The first ever Deaf Sports Festival took place this week at Oak Grove College, involving 22 children from three Sussex Schools.
 
The festival was a joint project between Nikki Richardson from Brighton & Hove Albion FC Disability Project and Sandy Fell (Littlehampton School Sports Coordinator) who both identified the need for extra competitive experiences for deaf children.
 
The youngsters from North Gate School, Hamilton Lodge and Connaught schools were mixed into four teams and competed in various activities including Boccia and Football.
 
The teams, supervised by Sports Leaders from Littlehampton Community School mixed incredibly well with team-mates from the other schools and worked extremely hard at each sport. All were presented with trophies and certificates at the end of the event and the winning team also received a t-shirt kindly donated by the Sussex County FA.
 
Nikki and Sandy hope to make this an annual event and next year extend this fantastic opportunity to older players and more schools.
 
For more information on disability football opportunities in Sussex, contact the Sussex FA on 01903 766 855 or log onto: www.sussexfa.com