On Tuesday 12th June, Fylde RFC's Community Coach and England Deaf International Peter Altham was approached by Sign Hi Say Hi Club to provide a coaching session for deaf/hard of hearing children at Highfield Humanities College based in Marton (Blackpool) for Fylde Deaf Children's Society and few participants coming down from Lancaster and Morecambe Deaf Children's Society. There were 20 participants including both genders and aged between 5-18, many of them playing rugby for the first time.

The sessions were based around Tag Rugby to give the young people an experience of a team sport with the challenge of communicating with each other and overcoming tasks working together. In addition, tag rugby uses a variety of physical skills, including hand eye coordination and evasion skills, as well as being lots of fun.

Within the sessions the young people played fun games including ‘Bull Dog Tag’ and ‘One on One’ which was definitely firm favourite. All of the games are adapted to pick up elements of rugby such as tagging, passing and running skills and to promote physical activity and a healthy lifestyle.

Peter Altham said ‘I have thoroughly enjoyed coaching the children. They have been an absolute pleasure to coach as they worked hard and showed the great skills that are needed in tag rugby. I have explained to them that even though they have hearing loss this shouldn’t prevent them from taking part in sport at all. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't play sport - nothing should stop you!

Sign Hi Say Hi Club is a ‘drop in’ for deaf/HI children & deaf young people, their families, siblings, parents, carers and friends. The club was started by parents from Fylde Deaf Children’s Society (FDCS) which is linked to the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS). The Club is now run in partnership with the Play Inclusion Project (PIP). All deaf children & young people are welcome, from birth to young adults whether they choose to communicate by speech or BSL.

For more information about Sign Hi Say Hi Club follow these links:

http://www.signhisayhi.org.uk/

http://www.ndcs.org.uk/family_support/support_in_your_area/about_local_groups/find_a_local_group/north_west/fylde_dcs.html