As preparations for World Down Syndrome Day 2019 are well under way, the DSActive team thought we would take a look back at some of our highlights from 2018.
The year started with a bang with lots of our football teams getting involved in fixtures against each other. In January, our first fixture of the year saw Crystal Palace take on the Millwall Lions in a friendly fixture which showed just how far both teams have come. February saw the DSActive team back on the road visiting various DSActive sessions around the country, including a visit to Swindon and Liverpool.
March is always a big month for the Down’s Syndrome Association, as we have World Down Syndrome Day on March 21st. One of our favourite stories from the month was Jeremy achieving his gold Duke of Edinburgh award, his sister wrote a brilliant guest blog for our website to describe Jeremy’s journey to Buckingham Palace to receive his award. This year we have received some excellent guest blogs from people with Down’s syndrome who wanted to tell us their story, for example this one from a young man called Robert.
The summer months are always busy for the DSActive team as most of our new sessions are launched, such as this athletics session in Newham, and we run many different festivals across the country. From a festival at Portsmouth tennis centre to our biggest event of the year, the DSActive National Festival where the standard was the highest we have ever seen. For the second year running we were able to run a summer camp during the school summer holidays in London which turned out to be very popular and a lot of fun for everyone.
September signals back to school for many people, for the DSActive team it means we are back on the road visiting sessions and launching new clubs, such as this tennis club in Telford. Last October the DSActive team got stuck into #Challenge21 and tried out many varied challenges. The end of year saw the release of our brand new Leisure and Fitness workshop which will educate the sector on how to support people with Down’s syndrome to use their facilities.
2018 was a fantastic year for the DSActive team as we continue to support more people with Down’s syndrome to be active, play sport and be healthy. 2019 will see the launch of many new and exciting projects, so watch this space!
