Cerebral Palsy is a condition where the brain’s ability to control the muscles of the body is impaired. The inability to relax his/her muscles and having problems with balance and coordination are just some of the troubles that people with Cerebral Palsy face.

There rarely has been room for respite since the start of the Singapore National Rugby League 2013/14 season but on November 30th 2013, two of the three Oldham teams had the rare luxury of having a bye and it was the perfect opportunity for the Oldham Rugby family to fulfil one of its 7 core values - care for community.

It was a football-meets-Rugby exhibition/ training session with the Singapore Cerebral Palsy football team. (For the first time ever, the Singapore Cerebral Palsy (CP) football team was selected to represent our country for the *7th ASEAN Paralympic Games, held in Myanmar in January 2014). Oldham Rugby jumped at the chance to aid in one of the training sessions to help improve the team in terms of stamina, strength and body coordination.

Members of the Oldham Rugby team were putting our coaching skills to good use as we went through the basic skills of handling the ball through simple games. Every footballer got a chance to train with the rugby ball. To our delight, the footballers managed to familiarise themselves with the rules and techniques faster than most of us did when WE first played Rugby!

We then played a variation of Captain’s Ball and continued with a game of Touch Rugby – in which the footballers gave the Oldham boys a run for their money! For the final part of the session, the Oldham boys valiantly (and foolishly) accepted the challenge of playing a futsal match with the accomplished footballers who brutally reminded us why we should just stick to Rugby.

It was an important day for Oldham Rugby – not only in terms of team bonding but also because of the lessons learnt from this community involvement project. The courage, tenacity and optimism displayed by the Singapore CP football team, to overcome their physical disabilities not only on the field but off it, inspired all of us who were present.

Oldham Rugby is extremely grateful to have been presented an opportunity to reach out. This is certainly only the first of many community service forays that lie ahead for the Oldham Rugby family – watch this space!

* Congratulations to our CP footballers who played superbly, beating Malaysia and Thailand,
   but with a loss to Myanmar, to clinch the Silver medal.

Sahadevan Viarakanu