Why trust, community partnerships, and lived experience matter in inclusive physical activity provision.
Over the last six months, Move Mojo has been building community partnerships and co-delivery models designed to increase access to sport for children with SEND.
This Easter marked a major milestone in that journey.
In partnership with Dudley Council, Dudley Children’s Services HAF, PG Active Ability, and Cradley Town DC, we delivered our first Inclusive Sport Camp in Dudley.
The programme combined:
- Multi-sport delivery
- Paralympic sport principles
- SEND-adapted coaching
- Community partnership working
- Safe and engaging environments
For us, the project reinforced something we continue to see repeatedly across inclusive sport provision:
SEND participation is not a demand issue.
It is an access and design issue.
Families are actively looking for opportunities where children feel safe, understood, included, and supported. The challenge is that many existing delivery models were never built with those needs in mind.
One parent explained that it was the first time their child had participated in a range of sports alongside other children.
Another described how little accessible provision existed locally.
Another shared that this was the first activity their child had independently asked to return to.
Those comments matter because they reflect a wider systemic challenge across community sport.
Traditional engagement models often assume that children will automatically adapt to unfamiliar environments, noisy spaces, large groups, and rigid activity structures.
For many children with SEND, those assumptions simply do not reflect reality.
This is why trusted environments and partnership delivery are so important.
The programme was delivered alongside PG Active Ability, whose team includes apprentice coaches with lived experience of disability.
Representation matters within sport.
Not only for participants, but for the wider culture around participation itself.
When children see people with lived experience actively coaching, leading, and contributing within sport environments, it changes perceptions around what is possible.
The project also highlighted the importance of co-designing provision directly within local communities rather than imposing external models onto them.
Working alongside Cradley Town DC allowed SEND-specific provision to become embedded within an existing community club structure rather than existing separately from it.
This creates sustainability.
It creates continuity.
And it creates long-term community ownership.
At Move Mojo, we believe inclusive sport should not operate in isolation from mainstream community sport.
The goal should always be to build systems where inclusion becomes part of normal delivery rather than a separate specialist category sitting on the outside.
One of the strongest lessons from the project was around workforce development.
The current sector often relies heavily on qualifications while overlooking practical delivery experience.
Qualifications matter, but inclusive coaching confidence develops primarily through supported, real-world exposure.
Coaches need opportunities to:
- Observe adaptable delivery
- Practice modifications
- Reflect in real time
- Work collaboratively
- Learn inside live environments
That is where genuine confidence develops.
The project also reinforced the importance of Paralympic sport principles within wider community delivery.
Paralympic sport has spent decades refining approaches around:
- Adaptation
- Equity
- Classification
- Functional movement
- Inclusive competition structures
These principles translate incredibly well into grassroots community sport when applied flexibly.
By adapting tasks, environments, and rules appropriately, participation widened significantly while challenge and progression remained intact.
This is one of the biggest misconceptions around inclusion.
Adaptation is not about reducing quality.
It is about widening access without removing meaningful challenge.
Looking forward, the biggest opportunity for councils, Active Partnerships, schools, and community organisations lies in collaborative delivery.
No single organisation can solve inactivity and inclusion challenges alone.
But when schools, governing bodies, community clubs, disability organisations, and local authorities begin working together around shared principles, genuinely inclusive systems start to emerge.
At Move Mojo, that remains our mission.
Not simply delivering sessions.
But helping communities build environments where movement belongs to everyone.
