With the nominations process soon to open for the Community Sport and Recreation Awards 2016 the Alliance is casting a spotlight on some of the winners from 2015.
The first spotlight is on last year's Overall Winner, Special People on Ice.
Special People on Ice (SPICE) impressed the judges at the 2015 Community Sport and Recreation Awards with their inspirational story of a club working with volunteers and professional coaches to teach children and young adults with additional needs how to skate to win the Overall Winner category.
The club works with individuals who have a variety of additional needs such as Autism, Down’s syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and Profound Deafness, as well as providing support for behavioural problems associated with special needs.
SPICE was formed in 2002 and alongside the skating lessons, the club also offers team activities including ice hockey and synchronised skating. The group has been running for over 10 years and has gone from strength to strength growing its membership and activities. For example, they are only one of two clubs to send an ice hockey team to a Special Hockey tournament in Canada.
After winning the 2015 Community Sport and Recreation Awards, Absolutely SPICE, the synchronised skating team, was invited to perform an exhibition routine at the 2016 British Synchronised Skating Championship in Nottingham. The team had the audience on their feet and the team’s parents had tears in their eyes when they were announced as the most entertaining programme of the day!
The club were able to use some of their £2,500 prize to attend the Championships. This meant that the team were able to travel from Slough to Nottingham, stay in a hotel together and buy matching hoodies for their volunteers.
Watch the video below and learn why SPICE think the Community Sport and Recreation Awards are worth getting involved in.
Since winning the Award, the local ice rink that SPICE uses will be closing for refurbishment. This club is integral to the local community it serves so they have been working hard with the local council to find a temporary facility. This is an important priority for the club as lessons and practice must continue - particularly as the club is working hard to attend the 2017 Special Hockey tournament in Canada.
The Sport and Recreation Alliance champions all sport and recreation and the Awards help highlight the great work of grassroots clubs in the local community. Recognising their outstanding work is a vital part of promoting the sport and recreation sector and is at the heart of our #GetYourKitOn for Grassroots Sport campaign.
For more information on SPICE, please visit www.spiceskating.org or Contact Ricci Hodgson, Chair on +44 (0) 7786 733690
To find out more about this year’s Community Sport and Recreation Awards please click here, nominations will open on Tuesday 29 March where clubs can nominate themselves or be nominated by their National Governing Body.
SPICE are members of National Ice Skating Association and English Ice Hockey Association Ltd.
