The Sport 4 Rural Health (S4RH) team is excited to announce it is this year’s Return to Work SA Health Award for the Whyalla and Eyre Peninsula Region, in the 2015 South Australian Regional Awards. This Award specifically recognises the work of individuals, groups and organisations that have enhanced the quality of life and wellbeing of South Australians by making a significant contribution towards health practice or policy.

S4RH is a multi-sports program is run in collaboration between Whyalla Special Education Centre, Whyalla City Council, and UniSA’s Sport and Development Program and the Department of Rural Health. It was a great program which enabled young people with intellectual disabilities to participate in a variety of activities they otherwise would have not undertaken during the term.

The S&D team would like to congratulate and give a huge thanks to all the volunteer coaches from Whyalla and Adelaide, UniSA's Department of Rural Health, Whyalla Special Education Centre and the local Whyalla community for being a part of the program and contributing to its success.

S4RH will start again in Term 4, from the start of November to December 2015, with the support of the Department of Rural Health.

Read more about UniSA's success at the Regional Awards here at UniSA News

The Supporting Success program has continued to engage young people with an intellectual disability studying at Modbury Special School (MSS) through a multi-sports program led by university student coaches.

The S&D team are grateful to see that the program is achieving its aims of enhancing the wellbeing, life and employability skills of MSS students. The activities run by S&D coaches continue to see these young individuals grow in their confidence in physical ability, sports-related skills and maintaining positive relationships with the coaches.

A Term 3 highlight for the MSS students was going on excursion to the UniSA Mawson Lakes Campus on Friday the 25th of September, where they enjoyed some fun soccer activities on the oval.

More recently, in Term 4 the participants spent day out at Ridley Reserve watching the Adelaide United (AU) players train at their new ground. Our newest S&D Ambassador and AU player, Osama Malik also joined in on the fun on the day, and enjoyed a good chat with the participants and S&D coaches.

Thank you to all the university student coaches that attended each excursion with the participants. Both excursions were great fun to be involved with and the participants got to enjoy some fantastic sport-related activities.

The Supporting Success Program is also delighted to receive a City of Tea Tree Gully Community Programs Grant. The funds will go towards continuing the delivery of the Supporting Success Multi-Sports program in Term 1 and 2 of 2016!

This is a great achievement for the program and we only hope to see its successes further recognised into the future. The Sport & Development Team appreciate all the volunteer involvement from this year and know that next year we will continue to see the many benefits of the program.

In 2015, S&D has worked with Netball SA to assist with the delivery of the Australia Post One Netball programs across a number of primary schools in Adelaide's northern and western suburbs.

One Netball aims to make netball more accessible to the diverse needs of Australia’s population. The program aims to use the power of netball to attract, mobilise and inspire individuals and communities.

In Term 3, the One Netball program ran at Elizabeth East Primary School and Swallowcliffe Primary School. It then continued in Term 4 and was delivered both at William Light R-12 School and Torrensville Primary School.

As part of the One Netball program, each school was also able to visit and take a tour of Priceline Stadium (formerly Netball SA Stadium), and attend a clinic run by a Netball SA Community Coach. Thank you to Netball SA for organising these fantastic excursions. This was a great chance for the kids practice their netball skills in an exciting environment.

The S&D team want to thank all the university student volunteers for successfully engaging local schools in a sport they may not have previously experienced before, and we look forward to running the program again with Netball SA in the New Year.

S&D introduced a brand new 'Soccer Science' program at Northfield Primary School in Term 3, and Underdale High School in Term 4.

Soccer Science incorporates the use of Adidas Smart Balls to measure speed, trajectory, spin and strike and have never been used in Australia before, so it is a very exciting component of the program.
The Underdale High School participants will also be participating in a campus tour at UniSA Magill on Tuesday 1st December to increase their awareness and knowledge of studying at university.

Sport Coaching & Community Development (HLTH2028) students have just completed their final assessments for the course which is coordinated and delivered by Edoardo Rosso.
The course aims to enable students to develop an understanding of the relationship between sport, coaching and community development and to build planning and leadership skills to engage with various practical applications of community development through sport.

