The aim of Football Connect is to provide football playing opportunities for people with para and or intellectual disability, who are not interested in or may not yet be ready to play mainstream football.
Click on a program below to find out more!
ALL ABILITY LEAGUE
The All Ability League runs in conjunction with the mainstream Junior League from May through to September yearly. Local football clubs have partnered with Football Connect to ensure all players are linked with and play for a Canberra football club.
2019 Pre-Season
The objective of the preseason program is to allow new and existing players to be introduced to football, participate in fun training sessions with our specialist coaches and meet new friends. It is run over four Saturdays usually between April-May.
2019 Dates:
- Saturday May 4, 11, 18, 25
2019 Season Schedule
The league will consist of 12 rounds from May through to September with a break for the school holidays and Kanga Cup. Matches will be played at the Hawker Football Centre and local football club home grounds on Saturdays between 9-10:30am.
Football-Connect will also enter teams in the Kanga Cup during the holidays, so players will have the chance to represent the ACT and compete in Australia’s largest international youth football tournament in the southern hemisphere.
2019 All Ability League Dates:
- Season (Rounds 1-4): June: 1,15, 22, & 29
- Break for School Holidays and Kanga Cup
- Season (Rounds 5-12): July 27, Aug: 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, Sept 7 & 14
- Presentation: Sept 14
Program Information and Registration
Dates: Saturdays May through to September
Times: 9.00am-10.30am
Location: Hawker Football Centre, Walhallow St Hawker
Ages: 6-Open
Cost: $50 Pre-Season only (four weeks), $90 All Ability League only (12 weeks) or $110 All Ability League and Pre-Season (16 weeks plus club presentation day). Registrations are completed online through the play football website.
Registrations now open.
If you have any issues when registering please contact Kelly Stirton.
Football-Connect Futsal Fives
‘Futsal Fives’ introduces everyone to the five-a side indoor version of football in a fun, fast paced and friendly environment. Futsal Fives runs for seven weeks and is open to players with special needs/all abilities and requires no previous experience. Participants take part in drills/activities and games.
It is also an opportunity for senior players to practice and impress the coaches before selections for the National Futsal Championships athletes with a disability team.
2019 Information:
- Venue: Radford College
- Time: Saturday afternoons 2pm to 3pm
- Dates: Oct: 12, 19, 26, Nov: 2, 9, 16 & 23
- Registrations: T.B.C
Football-Connect CP Football Program
CP football is a seven-a-side modified version of the game for players with cerebral palsy and other neurological conditions.
The program runs in the months leading up to the 2019 National CP Football Championships held in October and is ideal for those players looking to further their football.
Pararoos Development Centre Dates:
- Day: 8th September and 27th of September 2019
- Time: 10am to 11am
- Venue: Hawker Football Centre (enclosed field, Walhallow St, Hawker)
National CP Football Championships 2019
The National CP Football Championships are being held at Valentine Sports Park, NSW from the 2nd of October to the 6th of October.
Powerchair Football
Powerchair Football is a team sport designed and developed specifically for electric wheelchair users. These participants include persons with quadriplegia, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, head trauma, stroke, spinal cord injury and other disabilities.
Powerchair Football combines the skill of the wheelchair user with the speed and power of the chair itself, to participate in a challenging game that is similar in many respects to mainstream football. The game is usually played in an indoor centre. Two teams of four power chair users attack, defend, and spin-kick in an attempt to score goals.
Capital Football has successfully run two development days in Canberra along with the assistance of the Australian Powerchair Football Association and is now looking to implement more regular games and training sessions during 2019.
Program Sessions/Dates:
- 16 February 3:00pm – 4:00pm
- 02 March 3:00pm – 4:00pm
- 16 March 3:00pm – 4:00pm
- 6th April 2:00pm – 4:00pm (date changed from 30th March)
- 11 May 3:00pm – 4:00pm
- 25 May 3:00pm – 4:00pm
- 22 June 3:00pm – 4:00pm
- 10 August 3:00pm – 4:00pm (date changed from 3rd August)
- 17 August 3:00pm – 4:00pm
- 31 August 3:00pm – 4:00pm
- 14 September 3:00pm – 4:00pm
- 28 September 3:00pm – 4:00pm
- 19 October 6:00pm – 7:00pm
- 26 October 6:00pm – 7:00pm
- 16 November 6:00pm – 7:00pm
- 30 November 6:00pm – 7:00pm
- 7 December 6:00pm – 7:00pm
- 21 December 6:00pm – 7:00pm
Days: Saturday
Location: National Hockey Centre, 196 Mouat Street Lyneham ACT 2602
For more information on how to get involved in playing, coaching, refereeing or volunteering please contact Kelly Stirton.
In addition to the programs detailed above, Football Connect has created pathway programs to assist players looking to go further with their football or transition from the All Ability League to the Junior and Senior mainstream leagues. Football Connect has partnerships with both Special Olympics and Para Football to ensure players have the opportunity to try out for and participate in their events such as National and State tournaments, and program participants have gone on to play for the ParaRoos and represent Australia at the Special Olympics World Summer Games.
For more information on this, or anything relating to AWD Football, please contact Kelly Stirton at Kelly.Stirton@capitalfootball.com.au, or by phone on (02) 6189 2211.
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