Goal of the event:
The goal of the event is to promote mobility raise awareness among Erasmus and local students of how easy or difficult paralympic games are. So, the students can get a sense of having a disability while playing sports such as goalball and sitting volleyball. Finally, we wanted to make ESN accesible by showing to other sections how easy it is to organise accessible events.
Short description of the event:
The event consisted of two paralympic games, the goalball and the sitting volleyball. First, we started playing goalball. For the preparation of the game, we used paper tape on the outside volleyball lines to mark the goalball court as well as four cones as posts for the goals. Before the game started, participants had to wear blindfolds and take their shoes off so that they can feel with their feet the paper tape which was put on the edges of the volleyball court. Because it was the first time for all participants to play goalball, a brief and simple instuction of the rules was given to them with the help of a goalball coach, and a trial took place so that the players could understand the fundamentals of goalball. After that, the game started with two teams of three players each, and the winner would be the team who scored most goals in 30 minutes.
The teams played twice so after an hour of play, we removed the cones and the tape and got ready for sitting volleyball. After placing the tape to the desired sitting volleyball dimensions and installing the net in the middle of the volleyball court, we started playing volleyball 4 vs 4. After the game, which lasted one hour, medals were awarded to the winning teams of sitting volleyball and goalball.
How did your event go?:
The event was really interesting but we didn't have so much participation from the Erasmus students as well as local students! One important factor that prevented students from joining the event was the bad weather (cold and rainy). Additionally, the Athletic Centre of NTUA is located in Zografou, which is far from the centre of Athens and from most Erasmus students who have their residence downtown. Nevertheless, during the event the participants enjoyed the two paralympic games and they had very funny moments!
