For International Day of Disability, Alberta Golf wants to showcase the work that’s being done by other organizations in the sports and recreation space. This is where the Alberta Sports and Recreation Association for the Blind (ASRAB) comes in. ASRAB supports Albertans, who are visually impaired, and want to live physically active lives and participate in competitive support programs.

The association runs a variety of programs each year, many of them introductory, in a variety of sports helping these athletes learn the basics of each sport, while promoting physical literacy. They’re most known for their involvement with Goalball which is a Paralympic Sport. ASRAB has been offering try-it golf programming for over 10 years, and it has since grown to almost all their major centres.

 Please enjoy this Question and Answer with ASRAB’s Executive Director, Linda MacPhail!

What is ASRAB? What is the mission of the organization? What kind of programs do you run?

 ASRAB is the Alberta Sports and Recreation Association for the Blind. The association’s mission is to support Albertan’s who are visually impaired with living active lifestyles and participate in sports. So, we work with children and teach them fundamental movement skills and introduce them to a wide variety of sports. We have a “Movement for Me” session going on right now where we teach the kids skills such as jumping, hopping, throwing and striking, so they develop some of those basic skills, and then take that into different sports. We’re working with educators to create modules for when children are in physical education classes, and assist the teacher or educator can work with the child and include them in a meaningful way in learning new sports skills. We also offer a wide range of recreational activities to expose participants to as many opportunities as we can, to see what they like and find a niche for them to be physically active. So, in a year we’ll have any number of different activities, anything we can think up that we can adapt for our members and introduce them to different sports.

 Goalball is the sport that we have responsibility for, and the one activity that we support recreationally and competitively. Goalball is a Paralympic sport.  It was created after the Second World War to keep soldiers that had lost their vision physically active in a competitive environment.  So goalball is the sport we do from playground to podium.  We teach children Goalball, we have youth Goalball programs,  junior teams and senior teams, coaches and officials.  Both of our Provincial Coaches were Paralympians, and one (Trent Farebrother) is the head coach for the women’s national team coach, and spent this last summer in Paris coaching the Canadian Women at the Paralympic Games.

 How did ASRAB start and how has the association grown since then?

We’re coming up to our 50^th anniversary.  It was a swim coach, Lorna Snow, who was working with a child with vision impairment in the pool, and was looking for other ways to support children with low vision develop physical literacy.  She and other like-minded individuals started the association. From there we’ve grown to where ASRAB is currently active with seven major centres:  Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary, Lethbridge, and Medicine Hat.

 Going back to the first question, it sounds like ASRAB runs a lot of introductory programming, besides Goalball are there any other sports that the association has a competitive pathway for?

The only sport that we have the technical expertise in to support high performance programming is goalball.  We’re experts at helping adapt sports and being inclusive and teaching sports but if somebody starts a sport and they become more adept at it and want to pursue it we’re here help get them connected with the correct people.

 Do you mind listing some of the programs that you ran this year?

As I said we’re now in seven different centres and they all offer different programming based on availability, but we run a physical literacy and fundamental movement skills for children program called “Movement For Me”, we’ve been working on educational and support programs for educators, and of course our Goalball programs.

Some of our introductory sport programming includes golf, curling, gymnastics, skating, hockey, snowshoeing, summer camps, walking Clubs, hiking, canoeing, horseback riding, cycling, tennis, lacrosse, basketball, volleyball. All our programming duration varies for each sport from one-day to ongoing programs as well.

 How did your organization begin your golf program and what does your golf programming entail?

 There has been active golf associations for the vision impaired for some time.  We knew about the Western Canadian Golf Association, and they offer competitive golf.  We were looking to introduce new players to golf, as it is a great sport for life, with a strong social component.  We began working with golf pros in Calgary and Edmonton to offer a try-it golf program to expose our members to the technical skills of the game.  Additionally, the City of Calgary and Gennie Liu have been helpful with a program for youth that we have partnered with.  Last summer we added programming in Lethbridge, and this summer Medicine Hat.

 What we try to do with our golf programming is introduce them to all the key facets of the game; driving, chipping, putting, and then hopefully finish it off with some time on the course whether that’s a three-hole loop or whatever we can do.

 What’s the age range and skill level of the participants in your golf programming specifically?

Our programming is introductory. We may have skilled players that start there, but most of our golfers are new. The age range is mostly youth, but we do have some adult participants. Again, our focus is the introductory and physical literacy for the kids, and then providing help to transition those more skilled players to a golf game or competition when they decide that’s what they want to do.

 We’re noticing an increase in competitive golf offerings for players that are visually impaired along with other disabilities, where do you think the game can grow in this department in terms of inclusiveness?

There is a lot of scope for growth.  Golf is a great game for life, with technical skill in a social environment out of doors.  For persons with low vision, we just need some adaptions and guided aid to support their engagement and enjoyment.

 You’ve mentioned a few organizations, but what other golfing organizations have you worked with in the past?

We’ve worked with a variety of organizations including Western Canadian Blind Golf Association, City of Calgary, and different golf professionals across the province. Again, we’re always open to different organizations and would love to collaborate with any of them to offer a complete pathway from the movement skills needed for golf to competitive opportunities.

 In all of your programming, what do you define as success?

Success for us is just about getting kids out and enjoying activity!   We want people to participate in whatever activity they wish, either recreationally with their family and friends, or to pursue competitive play.

 Specifically with your golf programs, what are some of the challenges you’ve faced?

The challenges that we’ve faced are just timing and availability, which isn’t unique to ASRAB. Golf professionals are always busy, courses are busy during the summer, and we’re a small group;, so finding people that are focused on helping is a big part of it. We’ve always been very fortunate that there are people out there that are willing to help.

 As mentioned, we’re seeing growth in golf in terms of inclusion and accessibility. What can associations do to help continue growing and making the game more accessible?

Just partnering and working with their local associations to help with instruction and development.  I think a great idea would be to initiate some skill competitions (such as the drive, chip, putt event) and a 3-hole event; which would help transition new players from the try-it skill sessions to playing a game of golf.

 For our golf programming, we want to continue our growth in all our centres. So, working with a facility, club, or professionals in all these centres to provide access and development would be our next goal.

 How can someone support ASRAB with their mission?

Just reach out. Our website is asrab.ab.ca.  We’re always looking for volunteers and we’re always looking to get more Albertans engaged in programming and enjoying a physically active life.