Description

WORKSHOP OUTLINE:

Session 1 (Wednesday 18 May, 5:15-6:15pm): Sunil’s Story: Striving for Excellence

Sunil will share with the class the experiences that helped him develop as an athlete. Sunil’s experiences include: Halberg foundation junior sports events; Special Olympic sports; school athletics within primary and secondary schools; New Zealand secondary schools national championships; New Zealand Athletic Championships including events for para athletes. Sunil will also discuss his experiences running with Hamilton City Hawks running club and his experiences running in many local iconic events such as Around the Bridges, the Huntly Half Marathon, the Rotorua Marathon to name a few. He will describe these experiences via an interview with his father in front of the class. (There will be opportunities for the class to question Sunil as well).

Dealing with challenges
The Hamilton City Hawks running club
Setting records
Participating in national and international events: Halberg foundation, Special Olympics, school athletics, NZ Secondary Schools championships, New Zealand Athletic Championships
In the media

Location: EarthDiverse, 401 Anglesea Street, Hamilton Central, Hamilton (see map below under Location tab), on-line via Zoom, or through video recordings of our live-streamed sessions posted 1-2 days after each class.

Session 2 (Wednesday 25 May, 5:15-6:15pm): How To Support People with Intellectual Impairments in Athletics

With Sunil keeping him honest, Garth will discuss some of the supports/ organisations available for those with disabilities to participate and improve in athletics in Hamilton. He will outline pathways in athletic sport for those with intellectual impairments seeing these as pathways to fun; pathways to participation; and pathways to high(er) performance. With Sunil’s support, Garth will discuss some motivational, intellectual, social, and organisational factors that he believes have contributed to Sunil’s life-long enjoyment of athletics and training to perform well. He will also discuss a few coaching tips and technologies that he has found useful over a number of years of being involved in Sunil’s coaching. Questions are welcome.

Pathways to fun, pathways to participation, pathways to performance
Motivational, Intellectual and Social factors
Technology
Organisations and other sources of support

Session 3 (Saturday 28 May, 10:00-11:00am): Train with a Paralympics New Zealand Representative

Sunil invites course participants, family members, members of the wider whānau to Hillary Park, 61B Chedworth Avenue, Chartwell, Hamilton where he will lead a training session (for all levels of physical fitness) and share some of his valuable running knowledge and insights. Sunil will start the session with some warmup exercises and then will get participants to do some walking/running. For the first lap everyone will walk/run alongside the slowest person. After catching our breath in the second lap Sunil will jog at a pace that most people can keep up with. After another catching of our breath, then in the third lap Sunil will run slowly with any participants able to do so without straining. The training session will end with two laps run at a pace that Sunil runs in 5000 metre races when representing New Zealand. Others are not expected to keep this pace and might just want to watch—it will be exciting to see the style of a high performance T20 athlete at work.

Instructors

Sunil Fernandez-Ritchie is an athlete with an intellectual impairment who has represented New Zealand at International Paralympic Committee sanctioned events in New Zealand and overseas. Sunil has set noteworthy New Zealand T20 Paralympic records in the 800 metres, 1500 metres, 5000 metres, 10,000 metres, half marathon, and the marathon. This is all the more impressive because Sunil also has the physical impairment of cerebral palsy.

Garth Ritchie is Sunil’s father who until 2020 was an official International Paralympic Committee accredited classifier of track and field athletes with intellectual impairments. He has worked at a number of Paralympic events overseas.

Cost

Cost per person per Term (3 class sessions):

Waged: NZ$60 (includes GST + online registration fee)
Unwaged (unemployed, students, seniors): NZ$50 (includes GST + online registration fee)

Location

LOCATION: All in-person classes are held at the EarthDiverse offices and classrooms located at 401 Anglesea Street, Hamilton Central, Hamilton (located just north of the Hamilton Central Bus Station) (entrance is located on the side of the building, see map below). Those looking for parking for our evening classes can park just in front of the building in any of the available car parks. Daytime parking can be found in our dedicated car parks, or free 2-hour on-street daytime parking can be found just in front on Anglesea Street.