The Sport & Development Team would like to congratulate the 42 students who enrolled in the course and successfully delivered valuable field work placements across a variety of our projects, including:

• Modbury Special School
• Royal Society for the Blind Aqua Olympics
• Welcome to Australia Walk Together
• One Netball at William Light School
• One Netball at Torrensville Primary School
• The Big Issue Community Street Soccer Tournament
• Intercultural Football Tournament at Blair Athol North Primary School

The United Nations International Day of Peace was on the 21st of September this year. The event has people all around the world promote, celebrate and raise awareness to Peace.

We celebrated this day on Saturday 10th October through community event with the Football United-UniSA Program in Playford! It was a great day marked with a friendly game of football between our S&D volunteer team and the Burundian Community team, where for the very first time the S&D volunteer team won 4 -3!

Thank you to everyone who was involved in making the day great, from our group of dedicated S&D volunteers to the amazing community of participants who support the program every week. We also appreciate the amazing Rotary Club of Playford for providing everyone with a BBQ on the day.

On Tuesday 27th October, the HLTH2028 Sport, Coaching and Community Development students in collaboration with the UniSA Volunteering and Community Engagement team organised an Intercultural Football Tournament at Blair Athol North Primary School, to welcome newly arrived migrant students. Blair Athol North Primary School has introduced new classes for students with minimal English who have recently arrived in South Australia, as part of the State Government’s New Arrivals Program.

So, thank you to all students involved for organising the event in collaboration with the City of Port Adelaide Enfield and the Rotary Club of Port Adelaide. Also, a big thank you to Adelaide United FC player, Jordan Elsey, for taking the time to come out and join in for a kick! It was a great day enjoyed by all.

The HLTH2028 Sport, Coaching and Community Development students joined in this year’s Walk Together 2015 organised by Welcome to Australia, which was held in 28 cities and regional centres around the country on Saturday 31st October.

Walk Together invites Australians across the nation to ‘say welcome’, and recognises the equality and dignity of all people. Adelaide came out in huge numbers this year to ‘say welcome’ in a beautiful demonstration of unity and compassion.

Welcome to Australia engages Australians to cultivate a culture of welcome through facilitating opportunities for authentic relationships to be built in which people of differing backgrounds share their stories. HLTH2028 student volunteers provided Walk Together attendees with some fun sporting activities to enjoy after the walk. The S&D team are proud to see the HLTH2028 students show their support for important community values of diversity, compassion, and giving everyone a ‘fair go’.

Thank you also to one of our student volunteers, Luca Migliaccio, for organising and running some fantastic soccer activities at a Welcome to Australia Welcome BBQ at Fulham Gardens on Saturday 19th September. It was a great day for the local community to welcome new arrivals to Australia, and other more established asylum seekers, migrants and refugees who have become our neighbours.

Visit the Welcome to Australia webpage for more information.

On Monday 3rd August, 11 students completed their Coaching Life Skills through Sport training, delivered by S&D, at the Adelaide City Women’s Football Club. This course is designed to provide our coaches with an introduction into how to effectively deliver the Football United program and allow for the development of life skills through football, regardless of the level of football experience and knowledge.

On Saturday 19th September, the Football Federation South Australia (FFSA) ran a Grassroots Coaching Certificate course for the S&D volunteers, held at UniSA Mawson Lakes campus.

The FFSA offer a variety of short community courses for those coaching local amateur teams with an aim of ensuring that football is enjoyable for everyone.

This accredited 3-hour soccer coaching course is fully practical and encourages coaches to develop practices based on FUN. The emphasis is on natural development i.e. learning by PLAYING. You will be exposed to basic rules of the game as well as tips and hints on building a football culture in a completely practical setting.

It was a great day and congratulations to all the S&D volunteers on improving their coaching skills and knowledge!

S&D can count on a number of high-profile, well-respected, passionate ambassadors who truly believe that sport can play a critical part in the life of people, and we are excited to our newest ambassador is Osama Malik.

"It is a privilege to be an ambassador for an organisation that is facilitating social inclusion through sport for our refugees and disadvantaged youth."

Malik first joined the Adelaide United (AU) Football Club in 2011 and has since achieved great things with the club, and most recently extended his contract until 2017.

All the best Osama Malik, and we wish you and the club a successful season! The S&D team appreciate you coming out and supporting our sport based programs.

A huge thank you Sarah Nguyen, one of our UniSA students volunteers, for contributing her time to put together this version of our eNewsletter!