Children in Motion: Together is Better

Physical Education Classes Are a Ticket to a New Life: Beck's Story.   "Beck has become more active, more inquisitive, shows more and more interest in sports, and would like to start training in one of these sports: wheelchair tennis, badminton, and arm wrestling. All of this happened after he participated in Perspektiva’s para sports workshops," says Beck’s PE teacher, Maxim.   Toktobek (Beck) is 13 years old and is in 5th grade and has no use of one arm due to his disability (left-side hemiparesis) and  this makes it challenging for him to perform some everyday activities like getting dressed and playing sports or exercising. Beck is not fully independent, but sports have helped him become more independent. Physical education (PE) classes were too difficult, and that was depressing for him, so he lost interest in participating in classes and playing sports altogether.  Everything changed after he went to Perspektiva’s workshops.  He suddenly became very interested in sports and wanted to participate in classes and try everything, and he quickly became very involved in all PE and sports classes. Beck remarked: "At Perspektiva’s workshops, I learned to play bocce and rugby and now I play tennis”. In PE classes, Beck does all the exercises.  "He used to have difficulties because he was struggling to do exercises with his left hand.  Now, he’s learned to perform the exercises differently,” commented Maxim, his PE teacher. Maxim uses adaptive physical education methods in his classes with Beck and other children with disabilities. Instruction takes place in the form of a game, which helps children to perceive information more easily.  The teacher also talks about and demonstrates each of the exercises, and the children repeat what they have seen. Sports and Perspektiva's workshops have given Beck new aspirations and goals: "In PE classes, I play soccer, basketball, and table tennis," says Beck.  Now Beck dreams of going to the World Cup because he loves soccer. In addition, he likes playing checkers. "He also likes to throw the ball into the basketball hoop, which has improved his accuracy," says the PE teacher.  Beck participated in almost all of Perspektiva’s workshops: wheelchair rugby, wheelchair curling, para powerlifting, wheelchair tennis, and badminton.  "He learned more about these sports, and how to play them, and met para-athletes Yuri Kamenets, a wheelchair rugby player, Tatiana Rudyak, a para powerlifter, and Kirill Kassandrov, an amateur badminton player,” the teacher added. In addition to sports, Beck likes to study history and attend bocce classes.  We hope that his dream of going to the World Cup comes true.  And we believe that physical activity can change one’s life for the best, so Perspektiva works hard to make it available to everyone.

Links:

• https://perspektiva-inva.ru/istorii/urok-fizkultury-kak-putevka-v-novyj-mir-istoriya-beka/

Ivan is 18 years old. He has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, and just can't sit still. When Vanya was still a very young boy, his mother sent him to equine therapy, and he learned to mount a horse on his own. At first it was hard, but then everything changed. Vanya learned to stay in the saddle without help at the horseback riding arena. Thanks to the trainers there, he also learned to ride a tricycle. Then, he could ride in his courtyard with his new buddies. In the rehab center, our hero developed a new athletic passion: swimming. Ivan joined a swim team for people with physical disabilities and became a two-time champion of the All-Russian Games. At the moment, his top sport is swimming. The young man swims breaststroke, crawl, and back stroke, but he is not stopping there. His next goal is butterfly. "Vanya didn't have an easy time with this sport because he is not using his legs, but he works very hard. You have to agree it is difficult to swim using only one's arms. Now he has very strong ones - he can even do a handstand! My son dreams of bringing home gold medals from the All-Russian and world championships, and I am sure he will succeed," confides his mother, Elena. Swimming helped him to open up and to become a role model for his classmates. Also, positive lessons and workshops, organized by Perspektiva, helped Vanya become a leader. The young man has gotten to know artists with disabilities and para-athletes, who have shared the secrets of success. For example, Yuri, a master of sports in wheelchair rugby, went to Vanya's school and talked about the sports, which people with disabilities play. Vanya said, he was inspired greatly by Ivan, an IT specialist, who also has cerebral palsy and uses a communicator. He was a guest speaker at a project event where he spoke about the IT program that he developed to help people with cerebral palsy to communicate. "Conversations with famous actors, para-athletes and group training are useful for all students. If you could only see the kids' interest when they ask the guests questions. The kids leave the classes with a spark in their eyes. You can feel their spirits lifting," said Yury, who is a disabled athlete and a staff person at Perspektiva. This year, Vanya graduated from high school. There are no average grades on his transcript. Now he is studying at a teacher's college. His specialty will allow him to work with children both with and without disabilities. Before long, the young man will go to a university to earn a degree in speech therapy. He wants to help children like him and the young man loves to read and can captivate any audience. "If I had not chosen to work with children, maybe I could have worked as a sports announcer. I will take special classes to improve my public speaking skills. I think that I need to work on my voice and diction," Ivan declared.

Links:

• https://perspektiva-inva.ru/istorii/kak-plavat-i-ezdit-verhom-ne-umeya-hodit-istoriya-ivana-glagoleva/?tags=%20