Winter Learning Journey Day 7

Day 7 - Activities 1 - 3

Approximately one month after the Olympic Games finish, there is a second Olympic competition. This competition is specifically for athletes who have physical disabilities. It is called the Paralympics. The first official Paralympic Games were held in Rome, Italy in 1960.

To view the promotional video for the Paralympic Games, check out this link!

Activity 1: At the first ever Paralympic Games in Rome, the athletes competed in eight sports. Cycling was one of them. For the cycling event, two people compete together as a team – one of the people has a disability and the other does not. Here is a picture of a para-cycling team from New Zealand:

At the moment the most famous para-cycling team in New Zealand is comprised of two female athletes – Emma Foy and Laura Thompson. Emma is blind but Laura is not. Together they work as an amazing team. Imagine that you were asked to compete in a tandem cycling event and you had to choose one person to compete with. Who would it be? On your blog, tell us who you would compete with and why. If it was me, I would choose my son, Aronui because he’s pretty fast and very funny. He would make me laugh as we biked along and would be very supportive and encouraging! I know that I could trust him to be a good teammate. Who would you choose?

For this activity I would choose my sister, she is very enthusiastic and has lots of courage and that could really help with cycling. My sister is really fun and I really like the way that she would push me to really reach my goals.

Activity 2: It is very expensive for each of the Paralympic athletes to fly from New Zealand to Rio de Janeiro to compete.  Most athletes have to fundraise in order to make the money that they need to go on the big trip. Recently, Harvey Norman announced that they will be helping to raise funds for the New Zealand Paralympic team. What could you do to help raise funds to support our amazing Paralympic athletes? On your blog, list 2 different ways in which you, your family or friends could raise money to support the athletes.

I would set fundraisers from Car-Washes, Sausage Sizzles, Night Events & much more. When we fundraise lots of money we could donate it to help for the Paralympic Athletes.

My next one is similar to the first one, basically selling anything for money or having events or even bake sales. I would be very nice to do this.

Bonus: This year two new sports are being added to the Paralympic Games. They are canoeing and triathlon. In the triathlon the athletes must swim 750 metres, cycle for 20 kilometres, and then run for 5 kilometres. Paralympic athletes may also compete in other sports including archery, boccia, football, judo, powerlifting, rowing, sailing, swimming, sitting volleyball, track cycling, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair fencing, wheelchair rugby, and wheelchair tennis. To learn more about all of the Paralympic sports, please visit the 2016 Paralympic Games website.

Imagine that you are on the Paralympic Committee and you have been asked to create one new sport to add to the competition for this year. Use your awesome imagination to design a brand new Paralympic sport. Please remember that some of the athletes will not be able to walk or run and others may be blind or deaf. On your blog, please write:

1. The name of your sport,
2. A brief description of how you play the sport, and
3. Three rules for the sport

Double Canoe Rowing Speed

Double Canoe Rowing is basically having a partner & your partner can have a disability or not. Playing this type of sport is just rowing but making sure that if your partner is blind, they would be at the back which is the speed, and the unblind person will be in front navigating..

Rule #1 - All athletes can not stop unless they really need a good break

Rule #2 - Make sure that all athletes are tightly strapped while Speed.

Rule # 3 - Make sure that all athletes are having fun.