Bournemouth University (BU) hosted its first Deaflympics Sports Day for deaf and hard of hearing children which took place on Talbot Campus on 24 November 2025.
Inspired by the Deaflympics which took place in November this year in Tokyo, BU’s Sports Coaching Department organised the event in partnership with Dorset Council and local schools.
30 local children aged between 8 to 13 years old from across the Dorset area were invited to take part in a day of sporting activities including handball, futsal and volleyball, which took place in SportBU’s main sports hall.
Jemma O’Rourke, Hearing Support Teacher at Dorset Council who helped to bring the children together from all around Dorset said: “Some of these children never get the chance to meet another hard of hearing, or deaf peer in their mainstream school, so it’s vitally important to hold these events where it brings together children who can relate to each other and practise playing sport on a level playing field and have fun too.”
BSc Sport Coaching students were on hand to coach each of the games, some of which had to be slightly adapted as Bradley Earnshaw, asecond year BSc Sports Coaching student explained: “In the handball sessions we encouraged underarm passing of the ball to avoid any clashes with children who were wearing cochlea implants.”
Students also had to adapt how they communicated to the students as Bradley explained: “In the passing drills we used red and green bibs that we placed on the ground to communicate to the children when to stop and start passing the ball”.
James, one of the children taking part said: “Ireally like football, and I already play for the Bournemouth disability team, but today I have been playing handball and passing drills, which has been really good fun.”
Ellie Gennings, Senior Lecturer in Sports Coachingat BU who helped to organise the event explained: “It’s about putting the skills they learn in the classroom into practice. We know that if BU graduates get careers in schools, the likelihood of them working with children of mixed abilities is very high and so it’s preparing them to feel confident that they can deliver a high level of coaching for all scenarios.”
Ruby Burton, second year BSc Sport Coaching student at BU said: “I’ve been involved in the planning and preparation of this event and working with a group of children that are hard of hearing and practising to communicate with them effectively will be good experience in any form of sporting career, such as being a coach, working in sports management or being a PE teacher.”
Ben Sanderson, second year BSc Sport Coaching student at BU said: "Getting the children playing sport, being active and having fun is the most important part of today’s activities.”
The future aim of the event is to run it annually and to introduce local deaf andhard of hearing children to different sports, as well as continuing to teach mixed-ability coaching in the degree programmes at BU.
For further information about the sport courses, including BSc Sport Coaching and BSc Sport Management courses, please visit the BU website.
