Games about sport and socialising
Two brothers with disabilities have been showing off their medals after competing in a major sports event.
Ethan, 8, and Matthew Britz, 14, are back in New Plymouth after the Halberg Junior Disability Games at King’s College in Auckland last weekend. About 200 athletes from around New Zealand competed in events including archery, rowing, wheelchair basketball and blind cricket.
‘‘It was really exciting and lots of fun to meet new people. It was a great time,’’ Matthew said.
‘‘I tried archery for the first time,’’ Ethan added.
The games are an annual threeday sports tournament open to eight to 21-year-olds with a physical or visual impairment, and the brothers were part of a team of ten from Taranaki.
Ethan and Matthew, of Bell Block, have Native American Myopathy, a rare genetic muscular disorder that causes muscle weakness, joint contractures, scoliosis (curved spine), cleft palate, and short stature.
‘‘It was a huge opportunity for the kids, it was all about them for the weekend,’’ mother Myrna said.
Although the triathlon event Ethan was meant to compete in was cancelled because of the weather, the St John Bosco School student still managed to try a few events such as athletics, archery and football.
‘‘I liked the soccer and I got a goal too,’’ he said proudly.
Matthew, who attends Francis Douglas Memorial College, competed in a few events, but it was para table tennis, the game in which he excels, that gave him his best result.
‘‘One guy at the games challenged me to a game and then started trash talking on me so I had to teach him a lesson,’’ Matthew joked.
‘‘But we were good mates afterwards.’’
He has an already impressive medal count from events in which he has competed, and is currently ranked second nationally in para table tennis and has dreams of playing for New Zealand.
Matthew is off again next week to Thailand in a bid to gain competition points as part of his build up to his goal of representing NZ at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast next year.
However, Table Tennis New Zealand are still undecided on whether they will send a para table tennis team as Matthew is the only entrant.
‘‘I’d be disappointed if I couldn’t go but there’s other events I can do,’’ he said.
If the table tennis does fall through then Matthew said he would consider trying his hand at either badminton and wheelchair basketball, but ultimately sport was about having fun.
‘‘It’s a good chance to socialise with friends and a chance to challenge myself and them.’’