In the 2012-2013 season VEWSA has continued to provide opportunities for Electric Wheelchair users to play both recreational and competitive sport. Due to a shortage of regular players we fielded only 2 teams in our regional competition of Hockey and Balloon Soccer. The teams battled it out over the season with the Broncos winning both titles with a narrow margin. Our Hockey, Balloon Soccer and Rugby matches provided valuable training for the National Electric Wheelchair Sports held in April this year. Our state team the Victorian Pride Warriors travelled to Sydney to compete in the Nationals where we came 1st in the Hockey and 2nd in the Balloon Soccer. A tremendous achievement!!
We have also moved forward in including Powerchair Football into the sports played at VEWSA. As mentioned in my previous report Powerchair Football is a sport that is played internationally and has the potential for great growth. Interest in Powerchair Football is slowly increasing in Victoria and will hopefully be boosted by the recent Championships held in Sydney recently where it was evident that the sport has become very popular in New South Wales and Queensland. VEWSA has put a great deal of effort into modifying our players’ wheelchairs for the special guards required for the sport. This was followed by workshops/skills training sessions over our off season in winter from which a team was selected to play in the Championships against other States and New Zealand in Sydney in October. Well done to the Victorian team who achieved their goal of improving their skills against the more experienced interstate teams and finished 4th in the competition. We are also very proud of Luke David (Vic Captain) who was selected to play for the All Australian team against New Zealand at the Championships. Luke also played for the Australian Poweroos against Japan at Sydney Olympic Park earlier this year and is trying out for the World Cup qualifier games at the APO Cup in Japan next year.
We are very grateful for the generous support we have received from Pride Australia, Motion Wheelchairs, Superseal, MDA and Maroondah City Council. We are also very grateful for the tireless work of our volunteers and committee members who are the backbone of our organisation.
As the new season starts our aim will be to attract new players to Electric Wheelchair Sports at VEWSA and to continue to provide opportunities for players to build skills, gain confidence and build friendships through sport and team work. We believe that there are enormous benefits in playing Sport whether it be socially or competitively and we are dedicated to removing the challenges and or barriers our players face in participating in sport. We look forward to the next season with enthusiasm and determination.
Grace David
VEWSA President
