Hireup is excited to be taking part in the national powerchair football championships in Sydney this week.
To find out more about powerchair football, we caught up with Tristram Peters, a player from Queensland who’s participating in the games.
“Powerchair football is basically a modified version of football or soccer that we all know and love, that enables people with disabilities to participate in a competitive team sport,” Tristram says. “So we play these Mad Max style go-karts that allow us to hit the ball around the course. And the great thing is that it's not a disabled sport. It's just a sport. And that's the beauty of it.”
“We have these large guards attached to the front of our chairs, these massive bumpers. And so that's where we get all the momentum. So we do these side hits and can thump the ball at a really fast pace. The great thing about them is that they're all uniformly consistent, which means that it doesn't matter what disability you have, you get in it.
Hireup, along with other organisations, sponsored the Queensland team so they could attend the national championships.
“What we love is coming to these competitions because we can test ourselves against the best, “says Tristram. “And it's been two years since we had the last one. It's great also being part of this amazing community of all these other athletes throughout Australia. So it's just phenomenal to get back together with them and share stories, reminisce and get back on the court.”
Hireup’s head of community engagement, Steph Lorenzo, says it was important to sponsor the two Queensland powerchair football teams to attend the national championships, especially given there were Hireup clients playing.
“Representing your state in a sport is a great achievement, so when the opportunity came to be part of a local network to support the two Brisbane powerchair football teams to attend the national games in Sydney, we were excited to be part of it,” she says.
“Through Hireup we hear about so many incredible goals that clients are working towards. To be able to compete at a national level against other powerchair football teams across Australia is unique and incredible! We were also really happy to learn about this opportunity from two clients of Hireup who play in this league, so it really was a win win.”
“We're so incredibly humbled by the support of Hireup and others to be able to get down to this competition. Without them, we would almost find it impossible to get here. So they're genuinely making our sporting dreams a reality.”
There are plenty of community events happening across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane for our community, go to www.hireup.com.au/events to find out more!
