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Coronavirus Pandemic

The return of inclusive sport in Salamanca

Close up of little balls, Boccia players with disabilities playing.

After the halt due to the confinement and the cancellation of various sports campuses, the Aviva Foundation has started physical activities for people with and without disabilities in small groups in San Estanislao.

Aware that they could not leave their athletes at home, they have started physical sessions outdoors this past week, in small and controlled groups based on current health regulations. All this in the facilities of the San Estanislao school of Kotska.

“People with disabilities have the right to continue doing physical activity even if it is more controlled,” explains Eugenio Sánchez, technical director of Aviva, who on Friday presented the diplomas to the first 16 participants, 9 of them children without disabilities.

“We are all inclusion.” It is the motto that Aviva has once again highlighted, that during the five mornings of this week it has organized cooperative games without contact conjugated with basketball techniques by specialized monitors.

The experience has been most positive and all members have lived with special enthusiasm this return to the most inclusive sport. “Sedentary lifestyle is not good for anyone, but a person with a disability has more restricted options for sports,” acknowledges Eugenio Sánchez, who details how Aviva has made an effort in this pandemic to generate other initiatives with healthy and therapeutic walks than in at first they were made with one user and now it becomes two and three, including small “pachangas”. “There has been great demand but the resources are very limited,” he admits.

This week, two new small groups of 16 young people in total, along with 4 monitors, will enjoy sports activities in San Estanislao of Kotska. The last week of July and all of August, people with disabilities will continue with inclusive leisure in the semi-colonies of the City Hall, marked by the restrictions of the “new normal”.

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