Selina Trevethick and her daughter Abby have attended Sense Rugby in Whanganui since it began. Photo / Supplied
On a sports field in Whanganui, a group of parents and children gather for a sports practice unlike most others in town.
Sense Rugby has been operating in Whanganui for the past two years.
An occupational therapy-led rugby programme, it offers neurodiverse and differently-abled children the opportunity to play rugby in a safe setting catered to their individual needs.
For the families taking part it allows their children to play something new and gives them a place to belong.
“You just see the joy on her face,” Selina Trevethick said of her daughter Abby Trevethick, who has been part of Whanganui’s Sense Rugby team since it began.
For Abby, the practices have become a staple of her week.
“This is like her thing,” Trevethick said.
Abby, 12, uses a wheelchair because of a condition called right-side hemiparesis, which she developed when Trevethick was pregnant.
Similar to after someone suffers a stroke, the right side of Abby’s body is affected by muscle weakness and lower co-ordination, which makes movement on that side of her body more challenging.
“We call it her helper hand, her right side,” Trevethick said.
Abby has several other impairments, including epilepsy and an intellectual disability.
“In life, she misses out on in a lot of things that she’s unable to go to or do... [Sense Rugby] gives her that joy.”
Trevethick first discovered the programme through her women’s boxing class.
The instructors mentioned their daughter-in-law, Zoe Tofa, was starting a sports programme for children with disabilities in Whanganui that Abby could attend.
Before offering weekly practices, Sense Rugby Whanganui ran school holiday programmes for children.
“It was just so awesome to have something for Abigail for the holidays that was inclusive of her,” Trevethick said.
“The holidays are long… especially with a special needs child.”
Rugby quickly became a passion for Abby.
“At school, on Monday… that’s kind of all I hear all the next day. ‘Rugby. Rugby. Abby, rugby’,” Trevethick said.
The practices allow Abby to help build strength, stretch and develop a brain-body connection on her weaker right side.
The coaches regularly encourage her to use her right side on push pads, to throw and for other activities.
She has also developed social connections with the other children.
Trevethick said some of the other youngsters have even asked to push Abby’s wheelchair.
“All the kids are so inclusive with her,” she said.
Abby has recently begun using an electric wheelchair and the programme has given her the opportunity to practise driving her new chair.
For Trevethick, the weekly meet-ups bring her joy seeing Abby happy and have given her and her family a space to meet other families and parents with disabled children.
“Sometimes it can be a bit isolated,” she said.
Being able to share experiences and get to know the other families has been valuable, Trevethick said.
Sakura Stirling-Boyles and her children have found a similar sense of belonging and inclusion through Sense Rugby.
Her daughter Ahavah Te Ara Pounamu Boyles, 7, is on the autism spectrum and is non-verbal.
Her younger daughter Adonai Te Huikau Boyles, 5, is neurotypical but suffers from end-stage kidney disease, post-transplant.
For their family, including their two sons aged 4 and 15, Sense Rugby offers a space where they can participate together while having all of their needs met.
“It felt really encouraging to feel normal because sometimes we don’t feel normal in a world that’s neurotypical,” Stirling-Boyles said.
She and her husband Samuel Boyles discovered Sense Rugby when they moved to Whanganui from Invercargill this year.
Stirling-Boyles said she was researching inclusive, enriching sports for Ahavah when she spotted the programme.
After speaking to other parents whose children were already involved, she decided to join the waiting list to enrol.
“I thought this sounds really exciting.”
Stirling-Boyles comes from a background in judo and her father represented New Zealand at the Olympics in judo and was a Commonwealth Games technical referee.
“It’s just a big part of our family’s life and I just want to support Ahavah with her strengths,” she said.
“It’s just providing that and being empowering for her and being around others that are on the same journey.”
Since they joined in March, she said Ahavah has benefited from the sense of routine the weekly practices provide and the sensory stimulation.
Adonai participates whenever she is healthy enough, which Stirling-Boyles said brings the sisters closer together.
“There are times when [Adonai] does miss out because of her medical condition,” she said.
“Sense Rugby supports her as well to realise her strengths in sports and to build connections as well.”
Both families said they plan to continue participating in Sense Rugby for the foreseeable future.
“It’s been a game changer,” Trevethick said.