Academic is blazing new trails for inclusive youth sport

More than 200 people gathered in Wyoming, USA, for the conference on 8 – 11 June to consider ‘the place of imagination in blazing new trails for inclusive youth sport’. Hayley’s keynote talk addressed a number of enduring issues that stifle the possibilities for inclusive youth sport.  

Leeds Beckett is developing a growing reputation in disability sport research. Hayley explained: “Leeds Beckett boasts a growing number of doctorate students and staff researching disability: including Paralympic volunteers, football fandom, disability sport coaching, PE and special schools, and socialisation into disability sport. Much of this research will be presented at the forthcoming Disability and Sport conference at Coventry University.

“Although some of the Leeds Beckett research focuses on the Paralympics it is also unique in that it extends beyond this area. It's important to remember that disability sport research is much more than the Paralympics and Paralympic athletes. There are different layers of participation." 

In her presentation, Hayley invited the audience to consider the idea of ‘blazing new trails’ specifically in relation to issues of inclusion.  

She said: “Whilst recognising the need to celebrate diversity and difference more broadly, my keynote focused on inclusive concerns around disability. This is because scholars within sport education have been reluctant to recognise disability as a form of social oppression. Disability is long overdue a conversation. I also recognise that a pedagogy striving for inclusion must support practitioners to use their imagination in order to explore alternative possibilities for more inclusive practice.  

“I am filled with optimism when young people with disabilities talk in positive terms about their experiences of physical education and community sport. I am encouraged when PE teachers and coaches tell me about the ways in which they have supported young people with disabilities and how this has changed their outlook about how they practice." 

“By not thinking beyond what we know, a range of issues continue to stifle inclusive possibilities. My keynote mapped out some of these enduring issues including how the act of ‘naming’ inclusion can become the signifier of inclusive practice. The possibilities for ‘blazing new trails’ within inclusive sport for young people with disabilities are contingent upon stimulating our imagination. We need to take practitioners to places they are unfamiliar with and these places need to become familiarly different.” 

Hayley’s teaching and research reflects an on-going commitment to exploring the inequalities experienced by young people with disabilities in physical education and youth sport. Hayley has been the Chair of the UK Disability Sport Coaching, Learning and Leadership Group and is currently on the editorial board of Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly and a Visiting Professor at the University of Worcester.