Cricket Australia, Always Inclusive - With Aaron Dragwidge

On this episode of Noisy Balls, I had the honour of speaking with Cricket Australia Diversity And Inclusion Specialist Aaron Dragwidge. Aaron has been one of the driving forces behind Cricket Australia’s Sport For All initiative and, in particular, their rapidly growing disability inclusion programs.  He is transforming Cricket’s approach to the inclusion of people with disability and has a passion for inclusion and human rights. Aaron has always been exceedingly passionate about inclusiveness for all disabled cricketers. “The National Cricket Inclusion Championships (NCIC) came about because we had three groups of cricketers with disabilities. Blind and low vision had national championships every two years, the Deaf and hard of hearing cricketers every four years, and cricketers with an intellectual disability didn’t have an opportunity. So, we brought it all under the one umbrella as a great celebration of cricket”. Having been involved with putting together the NCIC championships, Aaron states “This is about celebrating ability and talent in cricket. Lots of people walk past the games and ask, “what’s this game?”, so it’s really fantastic to be part of that and seeing the impact that has in a broader sense in the community”. Aaron believes that it’s really important to have sports at a national level to be inclusive. The impact that this has had on a number of players has been really huge. In a lot of cases it’s changed their lives and has allowed them to participate locally, nationally, and internationally. Aaron wants to ensure that our great game keeps continuing to grow. “Anyone who is keen to get involved in cricket, no matter what your ability is, you should contact your local cricket club or go on to the PlayCricket website, And if you’re interested in being involved in the National Cricket Inclusion Championships, jump on to the National Cricket Inclusion Championships website". I thank Aaron for joining me on this episode and for always being so accommodating with his time and I know that with all of his hard work and passion for disabled cricket, our game is definitely in very good hands for many years to come. Noisy Balls is proudly sponsored by the Victorian Blind Cricket Association and we appreciate the VBCA's support as we bring in a new dawn in blind cricket podcasting.
 
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