them to participate in actual sport and health. It’s not as much fun to do physical therapy with a physiotherapist and the like than to actually participate in a sport and be producing the same motions and actions in a sport where you’ve got that competitive atmosphere.

“People are much more motivated to swing their arms around or kick because balloon football allows you to do all that sort of stuff.

“You can kick, you can punch, you can head it, you can use any part of your body to try and hit the balloon,” Mr Pimentel said.

Made playable for people in wheelchairs by swapping a ball for a balloon, a field for an indoor court and standard goal posts for smaller Auskick posts, BFL attracts over 200 players across the state.

Sam Beasley can be found at the centre of the Bendigo games each week and said she’s enjoyed playing the game for a number of years now.

“I found out when I was doing my NDIS claim what Scope do and that they play balloon football and I wanted to give that a go, so I started Scope three days a week which I absolutely love and Friday is balloon football day, and I’ve been doing that for about three years,” she said.

“I love my AFL so I just wanted to give it a go and see if I liked it and meet new people.

“It’s a good atmosphere, your friends can come and watch, your parents can come and watch it. Everybody loves it who plays balloon football.”

Those social connections made by players and the wider community including volunteers from Catherine McAuley College are the most important part of the League, according to Scope’s most recent Positive Impact Outcomes survey.

About 90 per cent respondents said the sport helped them to make new friends compared to 74 per cent who said they were better at sport and healthier.

“Not everyone wants to be a winner, they just want to be with other people in a community setting,” Mr Pimentel said.

“BFL brings awareness to the community of people with a disability. They’re not playing on their own site away from everyone, they’re actually at the Peter Krenz Leisure Centre and people get to see them and meet them and talk to them and they just become part of the fabric of the community.”